Hair of the Dog: Cures for the Day After

If you plan on partying like it’s 1999 all over again this New Year’s Eve, after you hand over your keys to your designated driver or purchase your hotel room ahead of time, you may want to prepare yourself for the way your body will be feeling when you wake-up in the morning.

Epicurious has tips from around the world meant to cure that hangover.  Cures center around carbs, sugar, fat, salt, liquid, protein, eggs and the list goes on.  Many remedies involve a combination.  I have only felt that bad once in my life.  Yes, only once.  It was on a New Year’s Day and it only took that once for me to vow that I will never feel that way again.  The thought of most of these “cures” made me ill, but maybe one of these will help you get through the day:

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese—On a biscuit, roll, or English muffin, this cholesterol bomb is an all-time favorite for curing hangovers (while likely causing myriad other health problems).

Bagel and Cream Cheese—This one covers your carb, fat, and protein groups. “My sister claims that the idea of eating something greasy and carb-heavy like french fries is a myth—it’s really protein that helps,” relates an Epi editor.

Chocolate Milk—”Back in the day, my favorite hangover remedy was drinking one of those small cartons of Nestlé’s Chocolate Quik,” says an employee who’s more likely to be using milk to soothe her daughter than her own stomach these days. “A massive sugar rush temporarily eased the pain and provided an illusion of being able to function. It’s along the lines of drinking a Coke but a little smoother on the belly.”

Coffee—It can be hard on a queasy stomach, but coffee can really cure a hangover headache. We’ve read it has something to do with constricting the blood vessels—plus, it helps any painkillers you’ve taken reach your bloodstream quicker.

Crescent City Cure—”There’s a traditional, but not well known, New Orleans hangover cure called Yaka Mein. It’s a beef and soy broth-based soup nicknamed Old Sober for it’s purported hangover-healing properties and consists of noodles (often spaghetti), meat (often beef or pork chops), and boiled eggs,” says our editor from New Orleans. “Generally it’s sold in bodegas and corner stores in traditionally black neighborhoods. Since most of those neighborhoods were wiped out by Katrina, it has really become an endangered dish.”

Fry-Up—The full English breakfast or the “fry-up” of eggs, toast, sausages, broiled tomato, baked beans, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, blood pudding, is the perfect cure for a few too many pints of bitter.

Hair of the Dog that Bit You—Some say you need to drink exactly what you drank the night before for a true “hair of the dog” remedy, while for others any form of alcohol will do. In The South American Gentleman’s Companion, published in 1951, Charles H. Baker, Jr., writes that “when it comes to Picker-Uppers… the old Hair-o’-the-Dog principle is just about the only thing that will rebuild a man who has not time or patience to let nature’s cure of rest, quiet and time get-in its licks.” He lists 27 recipes for such cures, including the Buenos Aires “Man-of-the-Port” Reviver: “Take 1 10-ouncer can of Campbell’s Consomme or Beef Bouillon, add 2-ouncer tot of good French brandy. Stir and put in deep-freeze or freezer compartment of your refrigerator. Leave it till it’s a chilled and sippable liquid; or chilled until it almost jells, and eat it with a spoon.”

While a beefy brandy gel seems more than a bit repulsive, some of us have been known to seek a nice bubbly beer late in the afternoon after a hangover, particularly if the hangover came from something other than beer.

For more of these Hangover Remedies click here.