Food / Polish recipe for booyah [26]

Here is my recipe for Booya. I usually make this at least once a year, and it makes a lot, so be prepared to share!! ;-)

BOOYA
You will need an extra large kettle to make booya. I use my extra-large dark blue speckled canner. Cook booya for 4-5 hours at a medium boil.

Ingredients:
Equal parts Chicken, Beef and Pork, approx. 10-12 lbs. You can cook chicken and beef simultaneously.
1 whole chicken, cover with water several inches over chicken, when done, de-bone, save broth for booya. You can cook breasts alone, but with the bones you get a lot more flavor.

Chop up beef & pork into large chunks, place in kettle and cover with several inches of water salt/pepper. Boil for approx. 1 hour. Add cooked chicken & broth. You can add onions, carrots and celery & diced tomatoes at this point. Continue boiling until meat starts to break down, and start falling apart, around another hour or so.

You can start adding some of the other vegetables & other liquids at this point.
1 large can V-8
1 large can chicken broth (use this if needed after chicken broth has been added).
1 large head cabbage, cut into slivers, a bit larger than coleslaw slivers.
2 lbs. (thawed) frozen corn
1 lb. (thawed) frozen peas
3-5 lbs. (approx.) carrots
2-3 cans diced tomatoes
1 large diced onions, approx., more if desired
1 bunch celery stalks, approx. diced, more if desired
3-4 cans green beans; no need to drain cans (save these for the last hour)
3-5 lbs. potatoes, (save these for the last hour or so, otherwise, they get mushy)
Additional chicken broth, if needed.
Salt/Pepper & allspice: once an hour, season, taste broth season again if needed.
Allspice approx. 2 tbsp. or to taste
Salt/pepper/allspice to taste.
Allspice is the secret and only ingredient you need other than salt and pepper. No need to have a packet or group of spices wrapped in a cheese cloth. On quantities of vegetables, add more if you think it looks like the soup needs more of a particular vegetable. The quantities I put down are an approx. numbers.

Booya is something that the folks in St. Paul/South St. Paul, Mn have been making for years. I believe it's big in Wisconsin also. This is something that Church and Men's groups get together to put on. It is usually cooked in large 500 gallon kettles, and sometimes there are several kettles going simultaneously. It is usually at a park setting, and crackers and beer are usually served with Booya. Booya has been known to take 12 hours to cook due to the large kettles. The recipe above only requires 4 hours, 4-1/2 hours max.

Food / Polish recipe for booyah [26]

This is a really good recipe for booya.... The secret ingredient, which is supposed to be a packet of spices, and believe me it is "very secret", turns out to be allspice. My mother told me that, which is strange as how she never made booya, but that is definitely "the" ingredient. I've been told by someone who had just come from a booya, that this is the best that she had ever had... Mmmmmmmm.... I might have to make this sooner than I was planning. ;)

Food / Polish recipe for booyah [26]

Hi Bob!

Well, I think it would be at least 50 servings. I usually have at least 25 people over, and I'm sending bowls home with people also. The kettle I use is the large blue speckled canner that people who can tomatoes and the like use. Actually, the last two times I've made booyah I did use an additional smaller kettle to take the overflow from my huge pot. I just pulled out a portion of the meat combination with some of the liquid, and added the rest in proportion to the pot, adding chicken broth if needed.

FYI, you can always cut this recipe way down to a more manageable quantity. For an 8 qt. stock pot, I would probably use maybe four lbs. of a combination of beef, pork, and chicken. I would still use a lrg can of V8 and I would use the chicken broth after you cook and de-bone the chicken. Just have additional chicken broth to add if needed. Then, cut way back your vegetables. You'll have to let me know how it turns out if you ever make it.