Hungover? Try rabbit poo tea

Sure, the classic fry-up is an option, but why not try something a little more unusual?

Fry-ups are the time-honoured classic, but here are some alternative remedies for the festive season.

Dicky tummy? Raging head ache? Kaleidoscopic vision? We've all been there - and this festive season we'll be there again. Multiple times.

Unless you're the sort of sensible person who chows down on a baked potato before going out and matches every pint of ale with a tumbler of H2O, you're going to need a quick fix the morning after the night before. Sure, the classic fry-up is an option, but why not try something a little more unusual? I did. And I felt loads better (I didn't).

Here are four alternative hangover cures.

Buffalo milk

As far as I can tell this god-awful concoction has nothing to do with the humble buffalo. A more apt description would be "Devil's milk".

Ingredients

25ml dark rum

25ml spiced rum

25ml Irish cream liqueur, such as Baileys

25ml double cream

1tsp clotted cream

Taste

Let's put this taste test in context. The night before I'd been at my brother-in-law's 40th birthday party in Devon, England, at a local rugby club. If you don't know where Devon is: it's pretty much The Shire from The Hobbit and Jagerbombs are still in vogue. Therefore, despite the joy of seeing clotted cream on the ingredient list, it was a small miracle I managed to raise the glass to my trembling, corpse-blue lips. And when I did ...

It was rather nice. Creamy, frothy, alcohol-y goodness. A cheap imitation of the White Russian to be honest, but actually rather enjoyable. It was just a shame I'd had a skinful the night before and instantly felt like barfing.

Verdict

Did it cure my hangover? No. It actually made it worse. Popular in Namibia. It can stay there.

Katerfruhstuck

The Germans and their blasted efficiency. While the rest of us are trying to glug down hellish mixtures of eggy, creamy, nightmarish liquid, Chancellor Merkel's minions are coolly wrapping up a pickled gherkin with a herring fillet and a chunk of raw onion, downing it and going about their fiscally aware, saving the world, winning the World Cup ways.

Ingredients

1 herring fillet

1 pickled gherkin

1 ring of raw onion

Taste

Here's a question for you. If you've been drinking port, on your own, for three hours, to such an extent that the subtitles on the back-to-back episodes of The Bridge that you've been watching start to blur into what can only be described as skid marks of text, would you want to wake up the following morning and eat the following: A. Fish. B. Onion. C. Gherkin. D. All three? Let me answer that for you. No. No you wouldn't.

Any other part of the day and I'm sure this delicious German dish is worthy of a Michelin star (the fish and gherkin actually go rather well together, upon sober reflection) but at 7 in the morning when your brain is seemingly trying to escape your skull, it is Hell. On. Earth.

Verdict

Still in hangover hell. Only with the added joy of fish/onion/gherkin breath.

Len Goodman's walnuts 'n Ribena

Who knew? Len Goodman isn't just a multiple trick, clickety-click ballroom dancer; he's also a dab hand at inventing hangover cures.

Ingredients

2 pickled walnuts

1 carton of Ribena

Taste

One word: Refreshing. Eleven words: It didn't sit on the stomach and make me feel queasy. Other than that, nutty and blackcurrant-y really.

Verdict

This is going to sound like I've hit my head one too many times but ... this actually worked. I wasn't cured, but the headache faded. Admittedly, the night before hadn't been as heavy as the previous nights' efforts but, all the same, it levelled me out. Cheers Len!

Rabbit poo tea

Apparently, rabbit poo tea was a popular remedy in the Wild West. (Presumably they hadn't heard of Earl Grey). Is it an urban legend? Perhaps. But as John Wayne would say, "Get off ya horse and drink ya rabbit poo tea!"

Ingredients

Mug of hot water

1tbsp of rabbit dropping

A modicum of madness

Taste

I love the Wild West. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of my favourite films. Southern belles and cowgirls set my knees-a-knocking.

But if you think for one minute that I'm going to drink rabbit poo, you're crazier than a frog in moonlight.

Verdict

I'll stick with the chronic headache, thanks.