Daring Cooks April – Brunswick Stew

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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, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

I have to admit, I was not particularly inspired by this month’s Daring Cooks and dragged my heels a bit making it.  A stew?  Just as the weather was turning all spring-like, the last thing I wanted to be cooking was a big old stew.  Especially one whose main ingredient is rabbit.  I am sorry, I just don’t like rabbit.  Fortunately, there was an alternative recipe that seemed a little lighter and I was pleased to see it used ham as one of the meat ingredients – since we had a whole lotta ham leftover from Easter lunch.  Recipe Two, (The Short Way) goes on the assumption that you already have cooked your meats and have broth on hand (which I did from last month’s Daring Cooks challenge).  Wolf says: “This was also my first experience with eating Brunswick stew. It’s got more of a tomato base, has larger, chunkier vegetables, but is just as wonderful as recipe one. However, it is a lot quicker to make than the first recipe (the one with rabbit).”

It was a pretty easy recipe, no skill required!  I made it in the slow cooker on high for a couple of hours and it was pretty flavourful (though some people Neil needed to add some hot sauce).  I liked the flavour of the ham and the chicken together and served on a bed of rice it was a fast weeknight dinner the next night.

My notes in red below:

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Brunswick Stew

recipe from the Callaway, Va Ruritan Club, served yearly at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, Va.

Ingredients
Serves about 10

2 ½ lb TOTAL diced stewed chicken, turkey, and ham, with broth – yes, all three meats (I just used chicken and ham)
3 medium diced potatoes (I would use less – it was a bit too full of potato for my liking, especially if you serve it with rice, like I did)
2 medium ripe crushed tomatoes (I used canned)
2 medium diced onions
3 cups/ 689.76 grams / 24.228oz frozen corn
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz frozen lima beans (I used fresh peas)
4-5 strips crumbled bacon (I used pancetta)
½ stick / 4 tablespoons / ¼ cup / 56.94 grams / 2oz of butter
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz sugar
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz ‘Poultry Seasoning’ (since I used my own stock, I omitted this)
Dash of red pepper
2 diced carrots (optional) (I used these – liked the colour they added)
Tomato juice (did not use)

Method
In large stock pot or Dutch Oven, mix all ingredients, heat until bubbly and hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato juice as desired. Cook until all vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

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Last night, I actually used some of the leftovers (minus the potatoes) on some rigatoni – it made a pretty good pasta sauce too!

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32 thoughts on “Daring Cooks April – Brunswick Stew”

  1. It looks great! I love how you made it a pasta sauce, what an awesome idea. Using a slow cooker is perfect for this type of stew 🙂

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  2. I have to agree, I wouldn’t have been hip on the rabbit in there either. Also agreed, too warm for stews lol I like your modifications, looks tasty and anything you can cook in a slow cooker is a-ok with me!

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  3. Sounds delicious! I really need to try this – it’s a local Virginia specialty and I’ve never made it yet!

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  4. When I first saw that the subject of this challenge was Stew, I also thought it was a little uninspiring. But after reading your blog and looking at the pictures I have to admit I am thinking Stew sounds pretty good right about now! But hey even if I do not get a chance to make it, I will be tucking this recipee away for a yummy fall comfort dish! How I love the slow cooker in the fall/winter…. mmmmmm!

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  5. Looks good with the pasta and with the rice! I figured it was filling enough I didn’t need the extra! I also had so much I had to freeze some of it for later 🙂 Glad you wound up being happy with the challenge as I too was just not wanting more heavy food after winter, but it did work out well didn’t it?

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  6. I’ve found that if you leave the potatoes in a larger chunk rather than a dice, there doesn’t seem to be as many.}:P

    Lovely finished stew! Glad you enjoyed it!

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  7. Beautiful first photo Mardi! Good to see that pile o’ ham going to good tasty use. We could do with some stew around here actually – winter arrived the other day so it’s off with the Bonds singlets and shorts and in with the jeans and t-shirts. Bye bye Summer! Oh actually, I’ll be saying hello to summer again in a couple of months. Woo! 😀

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  8. E tu, Mardi? Daring Cook? I used to love the Brunswick stew at the local BBQ joint when I was a kid but never saw it with tomatoes! This doesn’t look like Brunswick Stew but that said it looks mighty delicious! Serve me up a plate of this!

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  9. i’ve never heard of brunswick stew, but your version looks tasty. i’d have made the rabbit switch too. one, not a big fan, and two, no idea where i might get that around here. short of my back yard, that is. 😉 interesting that it used the slow cooker – i’m always looking for new crock pot recipes, as i rarely use mine, yet when i do, we all end up loving whatever i’ve made in it. might have to try this next fall!

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