Daring Cook Challenge - Brunswick Stew!

April is my first challenge month with the cooks at the Daring Kitchen, and I loved it!!  While the techniques weren't new or extensive, making stew certainly was when it was 80 degrees outside!  But today was my cooking day, and goodie for me it turned out to be chilly, so stew sounded good ... and the more it cooked, the better it smelled and the more I looked forward to our evening meal.

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, the longer and more-detailed recipe, and a shorter, quicker version from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Whether this hearty Brunswick Stew originated in Brunswick, Georgia in 1898, or Brunswick County, Virginia,in 1828 has kept cooks arguing and challenging each other for years!!  No matter where it originally comes from, it's a dish full of flavors and designed to feed the multitudes! Stews that combine meat and grain probably originated with ancient agriculturalists, in both the Old and New Worlds. According to the anthropologist Charles Hudson, Southeastern Indians made a stew from hominy and groundhog or squirrel, and also boiled bear and deer meat with fresh corn kernels and squash. Thus we conclude that Brunswick stew belongs to a family of southern stews.

Since I had lots of time to cook today, and I lined up some hearty appetites to finish it off, I chose the longer version to prepare.

1/4 lb / 113.88 grams / 4 oz slab bacon, rough diced
2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1lb / 455.52 grams / 16oz rabbit, quartered, skinned
1 4-5lb / 1822.08- 2277.6 grams / 64-80oz chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed (I also cut the breasts into three pieces because they were so big ... I wanted all the meat to cook at the same pace)
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / ½ oz sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
2-3 quarts / 8-12 cups / 64.607-96.9oz  Chicken Broth homemade recipe or packaged is fine
2 Bay leaves
2 large celery stalks
2lbs / 911.04 grams / 32oz Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped
3 ½ / 804.72 grams / 28.266oz cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped
2 cups / 459.84 grams / 16.152oz fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)
3 cups / 689.76 grams / 24.228oz butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen
1 35oz can / 996.45 grams / 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup / 57.48 grams / 2.019 oz red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Tabasco sauce to taste

My notes:
1.  I used fresh 2 Serrano peppers.  When I make this again I will probably use 4 peppers because we loved the smokey flavor of these peppers with just a great bite BUT NOT TOO HOT (I don't like hot stuff).

2.  Though I hunted the grocery stores in the area, rabbit just wasn't to be found, either fresh or frozen.  Didn't think to have my brother call in a favor with one of his hunting friends.  So instead I used some boneless pork country spareribs that I cut in small pieces and then shredded.

3.  My confession is that I added two cloves of garlic to the fat/oil when I was browning the chicken.  Why?  Because for the past 35 years I have been unable to cook chicken without using garlic-flavored oil.  A wonderful old southern lady who was a cook in my friend's house used to put some garlic in the fat when she was frying up chicken for the dinner.  We always knew what was coming when we smelled that fat and garlic and it still makes my mouth water when I smell it.  So, I had to put a couple of cloves of garlic in the fat (don't let it get burned as it will then turn the oil bitter).

Other than my garlic transgression, I followed the recipe exactly ...

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.


My little puppy Midge kept me company in the kitchen while I cooked.  Here she is taking time out from her supervisor duties :)








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.


I did get "thumbs up" from my brother Jimmy and his lovely lady, Karen!