Got a cold? Schvatsky. What is it?

Schvotsky. What is it?

It is an old country remedy for a cold:

Boil whiskey with bacon bits in it, lemon slices, honey and cayenne.
Blend to desired strength, spicier the better.
NO WATER! :)
Drink.

You sweat, you numb out, you drink as many as required.

Your illness begins to not bother you so much.

First time I had it I was sick with a flu or cold or something at 11.

My had grandfather stopped by and told my mom, his daughter, "make him schvotsky!" (shhhh vot ski)

I'm not sure of the spelling, I've never found it referenced anywhere and Grandpa is dead these past many years. What a great loss to the local diesel engineering industry.

If he said it, my mom did was she was told. I knew as a child, that this was a great thing. See, that's how I got my pellet gun. He had said, "What do you want
for your birthday, today?"

I said, (looking tentatively at my mom and her face showing a don't do it look):

"I want a BB gun"

We went to the store, I got a gun. My mom tried to argue once on that trip.
He said something to her and that was the end of it. I never heard about it again from her. (Ah, Life is good. "NO, you'll put your eye out." "But Grandpa, Mom!")
Anyway, at the time I was feeling miserable.

After they gave me the schvotsky, I felt like, Oh God, I felt GREATTTTTTT!!!!
My first real alcohol experience. And....

I LOVED my GrandFather!!!! I mean, I did feel so much better and it cleared up my breathing a bit too.

Wow, the old country really knows some fixatives!

He was Romanian, or Bulgarian or something (my Grandmother was Czech or Slavic or something, and my own dad was Irish...which I lean to, go figure).

The only other recipe I've found like this was Chinese:

Garlic, ginger, cayenne, lemon, honey

Ginger. Huh. Interesting. I might try incorporating that.

Be well!