Brunswick Stew

Winter favorites are often hearty meals, such as Brunswick Stew.

Here, in Virginia and North Carolina, -it is one of the seasonal staples. From Fall, and all through the Winter, Brunswick Stew happens to be the meal one makes, - be it to feed family or raise money for local Fire Department.

Like with other, extremely popular dishes, recipes vary from home to home. Chicken, venison, turkey, sometimes pork, rabbit and even squirrel can all be used in Brunswick Stew, depending on local area's preferences.In our case, we love to use our own home canned tomatoes. Home comfort food at its best, easy to make and delicious. Recipe below, calls for cooked, leftover turkey meat.

Ingredients (Makes 22 cups of stew).
5 cups turkey meat, cooked and cut into medium sized chunks,
2 cups celery stalks, chopped,
1 onion, chopped,
4 cups tomatoes (canned), chopped,
4 cups Lima beans,
2 (15 ½ oz.) cans of cream style corn,
4 cups potatoes, washed, peeled, and cubed,
3 bay leaves,
1 Tbsp olive oil,
8 cups stock (see Bone Soup & Stock),
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped,
salt, pepper to taste,

Method
(1) Warm olive oil and begin sauteing by adding onions. Let them sweat for a few minutes, then add potatoes, Lima beans, tomatoes and parsley.
(2) Cover the vegetables with stock and simmer for about 30-40 minutes.
(3) Add turkey meat and cream style corn to the stew. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for a little longer.
(4) Season, cool, refrigerate.

Please, note: - it is not customary to serve stew the same day, it was cooked. As grandma used to put it, -it improves with age. Best serve it the following day (after it's been refrigerated over night, first).

SERVING
Re-heat desired portions, and serve with cheese crackers, garlic bread, salad, etc., and freeze rest of the batch for future use.

Other Notes
(1) If you are not familiar with cups, assume an empty, 15 ½ oz. size can to have 2 cups capacity (1 cup=8oz.)

Back to January Recipes page

Feedback - contact.tcg.now@gmail.com
References
Special Thanks
Special Thanks to Town & Country Gardens Contributors:
bulabean, dive-angel (Karin), Jasmine&Roses, Rita Crane Photography. Rita Crane, daughter of LIFE magazine photographer Ralph Crane. Her work can be seen on Flickr at Rita Crane Photography or on her website., TMR Davies, W. D. Williams

Bone Soup & Stock....

Some of you may have heard the Stone Soup story; -we have a Bone Soup home tradition.
Ours, happens to be household of committed turkey eaters. We like it because it's healthy, tasty and economical; -one turkey can go a long, long way.
Well, it all begins with roasted turkey, eaten hot, then cold, and then, when we simply cannot manage another cut, we usually decide it's time to make Bone Soup!
Good soup must have good stock, and good stock needs bones. Roasted turkey bones, make very flavorsome stock. Once the stock is ready, we like to proceed and make Bone Soup, and just as in Stone Soup story, our Bone Soup's ingredients may differ, because we like to utilise ingredients we already have. Carrots, celery, garlic, sometimes mushrooms, broccoli, or for extra flavor, even tomato juice we made in the summer, will all at some point feature. It's always handy to have a nice cup of soup waiting whenever one fancies one. Here is how you do it.
BONE SOUP STOCK (Makes about 16-20 cups)
(1) Remove, all meat, dice and reserve it for future use.
(2) Put bones, and any jellied juices left from roasting into a stock pot.
(3) Cover the bones with cold water.
(4) Add 2 or 3 bay leaves. If you wish, you may add other seasonings, such as peppercorns, thyme, carrot or onion. However, I find leftover turkey already flavorsome enough, as it is.
(5) Put your stock pot on the stove and bring it to boil, and as it begins to, -reduce temperature to simmer and leave it uncovered for about 1 hour.
(6) Remove from the heat and let it cool a little, then remove bones and sieve the stock through a cheese cloth to remove any impurities.
(7) Freeze the stock for later, or use it straight away to make Bone Soup.
BONE SOUP
Ingredients - (Makes about 10 cups of soup).
1 medium size onion, peeled and finely chopped,
1 cup (about 3) celery stalks, thinly sliced,
10 garlic cloves (about 1 head) peeled and finely sliced crosswise,
1 cup (about 3 medium) carrots, sliced or chopped,
1 cup (about 6 medium) mushrooms (white or brown, fresh or dried, cleaned and sliced,
1 cup cooked turkey meat leftovers, cut into small chunks,
Fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks for garnish,
Onion chives or any other herb, you happen to have handy to use as garnish,
1 Tbsp olive oil,
Salt & Pepper.
Method
(1) Begin by heating olive oil on medium heat; add chopped onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms, cover the pot and let them "sweat" for a few minutes on medium-low heat.
(2) Add turkey to the pot.
(3) Cover with stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.
(4) Season with salt and pepper pour to the bowls and garnish with ginger and greens.
SERVING
Serve with garlic bread or cheese toast, and freeze any leftover soup for future consumption.
Notes
(1) Soups, just like stews are always best re-heated and served next day.
(2) Ginger is really good to have with your meal (and not just with "oriental" dishes). It will improve your digestion and make you feel light.
(3) Greens for garnish, are what's in season in our garden, onion or garlic chives, parsley, sometimes fresh thyme or cilantro (fresh coriander), etc., are all used making the same dish a little more varied and interesting, each time.
(4) Dry mushrooms are usually already sliced so use them as they are.
(5) On a really cold day, it's always nice to sprinkle some crushed Cayenne Peppers over the soup, to make it a little hotter!
Other Notes
(1) If you are not familiar with cups, assume an empty, 15 ½ oz. size can to have 2 cups capacity (1 cup=8oz.)

Back to January Recipes page

Feedback - contact.tcg.now@gmail.com
References
Find more about the Stone Soup Story
Special Thanks
Special Thanks to Town & Country Gardens Contributors: bulabean, dive-angel (Karin), Jasmine&Roses, Rita Crane Photography, Rita Crane, daughter of LIFE magazine photographer Ralph Crane. Her work can be seen on Flickr at Rita Crane Photography or on her website., TMR Davies, W. D. Williams