Brunswick Stew
As we prepare for fall, I’m thinking of all of my favorite soups and stews.
A Southern classic sometimes overlooked these days is Brunswick stew, variously claimed by Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.
Here is a North Carolina version from Beth Tartan’s North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery.
Skip the rabbit or squirrel if you must. An interesting substitute is about 2 cups North Carolina chopped pork barbecue.
George Kempton’s Brunswick Stew
1 large stewing or baking hen (5 pounds or more)
1 pound lean veal or beef
1 rabbit or squirrel, if available
Water to cover
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 cups whole-kernel fresh white corn
4 cups small fresh lima beans
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
3 teaspoons salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce or to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup butter
Stew chicken and meat together in salted water to cover until the meat falls from the bones. Cool; shred with the fingers, discarding skin, bones, and fat. Put meat back into strained broth and continue to simmer.
In another pot, cook potatoes with onion, corn, lima beans, and tomato sauce in water to cover for about twenty minutes or until the potatoes are done. Combine with meat. The mixture will be thin like soup. Simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Watch to prevent burning. Season with salt, pepper, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire. Add butter. Makes four quarts.
From North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery by Beth Tartan (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992).
