Blogger Boggle: Hangover Cures
Editors’ Note: You know, it’s hard thinking of snarky commentary every day, so we’ve opened up the labor pool to our fellow food bloggers.
This week our panel of hung-over experts tell us their cures for fixing the nasty post-drinking bug.
Spoonfuls of honey.
—Melissa McCart, Counter Intelligence
Ummm, don’t hate me, but I don’t actually get hangovers. I tell people it’s the Irish blood in me, though plenty of people with more Irish blood than me get hangovers… but I’ll say after a night of heavy drinking, I sure like a good ol’ fry up – greasy breakfast, fried eggs, corned beef hash and/or bacon, sausage, home fries, buttery toast, jam, wait… what were we talking about?
—Yvo Sin, Feisty Foodie
Bacon! There was a scientific study on bacon that proved its hangover curing effects.
—Jason Mosley, Mr. Baconpants
Gum. Preferably Doublemint. I don’t know if it’s the mintiness or the chewing or what, but upon awakening with my first hangover ever, someone insisted gum would help and pressed a piece into my hand, and I’ve always found it to work.
—Kristen Bonardi Rapp, gezellig-girl.com
Miso soup. Japanese food always makes me feel really clean, and when I’ve had too much to drink I boil a pot of water and add a lot of miso. Sometimes I’ll add scallions and tofu, but let’s be honest — when I’m hungover I can barely move, let alone cook. Miso in hot water followed by a nap and I’m cured.
—Amy Cavanaugh, Ms. Cavanaugh Goes to Washington
A fried egg sandwich, with hot sauce, a smattering of cheese, on toast. Grilled cheese with Dijon is a close second. Almost forgot — my hangover noodles — Asian-style noodles (I like udon) slathered up a mix of stir-fried veg, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chiles. Hmm..maybe I should tie one on tonite so I have an excuse to make some…
—Kim O’Donnel, A Mighty Appetite
Fried chicken & waffles, preferably at Marvin on U street. It’s really the ultimate hangover cure.
—Michael, Brunch DC
Raw garlic, three big cloves, chewed up and washed down with the biggest glass of water I can find. This also cures incoming colds and flu.
—C. Christy Concrete, The Concordant Opposition. and Endless Simmer
What—besides alcohol—cures your hangover?
Greasy, fatty deliciousness.
Pepperoni and cheese sandwiches, tuna melts, chipped beef on toast, cheesesteaks, and corn beef hash are a few of my hangover staples.
….frequent hangovers require a lot of variety.
Cure: The largest, coldest Dr. Pepper available, and some of those deep-fried potato wedges.
Preventative: Emergen-C. Pink lemonade flavor is the best.
White Castles w/ cheese & extra pickles! Absolute BEST hangover cure EVER! Or, for times that I can actually move around & think: my own recipe of French Onion Soup. Yum! Concur w/ Summer on the Emergen-C preventative ~ works like a charm!
Anything fried – fried egg and cheese sandwiches, chicken sandwich from Burger King (hold the mayo), French fries… The list goes on and on!
Sleeping in, lots of aspirin, then chinese food, without a doubt. 😀
+Jessie
Not sure about the raw garlic idea – your breath already stinks and that would make it worse, lol!
Jessie – I agree with you on Chinese food. But not greasy stuff – lots of dim sum and green tea with jasmine will sort out your digestive system! 🙂
I found out recently that if I get up at 5 in the morning after a the night of drinking too much and eat a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and drink a large glass of water and take a preventative advil, and go back to bed, I won’t have a hangover in the morning.
If I forget to do this, I try to eat something protein heavy like morningstar veggie links. Unfortunately usually I don’t have veggie links in my freezer. So instead I sit on the couch and curl up with a piece of dry toast and I whine a lot. That tends to cure me.
Flat Coca Cola (not Pepsi), during school I would open a bottle or can and leave it on my window ledge, let the morning sun help it go flat, when I wake in the morning, take a mouthful, or two. Perfect. Also, McDonald’s coke, we’d call that Black Magic.
Cure: grape soda followed by greasy breakfast then nap, when you wake, any type of pasta
It’s not very shocking, but seriously? Water. Most of the symptoms of a hangover are actually just really bad dehydration. Sipping it slowly is important though – I have noticed that if I get up and down a huge amount all at once, it’s like getting drunk all over again for a while. And not in a good way.
No food, unfortunately. Just lots of water before bed and gatorade when I wake up.
Fountain Coke. No bottles or cans – fountain only. And boxed macaroni and cheese. If that doesn’t stay in your stomach, go back to bed.
They did a study awhile back on the effectiveness of chocolate milk vs. gatorade and the choc milk won out. It’s good. I think it’s because it coats your stomach and has sugar in it. It may work or it may be a placebo, who cares, I think it works!
kombucha… and fried eggs with kimchee. for some reason the combo of fried eggs and kimchee is perfect and delicious when hung over. fizzy spicy cabbage… i dunno, it works.
oh yeah, i forgot to 2nd on the miso! I keep a tub at the office for just such occasions… ’cause i’m not going to fry an egg at work.
