Hometown Favorites: Booyah, Conch, Picadillo

Okay, so gather up 30 pounds of chicken, 30 or so pounds of potatoes and an ox tail, you are on the track of a crowd-pleasing kettle of Booyah.

That’s one of the stewy dishes mentioned in the Food Editors’ Hometown Favorites Cookbook, a gathering of special recipes provided by dozens of food editors from around the country.

My copy of the book was issued as a promotion by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) in the 1980s. It is still available at online sites such as eBay. I found it informative and entertaining, a keeper.

I cannot find a current listing for the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association to ask permission so I won’t copy out their recipes, instead will link to similar others available on line.

So let’s start with Conch Chowder. Conch is a popular Florida treat despite restrictions on harvesting. In 1985, the harvesting of the conch
in US waters was banned, but it may be imported because it is not classified endangered. So the meat is imported from various Caribbean islands.

The meat of conchs is used in salads, fritters, chowders, gumbos, and burgers. To me the chowder is in the neighborhood of a stew, usually involving onions, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. Here is a site offering history and a recipe.

And here is one more recipe, from the Florida Keys, said to be “the best”—including carrots, green onions, bacon and more,

Now, about Picadillo. It is termed a hash because contents are chopped up. It features ground beef with olives, raisins, capers, tomato sauce, sazon seasoning (found in Latin food sections), cumin, sugar, and salt stirred in. Here is the classic Cuban recipe. It is served with or over rice, or can be a filling as in tacos.

Recipes for Picadillo come from Spain, all of Latin America and the Philippines. Ingredients of course vary by region. Here is a slightly less complicated recipe, also from Cuba. 

So let’s get back to Booyah, a thick stew concocted at community gatherings (of sometimes hundreds, possibly thousands) in the upper Mid-West. Some say the recipe came from Belgium and Booyah is an interpretation of bouillion as used in cooking chicken.

In the European preparation, the chicken and broth were served separately with a bowl of rice that could be added to the broth.

As with so many soups or stews, suggested ingredients vary depending on the chef. Here is a recipe from All Recipes, toned down to suit your kitchen.

Those are three of my finds from this great little cookbook, although I did also copy out “toasted ravioli” in my personal food notebook, a very interesting treat. It is apparently little known outside of St. Louis. Well, that is sort of teasing, isn’t it? Okay, so here is a recipe with great pictures…