The far famed Brunswick stew recipe

[dyemaker]

Virginia stew of squirrels


Clean wash and joint three squirrels

Lay in salt and water for half an hour

Put then into a broad pot in this order

First a layer of chopped fat salt pork then one of minced onions next of parboiled potatoes sliced thin then follow successive layers of green corn cut from the cob Lima beans and the squirrels

Proceed in this order seasoning each layer with black and more lightly with cayenne pepper until all the materials are used up

Cover with four quarts of boiling water and put a tight lid on the pot

Stew gently for three hours before adding a quart of tomatoes peeled and cut into bits two teaspoonfuls of white sugar and a tablespoonful of salt

Cook an hour more stir in four tablespoonfuls of butter cut up in two of flour boil three minutes and turn into a tureen


This is the genuine recipe over a [two centuries]* old for making the far famed Brunswick stew eaten in perfection at Old Virginia races barbecues and political dinners

Chickens lamb and veal may be used in place of squirrels also old hares



* From Marion Harland's Cookbook - 1907 :wink:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

that is much like an old recipe I found in local library some years back. sounds very good.

 

[dyemaker]

Actually there are too many Brunswick stew recipes to count. Some claim it originated in Virginia. Some claim Georgia. Some claim Carolina. The statement from Marion Harland's Complete Cookbook makes no sense to me because the Virginia Brunswick stew was supposedly first made in 1828.

I gave up on trying to pin the original recipe down. It is difficult. I've seen other full cookbooks like this while searching in google books with the term "Brunswick stew". I read a caption yesterday while looking around that amused me. It read like this...

"De ham-bome am sweet, De possum am good, An' de chicken meat am berry berry fine. But gimme, oh gimme, oh how I wish you'd gimme dat water-milyon smilin' on de vine."
:rotf:
The thing about these old books is that they are often found online since they are out of print. I sort them by "full view". Same can be said about books on flyfishing and firearms etc. Heck I like the old books alot better anyway! The cook book this was taken from was the book I used as a kid in making mead, dandelion wine, pie of small birds, Hollandaise sauce etc. for my early cooking experiments. I still have it. I have made this recipe with squirrel and rabbit and it is tasty!

:stir: :shake:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

"pie of small birds".
be referring to dove breast meat pot pie are ye?
fine cuisine IMO with a side of fried cabbage.
and of course a bottle or two of good dry red. :thumbsup:

 

[dyemaker]

I used Snipe. Like in the James Dean movie. Yes... there is such a thing. I was going to try blackbirds but chickened out.

 

[shmrck1]

Blizzard,
I recently saw a recipe using crow.Honestly
I did not know that crow was a food product.....
I guess unless you were really,really hungry.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[david50]

snake eyes,crow can be eaten but taste like very,very strong liver :barf:

 

[nchawkeye]

Actually I believe this was first made in the Brunswick area of old Germany and brought over here by Hessians...

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I've wondered myself about the orgins, Germans or Dutch would come up w/this.
seems to me it actually started in Penn around German/Dutch areas.

 

[dyemaker]

More likely it came from Denmark or Sweden and was introduced to the area known today as New Brunswick. Just joking.
:haha:

As a kid I tried It when the family was travelling through Georgia and it was the best stuff ever. I recall the pretty waitress with the sweet sounding Georgian accent too.


I don't know where it originated i just like it.

 

A debate currently exists as to whether Brunswick Stew was actually originally made near the town of Brunswick, Georgia, or in Brunswick County in southern Virginia.
In Georgia, a plaque on a pot in Brunswick states that the first Brunswick stew was cooked in it on July 2, 1898, on nearby St. Simons Island. A competing story, however, claims that the dish hails from Brunswick County, Virginia. According to one legend, the camp chef of a Virginia state legislator invented the recipe in 1828 on a hunting expedition and everyone was immediately hooked.

http://www.tourbrunswick.org/brunswick_stew.htm
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-555

 

[Blizzard of '93]

where ever this dish got started I'm glad it did.
some goooood stuuff! :thumbsup:

 

[Pork Chop]

Three years ago I posted a Brunswick Stew recipe as a thread. I just put it in for the small game recipe yesterday. For those that don't want to search, here is my version:

Brunswick Stew

Ingredients:

7 squirrels - boiled and deboned (get those pesky pieces of shot out too...)
1 large can whole stewed tomatoes - drained
1 small can tomatoe sauce
1 can creamed corn
1 can early peas - drained
1 package frozen lima beans
1 package frozen corn
1/2 to 1 bottle of barbeque sauce
1 can of chicken (optional if your tree rats are on the small side...
1 onion (or you can use dried minced onion as it will have plenty of time to rehydrate)
garlic to taste

Preparation:

The night before, boil and bone the squirrels. In the morning, put the ingredients in a large crock pot on the low heat setting. Start with just a half of a bottle of barbeque sauce. My suggestion is to NOT get a sauce that is really sweet as it will overpower the rest of the ingredients. Kraft original will work fine. I started ours at about 7am and we had dinner that night at 6:30. It was bodacious! I put a dash of Louisana hot sauce in mine, and we served it with homemade corn bread. YUMM!!

 

[Pork Chop]

Darn you all for talking about this! I couldn't resist anymore and put a crock pot full of stew on this morning!