Water is a good way to prevent one. After you’re done drinking, have some water. That’ll keep you from getting dehydrated.
anything Thai or Korean that is very spicy.
Trader Joe’s electrolyte water before bed, and a nice steaming bowl of either pho or menudo in the morning.
Eat a lot of carbs and take aspirin before you start to drink.
A pre-made fresh fruit shake with ginger or ginger ale
added for breakfast the next morning and remember a couple bottle of water beside the bed before you pass out.
After a night of drinking? I’m headed to In&Out burger! A 4×4 with a 7up and vanilla shake.. Then we head over to Jack in the Box for the seasoned curly fries. Then home to fry up an egg, and a nap. 3 hours and I’m right as rain!
The absolute worst hangover I ever had (and sadly it was not in college nor that long ago) was after giving blood then drinking the rest of the day. The next day I was a mess, missed my bus, looked like a traffic accident, and could barely stand up without feeling like I was going to pass out. My “friends” made me go to brunch with them, sustaining me with wee bites of peach gummies. They chose The Heidelberg, an authentic (leiderhosen, people) German restaurant on the UES of NYC. I don;t know if it was the potato pancakes or the grandmotherly love of the proprietress, who kept coming over to offer me more hangover cures (pickles, rubbing my head) and water, but afterward I felt, if not better, at least human again. I also broke their toilet but I don’t think that was part of the cure.
The problem is, I don’t think anything actually cures my hangover. Sure, when I’m hungover I NEED, NEED, NEED coke, pizza, bagels, eggs, bacon, easy mac, and other assorted fried/sugary/horrible things. But I don’t think any of these things actually make the hangover go away…only sleep can do that.
BS I couldn’t agree more!! No amount of what I NEED and sleep (yes, I’ve even tried a 5 hour nap cures what ales me) What I CRAVE however is SALT!!!!
I wake up around 5 AM, grab 2 Excedrin and chug some water. The caffeine kicks in, I wake up and I go to Bojangles. Done and Done.
I forgot to mention that I go back to sleep for 3-4 hours.
Food? Hangovers? No thanks. It’s two or three days of Gatorade and weak tea for me!
A Bleat sandwich Aussie style- Avocados are in every single sandwich here you ES-ers will love to hear! So Bacon Lettuce (rocket – i know you guys call it something else I can’t remember the name) Egg Avocado Sandwich on toasted Sourdough with cilantro mayo served up with homemade lemonade! I actually don’t even need to be hungover to have this 🙂
For the record, I believe rocket is arugula…how much better is the name rocket though? You could never accuse someone of being an effete liberal for eating too much rocket.
I’m kinda surprised no one has said this one yet, but there is a remedy for the worst kinds of hangovers. The kind that electrolytes and grease can’t put a dent in. The kind of hangover where you feel too shitty to sleep but too exhausted to move. They are the morning where you wish sweet, sweet death for yourself.
The solution is the PRAIRIE OYSTER. If you can get this down, I swear to god you will feel fine in 20 minutes no matter how bad your evening was.
In a glass:
1 shot of whiskey or other booze
1 raw egg
2 dashes of Worchester sauce
Salt/pepper
Down in one gulp
I’ve only resorted to this twice in my life, but when there is no other way of getting through a day, this is your salvation.
I agree BS – a touch of booze and a nap is only real help for me. On the other hand, exercise also works wonders but is a remedy I rarely invoke. Breda, never once have I reached for arugula after a long night but if it was called rocket things might change… hell might even start craving its peppery leafiness late night.
sleep in, fried eggs with toast and some kind of fried potato, mindless MTV shows or romantic comedy. And my teddy bear. My actual one, though BS is a good substitute if he’s around.
Ok and I can’t believe no one said coffee. Hello.
I prefer to torture myself with exercise, but I’m not convinced that it’s helpful! Ibuprofen 800 mg is though!
Moira -its not Rocket on its own that I wake up craving lol!! Straight down the stairs after a big night out and into the kitchen opening the fridge saying “Man I’m dying for some rocket” lol………just a nice little addition to the Bleat…….Bleat also served on Turkish bread is quite tasty!
I concur re: the exercise but seriously…….
Scrambled egg sandwich on wheat. Extra plain like. If I can… I go for a run to sweat anything else out 🙂
Drink lots and lots of water while drinking. You won’t get hung over if you drink enough. If you forget drink lots of water in the morning or have water melon and pumpkin seeds.
IF you truly want not only the best cure but how about the Hail Mary of preventative concoctions that will allow you to spend the whole night drinking and even mixing the worst of the cheapest bottom shelf stuff you can find and wake up the next morning as if you never tasted alcohol your whole life and went to bed early the night before; then go no further than chomping down three or more fresh cloves of garlic the same night you are drinking or throughout the night nibble on them and watch how you feel the next morning! This is tried and true by accident as a cover up for the smell of bottom shelf vodka on my breath but then i started noticing how surprisingly refreshed i woke up every morning and even early and not wasted! I couldnt believe it so i researched it and thought i would post it somewhere because i have been way too experienced to not share this. REmember it can prevent it 100% iif you consume them the same night! Peace