Best New Year's Day Hangover Cures, Including Texas Icon George Strait's Favorite

AUSTIN, TX — Talk about news you can use. In a recent interview, Texas legend George Strait revealed his tried-and-true hangover remedy, something many out there will need after tonight.

But many of you might not like what he recommends. It's menudo.

The main ingredient of this dish is tripe. That's cow stomach, people. Its cut up in good-sized bits that have a honeycombed shape on the interior side. Menudo has long been a favorite in the Mexican culture, not so much a a hangover cure than as comfort food.

Some can't take the texture of the tripe or the notion of eating. Some of us, however, simply can't get enough of it. It's a soup, with the tripe served in hominy-heavy broth suffused with a red chili pepper base then topped off with a sprinkling of lime, chopped onion and cilantro and a dash of oregano and crushed red peppers. It's typically accompanied by corn tortillas.

Asked by the Daily Beast (in an article that was tantamount to a free plug for a Tequila maker of which he's part owner) what his hangover remedy is, Strait went straight to menudo.

"Yeah. There is one, and it's called menudo," the San Antonio resident explained helpfully, likely to a New York City type needing the definition. "It's a tripe soup. It's very, very tasty. When I happen to have the occasional hangover, which I try not to do, if I can get some menudo that's what I get."

For most people in Texas, no descriptor is necessary. We're fully aware of what this is, some of us introduced to it in childhood to become menudo mavens into our adulthood.

One can usually buy the concoction already made at most Hispanic foods store, such as Fiesta, La Michoacana and others but usually only during morning hours. Making it is another story entirely, taking up to seven hours to prepare. Tripe takes quite a bit of time to get tender, requiring hours upon hours over an open flame. One can use the slow cooker too, but it may take longer than what you might read on any given recipe.

It's a long process, but once done it's not only delicious but may very well have magically medicinal properties. If it doesn't cure a hangover from a clinical standpoint, it certainly feels like it does. But if you do venture out to collect the ingredients, you'll likely need to hit the Mexican stores since the dried chiles required aren't readily available at most mainstream grocers.

Here's a handy video we found on the YouTube:

The morning after New Year's Day celebrations may be the busiest day for so-called hangover cures. It's like the Black Friday of retail but for items supposedly designed to quell hangovers.

But don't get your hopes up. While some of us swear by menudo as an effective antidote to the hangover, Health magazine reports that most supposed remedies are ineffective. It gets worse: The magazine reports that some so-called hangover remedies actually may make you feel worse!

So what's a pounding-headachy-pained-behind-the-eyeballs-queasy-stomached-praying-for-the-angel-of-death case to do? Well, for one thing, you shouldn't have drunk so much but thank goodness you didn't drive (if you drink, please don't drive for those reading this before celebrating).

But enough preaching; that's probably making your headache that much worse. And we'll try NOT TO YELL AT YOU FOR HAVING OVERINDULGED.

One neat trick is to alternate your drinks with water or some other non-alcoholic beverage. This can can help you slow down your drinking while staying adequately hydrated.

But that's not really a remedy, now is it? That's more like advice.

Oh, and that "hair of the dog" thing doesn't work. Quite the opposite, it sets you up for an even worse hangover the next day, according to health experts. "The worst thing to do is to have another drink," Charles Cutler, an internist in Norristown, Pa., told Health magazine. While a Bloody Mary or some other alcoholic drink may temporarily relieve symptoms, it sets the stage for Hangover II the next day.

And that's bad — both the situation in which you'll find yourself and the movie sequel we cleverly wove into this story for no real reason other than perhaps to torment you further.

Perhaps a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, you mutter silently as you rustle from your bed, even contact with the blankets hurting your head as you come out from under the covers. Again, no. Cutler told Health magazine that all greasy foods accomplish is to promote heartburn given your condition. The good doctor recommends lighter fare such as cereal or toast.

"You want to get calories right back into your system," he explained.

You're really starting to hate this Cutler guy at this point, aren't you? Yet his colleague, John Brick, an alcohol research scientist and author of The Doctor's Hangover Handbook agrees with his summation. "No specific foods are recommended, although honey sandwiches are helpful to some people," he says.

A honey sandwich is exactly as it sounds. It's honey slathered on bread, something that even in your present condition you might be able to handle. A video provided by the blog site Gourmet Girlfriend illustrates its preparation, so easy even a child can manage.

So how about Alka Seltzer? you cry plaintively, at this point an inert mass of flesh with eyes. Well there's good news and bad news on the Alka Seltzer front. Yes, the main ingredient of sodium bicarbonate (which is nothing more than baking soda) helps settle a queasy stomach by neutralizing it.

This attribute has led to Alka Seltzer being hailed as a hangover cure since it was first created 85 years ago. The makers of Alka Seltzer capitalized further on their hangover cure status, introducing a "Morning Relief" formulation specially tailored for victims of hangover.

But now the bad news: Other ingredients — namely aspirin and citric acid — may further irritate one's stomach after a night of heavy drinking.

Okay, so how about "hangover pills," you now mouth inaudibly, unable to move now after having hit your head with that bed sheet. There are a number of so-called hangover cures sold — Chaser, PreToxx, RU 21 just to name a few. Sorry to break this to you, but they don't really work.

"Hangover pills that have been studied are not effective, or only help against a few complaints but not all," Joris C. Vergster, an assistant professor of psychopharmacology at Ultrecht University in the Netherlands, told Health magazine. This is a doctor who literally studies hangovers.

Again, it gets worse: A 2005 review article in the journal BMJ identified eight peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled studies of hangover remedies, concluding "no compelling evidence exists" to support using such products to cure hangovers, the magazine reported.

Coffee then, you snarl. Just get me some damn coffee, you mumble in subdued rage. Okay, but for one, don't get snippy; you only have yourself to blame. Secondly, caffeine narrows the blood vessels and increases blood pressure, thus likely worsening the hangover.

So there.

In the Health magazine, good old Dr. Cutler pulls through in suggesting water and sports drinks: "Juice, water, Gatorade, all those things—they're going to make you feel better," he says, palpably chirpy.

Pain relieves are effective too. Try something containing ibuprofen like Advil or naproxen as found in Aleve.

If all else fails, try menudo. If you can stomach it.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! (sorry).

>>> Read the full story at Health magazine

Photo credit: Ron habla hispana via WikiMedia Commons