Soup of the Day... Booyah, Savannah Style

Booyah is a thick soup of presumably Belgian origin made throughout the Upper Midwestern United States.

Booyah has many claims of origin... here is ONE story... 

Booyah & the Finger Road School Teacher

In 1906, a man named Andrew Rentmeester took over as the teacher at the Finger Road School in Green Bay. When he got to the school, there were no books for the kids – so he decided to organize a fundraiser to raise some money for much needed school supplies.

He went around town collecting chickens from the school children’s families. Then he went to the Green Bay Gazette to put an ad in the paper in hopes of raising some publicity for the fundraiser. When the reporter asked him what they’d be serving at the event, Andrew told him “bouillon,” which is the french word meaning “to boil” or “soup”.

When the reporter asked him how to spell it, Andrew said “B-O-O-Y-A-H.” It probably seems a little strange that a teacher wouldn’t know how to spell bouillon correctly. He had a valid reason though—

But, it was printed that way in the paper and the soup was called “booyah” at every fundraiser after that, including the annual fundraiser Andrew started at Holy Martyrs of Gorcum church the following year.

Andrew, the schoolteacher was a lumberjack before he became a teacher at age 21. He also didn’t speak or read French. He was a very smart man though. He taught all nine of his own kids. Andrew’s mother, Mary (Watermolen) Rentmeester, actually came from Belgium and she spoke French. It was his mother’s soup recipe that was used for the Finger Road school fundraiser.

Today's recipe... Remember... Disclaimer: Some folks don't always follow updated USDA canning methods, they may live in another country where the standards are not the same, they may use heirloom methods passed down through the generations, they may choose other canning methods not recommended. Use this recipe at your own discretion, or adapt it to your own method. I am sharing these recipes EXACTLY as they were sent to me and take NO responsibility for them.

Booyah, Savannah Style

Adapted from recipe found on nonesuchexists.blogspot

The best way to describe Booyah is that it is a glorified chicken soup. It is generally made with two kinds of meat but chicken is the predominate meat. You can either use beef or pork as the second meat, totally up to you.

Makes 10+ quarts

Ingredients

1 whole rotisserie chicken, de-boned, skin discarded, meat shredded 

OR 

you can use any chicken you like - at least 3 to 4 cups of chicken 

2 pounds beef stew meat or pork (pork can be ground) (usually beef is precooked and shredded but can be cubed and added raw) (If using ground meat - precook and drain well) 

2 large onions, chopped 

3 celery ribs, chopped 

4 cups shredded green cabbage 

4 cups homemade vegetable or beef stock or broth 6 cups chicken broth 

1/2 of rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 

3 cloves of garlic, grated/minced 

2 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes or 2 pints of home canned diced tomatoes OR you can use 1 quart of home canned tomato juice. 

1 pound (2 or 3) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 

2 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick 1

/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg 

1 cup frozen peas 

1 cup frozen corn 

2 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large stock pot add onions, carrots, grated garlic, and celery. Stir in stock/broth and canned diced tomatoes. Turn on heat to medium high. Add shredded beef, cabbage, nutmeg, 1-1/4 teaspoons canning salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in potatoes, shredded chicken, rutabaga, corn, Sriracha sauce, and peas. Stir well to ensure even mixing. Turn off heat.

Using a slotted spoon evenly distribute solids among the quart jars (you want to fill jars with solids a bit more then 1/2 but not quite 3/4s full) and finish topping off with soup juice to 1" headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims really well, and assemble lids. Process in a pressure canner for 90 mins for quarts (75 mins for pints) at 10 lbs of pressure.

NOTE: This recipe makes 10+ quarts of soup - most canners only allow for 7 quarts to be canned at a time. You can either freeze the remaining soup, eat it, or leave it in the pot with heat off and wait to do a second batch. If soup has cooled just reheat until hot and fill remaining jars and process. If you decide to eat the soup turn heat to medium low and allow to simmer for at least 30 mins or more.

Tomorrow's Soup of the Day... Broccoli-Cauliflower Leek Soup