burgoo

[ bur-goo, bur-goo ]

/ ˈbɜr gu, bɜrˈgu /

a thick oatmeal gruel, especially as eaten by sailors.

Chiefly Kentucky and Tennessee.

a thick, highly seasoned soup or stew, usually made of chicken or small game and corn, tomatoes, and onions.
a picnic or other gathering at which burgoo is served.

Origin of burgoo

1735–45; perhaps ultimately < Arabic burghul, burghūl cracked wheat (see bulgur), though immediate source is uncertain

"You shall have your breakfast soon," continued his master, eating the burgoo between his addresses to the animal.

Snarleyyow |Captain Frederick Marryat
Major LeCroix gave a burgoo at his locust grove on the river, to which all the candidates were invited.

Shawn of Skarrow |James Tandy Ellis
Burgoo is made precisely in the same manner as mush, but with oatmeal instead of Indian.

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches |Eliza Leslie
In retrospect I smell the burgoo a-cooking, and sympathetically my mouth waters.

Those Times And These |Irvin S. Cobb

All Kentuckians will vow they understand the true meaning of the word "burgoo."

The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft |Dan Beard

burgoo

/ (ˈbɜːɡuː, bɜːˈɡuː) /

nautical slang porridge

Southern US

C18: perhaps from Arabic burghul crushed grain