The Beauty of Boilo

boiloI learned of a new drink from my friend and com-padre Rob Llewellyn this weekend. It’s called Boilo. From what I understand, it has Lithuanian roots, and at this time I’d like to personally thank the Lithuanians for bringing this fine recipe over from the old country and sharing it here in the good ol’ US of A. I am enjoying it immensely.

Rob has taught me a lot of things. When I first started camping in a camper, he taught me how when and why you tip your awning. When I started motor boating he taught me how to trim my out drive. He turned me onto soupies, which are a delicious meat snack that goes great with beer, and now he’s taught me about boilo. While I’m thanking people, I thank you Rob, for all that other stuff too, but especially for the boilo.

There are many boilo recipes out there on on the net. A simple google search will turn up a good harvest. After reading a few, I went to the grocery store and got some goodies and here’s how I made mine.

3 large navel oranges
3 lemons
1 1/2 oz of raisins
16 ounces of honey
1 rounded teaspoon of cinnamon
1 quart of blended whiskey

Peel the oranges and lemons and smash the shit out of them in a pot. I used my hands to squeeze as much as I could squeeze and then I smashed them with an old fashioned potato masher. Toss in the raisins, honey and sprinkle on the cinnamon. You’ll wind up with about probably a quart of juice pulp liquid stuff. Cover it and pop it in the oven at 200 degrees. In a few minutes it smells heavenly. Every half hour, get it out of the oven and smash it some more. In about 3 or 4 hours, it’ll be cooked down as much as it’s going to cook down and it’s almost ready.

Take it out of the oven and strain it into a pitcher. Add the quart of whiskey and stir it real good and pour yourself a cup in a coffee cup. If it’s not hot enough, zap it in the microwave a little.

And that my friends is boilo, or at least one version of it. There are a few things to note.

* Keep the oven at 200 degrees. No warmer. You don’t want it to boil even though it’s called boilo.
* Never add the whiskey while you are cooking it. Heat will evaporate the alcohol and we certainly don’t want that now do we.
* Don’t keep it hot for the reason above. When you want another cup, just pour it in a cup and nuke it.
* Watch it when you put it in the microwave because it will bubble out over the top if you get it too hot.

After your first sip you will know in your heart that there is no finer holiday drink known to man. After the second cup, you will be hooked and telling all your friends about it. After the third cup, you’re likely to announce that eggnog is for pussies, and so forth it goes.

Disclaimer: There are many many ways to make this. Some use a crock pot. Some make it on the stove top and actually bring it to a boil with the booze already in it. There are many ways to skin this cat so please don’t jump all over me and tell me that I’m doing it all wrong. The method that I laid out above is simply the way I chose to spin it after doing much research on the net. I intend to make many variations of this as long as the weather stays cold and I crave a nice hot drink, but for now, this is the way I did it and all I can tell you is that this is some awesome stuff and………..

Eggnog is for pussies.

UPDATE: I’ve been using Evan Williams Cherry Whiskey and I only add about 3/4 of the bottle. It makes it real nice 🙂

One Response to “The Beauty of Boilo”

  1. thought of you this past Sunday, apparently there is a guy from the coal region selling a powdered Boilo mix. there was an article in the Sunday Patriot. I could not find it online to send to you

Discussion Area - Leave a Comment