Winter Test Kitchen Fun

After a warm winter last year, this one is COLD. Getting outside is not fun or even tolerable some days, so guess what? It's cooking time! Lucky for me, Traylor loves to reinvent popular recipes. And while this means I need to learn to like washing dishes, it really is fun to watch... and sample. His latest is Brunswick Stew and it's not intended to go along with Barbecue, but to be a meaty meal in itself along with, Traylor suggests, some cornbread and a citrus-avocado salad. Delicious. Try it.

TR's Reinvented Brunswick Stew

There are scores of recipes for Brunswick Stew claiming to be the “original.” Virginia (Brunswick County) and Georgia (the town of Brunswick) both claim to have started cooking the stew. The truth is that no one really knows for sure, and some say the concoction pre-dates the arrival of Europeans on the North American continent. Maybe it started in Braunschweig, Germany. 

Whatever the true origin, Brunswick Stew takes on many variations, some of them geographically based as with barbecue. In fact, it is often served as a side with a barbecue meal. The biggest variable is the type of meat used, the earliest recipes perhaps using squirrel and rabbit. Chicken is most common these days, or a mixture.

The goal of this “reinvented” version is to bring together the most common elements found in Brunswick Stew, but to scale it down to more family-sized proportions. See what you think:

 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
 Water
 1 carrot, scraped
 Bunch celery tops
 1 bay leaf 
 1 lb. total – any combination of pulled pork butt or beef brisket*
 2 Tbs butter
 1 onion, finely chopped
 3 cans crushed or petite diced tomatoes
 8 oz Heinz ketchup 
 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
 ¼ to ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper, depending on your taste
 1 14-oz. can chicken broth (or used reserved chicken stock above)
 2 10 oz. packages frozen lima beans
 1 can white shoe peg corn, undrained 
 1 can cream-style white or yellow corn
 ¼ lemon, any seeds removed
 Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
* In a pinch, substitute ground pork and / or beef.
 

Bring water, chicken thighs, carrot, celery and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Remove cooked chicken and allow to cool. (If desired, continue reducing the chicken stock, and reserve for use below.) Using two forks, pull the chicken thighs until shredded. In a large Dutch oven or similar heavy pot, sauté the onion in butter until translucent. Add the tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and cayenne and stir well. Add all meats, vegetables and other ingredients; heat to simmering. Simmer on low heat for a few hours until thickened, or place in a 300F oven for 2 hours or so. Freezes well.

Serves: 10

                                                        TR