The Southern Classic Brunswick Stew

I had not only never tasted Brunswick Stew – I had never even heard of this classic Southern dish. This is our first challenge since joining Daring Cooks. We joined to challenge ourselves, and this first recipe definitely did that.

The biggest challenge for me was the protein element.  The recipe called for rabbit, which I just couldn’t bring myself to use. (Where does one even buy a rabbit to cook?) Rabbits are cute and furry and — Hey! C’mon. It’s Easter  time —who can eat a bunny at Easter time?

So, I used chicken thighs. Not a bad thing, it turns out. The thighs were perfect in this. And I used a turkey leg as well.

The thing that is so amazing about this stew is the broth. It is sublime! Rich and flavorful, but refreshing at the same time. Being a southern Arizona girl, I added diced chipotle peppers, which added nice smoky heat. Yum.

MY husband LOVED this stew – he ate FIVE bowls the night I made it. No, I am not making that up. He still raves about it constantly and begs me to make this again. (NOTE TO HUBBY if you’re reading this: Perhaps a good quid-pro-quo would be a clean car in trade for more Brunswick Stew!)

I would definitely make this stew again and recommend it to all my fab frugal friends!

** See the end of this post to learn why the spoon is standing in the middle of this bowl in the photo!

BRUNSWICK STEW

Serves at least 8 hungry folks as an entree

Taken from The Lee Brothers “Stories and Recipes for Southerners”

1/4 pound bacon, diced
2 serrano or other dried red chiles (I used chipotles in adobo sauce)
1 pound rabbit meat (I used chicken thighs)
1 4 to 5 pound chicken meat or turkey leg ( I used a turkey leg)
1 tablespoon sea salt
8 to 12 cups chicken broth (I used 12)
2 bay leaves
2 large celery stalks, leaves included
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled carrots
4 medium onions, chopped
2 cups corn kernels
3 cups butter (lima) beans
1 can (28 ounce) or 4 cups whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of two lemons
Tabasco sauce to taste

Directions are taken ver batim from the Lees Brothers:

1-In the largest stockpot you have, which is hopefully larger than the 5 qt ones I have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

2- Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside.

3- Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.

4- With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.5 After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

5- Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.

6 You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.

***

Whew!

This is quite an undertaking, but worth the effort!

** NOTE: According to the Dean Brothers, most Southern cooks agree that Brunswick stew is not done properly “Until the spoon stands up in the middle.”

– posted by Donna