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Roger Munson lifted an engraved wooden lid off a 30-gallon cauldron and stirred a meaty broth with a canoe paddle. He flicked the remains of a pepper shaker into a bubbling brine and returned the lid.
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Roger Munson stirs 30 gallons of Boo-Yah on Saturday at the Elks Club in Goodview, Minn. Boo-Yah is a soup that orginated from poor villages in Europe and brought to America by early immigrants. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
“He taught me everything I know,” Munson said, gesturing to Dennis Challeen, the brains behind this soup cooking social event. “I’m the apprentice.”
Master and student worked nearly five hours to create the perfect booyah, a stew Challeen said came to America thanks to northern and eastern European immigrants.
His first taste came in the late 1930s, growing up in Chisago County and attending autumn booyahs where families from the area pitched in an ingredient into a public pot.
“The basic idea was for everyone to contribute meat and garden vegetables into a common stew,” he said. “Thus, even the poorest families could contribute something.”
Most folks hunted and had gardens, so it was a free or inexpensive way to have a good meal, he said.
Back then, turtle meat and a lot of wild game went into making a booyah. Sometimes, parents kidded children that the brew included stray dog meat. But now, the modern booyahists follow a recipe of grocery store fare.
“There’s some rhyme or reason to a good booyah,” Challeen said. “It gets better every year.”
The recipe requires adding different ingredients at different times to get just the right consistency of meat and vegetables.
“You put the taters in last,” he said. “The reason is if you put them in early, they turned to mashed potatoes and you have a big mess. There’s a science to cooking.”
Nearly 30 gallons of stew bubbled in the kettle Challeen bought for $60 in the 1970s at an antique store.
“They’re hard to find,” he said. “Good ones never crack.”
When he bought it, he sandblasted it and coated it with oil.
“You never want to use soap and water (on kettles),” he said. “Old folks seasoned them.”
This is the second year Challeen brought his kettle out to the Elk’s Lodge. The booyahists charged $2 a bowl and expected to break even after spending about $100 on the ingredients, and any surplus will go back into the bar at the lodge.
“After Wall Street crashes and we go into another depression, everyone ought to get the recipe for booyah,” Challeen joked.
Booyah
(The judge’s world famous, or at least famous beyond Witoka)
7 lbs. of pork and 14 lbs. of beet cut up (discard most of the fat)
4 stalks of celery
6 lbs. of onions
15 lbs. of potatoes
6 green peppers
6 lbs. of carrots
3 lbs. fresh mushrooms
2 large bags frozen peas
2 large bags frozen corn
3 quarts of canned tomatoes chopped up
1 box barley
1 package wild rice
Spices: Add slowly and taste as you cook
8 cloves garlic
½ box of salt (add to taste, be careful)
Peppercorns, ground pepper or chili paste
Handful of parsley
10 bay leaves
Ham stock (commercial) or bacon and/or ham rinds
Thyme, rosemary leaves and sage
Flour for thickening
Some red wine won’t hurt
Charcoal or firewood
Serve with rolls and/or bread
Cook meat until tender, then add carrots, onions, celery, barley, wild rice and mushrooms. Next the frozen peas, corn and potatoes go in last (potatoes will turn to starch if you put them in too early.) The last to go in before serving is the already cooked vegetables, such as canned tomatoes. Be careful not to add too much water. You can always add water before serving.
