Brunswick Stew Cook

[Thingfish]

It's still too hot here in Florida to do a big stew cook, but I'm stubborn and needed a stew fix, so ... full speed ahead! I have a 5 gallon cast iron pot I use for this, fired by a propane burner due to the need for a low temperature, adjustable heat source. It would be fair to say that this cook involves a good amount of work, so I split it into two days.

Day one was for pre-cooking the meat. I hung a chicken, a pork butt and a chuck roast in my PBC with a light sprinkling of a basic seasoning (Pappy's All-Purpose).

The chicken was removed at 2 hours and the butt and chuckie were yanked at 160 and wrapped. They were removed when they probed tender. Then came the pulling and shredding task, which took several hours.

Day two involved peeling and chopping lots of onions followed by peeling and dicing lots of taters. Then both the onions and the taters needed to be cooked before combining the stew. Adding everything and slow cooking for three hours rewarded me with a nice thick stew that held up my four foot stirring paddle (a peeler, actually).

After putting 20 quarts in the fridge I was able to settle down to a dinner of brunswick stew, cole slaw and hushpuppies.

The meal was it's own reward, along with lots of stew for the freezer and some to enjoy this week. But why not have a little peach cobbler ala mode for dessert?

Thanks for looking!

 

[ShencoSmoke]

Looks great! The chill is in the air, almost stew season here.

 

[Stingerhook]

That stew looks fantastic. I want me a hushpuppie.

 

[cueball21]

I can smell that stew in Texas!! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[cheez59]

Big Brunswick stew cooks are becoming a thing of the past in a lot of places. Great to see you are keeping it alive. Goooood stuff!

 

[qman]

Good looking Brunswick stew, Thingfish. In Florida we can't allways wait for cold weather.
Your entire meal, including dessert, is very appealing.

 

[Diesel Dave]

Dang now I have a serious craving, since I'm lazy, I'll be by to pick up a quart :becky:

 

[Bonewagon]

A bowl of that would really hit the spot right now. Looks delicious. :thumb:

 

[qman]

Dang now I have a serious craving, since I'm lazy, I'll be by to pick up a quart :becky:

Pretty good drive, Dave. But if you do, swing on out to west Orange county and I will take you fishing on our lake.:becky:

 

[landarc]

That's a nice cook and a good meal

 

[jfletcherMD]

Looks great Thingfish. Definitely ready for some cooler weather here so I can cook up a batch of my own! I've got a venison leg roast in my deep freeze from last season that's just begging for some "smoky love" and to be added to a huge pot full of stew!

I agree with Cheez in that "big" Brunswick Stew cooks are becoming more and more rare - which is a shame, because this is how I (and so many of us...) remember getting our first tastes of this delicious stuff at countless fall festivals, church picnics, parades, pig cooks, football games, school fundraisers, etc. Heck, when I was growing up in the 80's in Georgia, you couldn't go to ANY sort of civic/school/social/church function without passing a group of older, sleep-deprived men sitting under a canopy tent stirring a huge cast-iron cauldron full of stew with a boat oar (that probably pre-dated the Industrial Revolution :wink, and debating everything from politics to college football to how much black pepper to add to the simmering goodness inside the pot.

So thanks for posting your pictures - they make me both hungry AND nostalgic! :thumb:

 

[Thingfish]

My recipe for 20 quarts is scaled down from my North Carolina extended family's 85 quart recipe. I believe it comes from a church recipe. None of my immediate family were keen on learning it, so I learned from a cousin on my mother's side of the family. It is my ultimate "tiebreaker" with my sisters, who love to eat it but can't cook it worth a hoot.

 

[qman]

Looks great Thingfish. Definitely ready for some cooler weather here so I can cook up a batch of my own! I've got a venison leg roast in my deep freeze from last season that's just begging for some "smoky love" and to be added to a huge pot full of stew!

I agree with Cheez in that "big" Brunswick Stew cooks are becoming more and more rare - which is a shame, because this is how I (and so many of us...) remember getting our first tastes of this delicious stuff at countless fall festivals, church picnics, parades, pig cooks, football games, school fundraisers, etc. Heck, when I was growing up in the 80's in Georgia, you couldn't go to ANY sort of civic/school/social/church function without passing a group of older, sleep-deprived men sitting under a canopy tent stirring a huge cast-iron cauldron full of stew with a boat oar (that probably pre-dated the Industrial Revolution :wink, and debating everything from politics to college football to how much black pepper to add to the simmering goodness inside the pot.

So thanks for posting your pictures - they make me both hungry AND nostalgic! :thumb:

Pretty much the same as my memories growing up in Georgia in the 40's-50's.