I debated whether to post this because it is so long, but decided to do it in two posts. I’m posting the first non-recipe part because to me, knowing where a recipe comes from and what it means to the cook who used to or currently makes it adds to the food …. taste, mood, atmosphere …. whatever, it adds.
By way of further explanation, my folks are elderly (79 & 89). Dad has survived a cardiac arrest and has CHF so every single day is a “bonus” day with him. Both folks grew up on farms & both grannies were wonderful cooks. The last couple of weeks, the folks and I have been reminiscing about good food, good times, family no longer with us, and wonderful memories - this has been a great source of joy to all of us. I’ve been cooking quite a few of the recipes and I love it when my dad or mom’s face just ‘lights up’ when they get a dish that their mom used to make.
So, here goes …. and I apologize for such long posts.
My Granny’s North Carolina Brunswick Stew
My mom’s parents made their living and raised their 5 kids on a farm in North Carolina. They grew cantaloupes, cotton, tobacco, and corn. They also ran a dairy, had chickens, hogs, a very large German Shepherd guard dog named Rolf and lots of kitties running around the barn. Granny had a large “kitchen” garden for the family and she spent many hours in a hot kitchen on summer days, canning vegetables and fruit for the winter months. She was an outstanding cook – plain and simple fare, but we all loved visiting and eating at her house.
Once a year, Granny and Granddad would make a Brunswick Stew. It was made in a large black kettle, over a real wood fire, in the back yard. The women prepared the ingredients and the men did the stirring. Mom remembers peeling & cutting up buckets of potatoes. I can still remember standing around the fire while the men stirred and talked, the large wooden paddle swirling the contents of the kettle around and around. It was a magical time for a little kid … the making of the stew.
And then, there was the eating. Nothing, until this week, has ever come close to tasting like the Brunswick Stew out of that big black kettle. Back in those times, a store-bought white bread, with its soft texture, was a treat ….. and so was a Pepsi …. and that is what accompanied a bowl of Granny’s Brunswick Stew. (Note – since you will not be bound by the constraints of childhood memories and traditions, you may want to have corn bread with this stew – it’s wonderful).
Mom has always been on the ‘lookout’ for Brunswick Stew that comes close to the stew made on the farm. There is a well-known brand that comes in a can and it used to be, that doctored heavily with added spice and veggies, it would barely pass muster in an emergency ‘gotta-have-some-stew’ attack – recently, the quality has decreased to the point that it’s not even worth doctoring up. The small town fire departments in the area of the old farm also make stew in black kettles to sell as fund raisers, but now they use a gas fire ….. and the ‘recipe’ just isn’t the same as Granny’s …. similar, but not the same. Lately, the quality of these stews has become a disappointment as well.
So, in the quest for a passable Brunswick Stew, this past week we took Granny’s recipe and using a spreadsheet, broke the ingredients down to proportions that would fit in crock pots (you need two). We made the first batch (later made a 2nd) and let it cook in the crock pots for 20 hours. It smelled like stew, it looked like stew, and finally ….. it tasted really, really close to Granny’s black kettle Brunswick Stew. Nothing will ever match her stew, but this is pretty darn close. Mom is happy and she is the official taste tester and quality control inspector. We broke out the white (wheat) bread and the Diet-Rite Colas (no Pepsi) … and dished up the bowls of stew ….. and took a memory and taste trip back to the farm!
So … here’s the recipe (next post) ….. made (almost) the way Granny made it, in smaller proportions and in crock pots.
My Granny’s North Carolina Brunswick Stew
Crock pots: two, 6-7 quarts each (each will be about ¾ full of stew)
Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs of chicken (we used chicken breasts)
1-1/2 lbs of stew beef (bought it already cut up for stew)
1 onion (medium to large), diced
2-1/2 lbs of potatoes, peeled and diced fairly small (red potatoes are what we used)
60 ounces of canned tomatoes - we used 2 (28 oz) cans of diced tomatoes & ½ cup of crushed tomatoes (you could leave this ½ cup out or just use more diced tomatoes & probably be ok)
2 (15 oz) cans of (small) lima beans (drained)
2 (15 oz) cans of corn (drained)
32 oz. chicken stock
2 Tablespoons + 1 Tablespoon of sugar (or to taste)
2 Teaspoons of ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 Teaspoons of salt (or to taste)
¼ cup of butter (4 Tablespoons)
Optional: 4-6 shakes of Tabasco sauce, Texas Pete or whatever you like (or to taste)
Directions:
The beef/chicken can be fresh or frozen. Put the stew beef and chicken breasts in a large pot, add two cups of water and boil it all until the chicken is very tender. The stew beef will still be tough at this point, although it will be totally cooked through. Dice up the chicken meat and split the chicken meat and stew beef between the two crock pots . Take the juice left over in the pot and split that between the crock pots as well.
Peel and dice the potatoes & put half in each crock pot.
Peel & dice the onion and put half in each crock pot.
Drain and put 1 can of corn and 1 can of lima beans in each crock pots.
Put a can of diced tomatoes (undrained) in each crock pot.
Put 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes in each crock pot.
Add two cups of chicken stock to each crock pot.
Put 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon black pepper in each crock pot.
Add 2 Tablespoons butter (¼ stick) to each crock pot. (Note: don’t leave this out – I skimped on it in batch #1 & mom immediately said ‘something is not right’. Just as butter ‘finishes’ a sauce & gives it a rich, good ‘mouth feel’, the butter has the same effect on the stew, plus I think it helps keep the stew from sticking/burning to the sides of the crock pot)
Stir all to combine.
Turn crock pots on high for 1-2 hours until stew is really cooking, then turn crock pots down to the next setting (medium or low - however your crock pot works).
Let the stew cook for at least 20 hours total. Stir occasionally and add chicken broth if the stew gets too thick and looks like it needs more liquid to avoid burning (it will probably get a dark ring around the edges). Of course, you can cook it for a much shorter time, but you won’t have anything near a real Brunswick Stew. This long, slow cooking is critical to the taste and texture of the stew.
After 20 hours, take a potato masher and mash the stew until the meat is broken up and at least half or more of the potatoes are mashed. The stew will be somewhat thick yet still have some chunky vegetables.
To do the final seasoning adjustment, we combined the stew from both crock pots in the bottom half of a roasting pan and adjusted the seasoning for the batch as a whole.
Taste test the stew – add the 3rd tablespoon of sugar if you think you need it and the Tabasco or hot sauce (if you like some heat). Thin the stew with some chicken stock if it is too thick for your liking. Note: my mom is going for a particular taste remembered from childhood …. to stew batch #2, in addition to the seasonings mentioned in the ingredients, she added another teaspoon of black pepper, another teaspoon of sugar and we used a salt shaker to lightly sprinkle on a little salt (maybe an 1/8 of a teaspoon?) before she liked the final product. Since you are not trying to get to a ‘memory taste’, just season (or not) until you like the result.
COOL the stew within two hours & refrigerate or freeze. We set the roasting pan in a large cooler on top of 5lbs. of ice that was dumped in it. We stirred the stew every ½ hour. After one hour (two stirrings), the stew was cool – we let it go one more half hour & it was a bit ‘chilled’ and ready to put into smaller containers for eating over the next couple of days and/or freezing (it freezes well).
This makes about 5-6 quarts of stew.