Brunswick Stew (Pork Stew, Southern Style)

MapleLeafLili Hill's Note:

Well, it's called stew, but it's not chunky at all! Really yummy, and is served at many BBQ shacks in Georgia. This recipe is one I came up with to copy-cat the stew served in Zeb's BBQ in Northeastern Georgia.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 stew pot

• 2 lbs ground pork
• 1 (15 ounce) can pork and beans in tomato sauce (mash the beans)
• ½ large onion , minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes (dice these really finely)
• 1 -2 garlic clove , minced
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch hot pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8; teaspoon pepper
• 1 dash ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon beef bouillon (OXO brand)
• 1 lb frozen sweet corn (or slice frozen corn off cobs for smaller pieces, be sure to scrape cob for 'milk')
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 -3 tablespoons white vinegar (to suit your taste)
• frank red hot sauce (to serve on stew)
• serve with sunbeam white bread (No substitutions on this one! it's a necessity with this stew!)

Directions:

1. In a cold stew pot, place your tomato sauce, finely diced canned tomatoes, pork and minced onion and garlic.
2. Mash your canned beans (throw out the hunk of pork fat that comes in the can).
3. Add the mashed beans to your pot.
4. Put the ground pork into the pot, and mash with a fork until everything in the pot is well-mixed and looks 'pureed'.
5. Turn on your flame and use a wooden spoon to keep stirring this mixture until the color of the meat changes and it is cooked through.
6. (I think I probably cook it this way on the stove top for about 15-20 minutes on medium high heat, stirring so nothing burns onto the bottom.) At this point I transfer the whole lot to my crock pot, but you can continue on with just the stew pot on the stove top.
7. Add your spices, cumin, hot pepper flakes, salt, pepper, oregano, and beef bouillon.
8. Taste it to see if you have everything in in the proportions you like.
9. (I usually end up adding a lil' bit more of each spice to suit our tastes).
10. Allow it to simmer a bit, so the spices meld together nicely.
11. Give it another taste, add any spices you see fit to suit your tastes.
12. I generally add the corn now (We prefer our corn cut off the cob in smaller pieces than whole kernels). Add the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
13. Be sure to taste-test to see if you need to add more or not.
14. Simmer until you are ready to serve.
15. If your pork was cooked in the step 5 as instructed, you really just need to add the corn, vinegar and Worcestershire and heat it through.
16. But I find it's easy to leave this in a crock-pot to keep it hot.
17. When serving, pour some Frank's Red Hot sauce on your own bowl of the stew, (this way you can gauge the heat for each individual eating the stew.) (Optional: You can cook 1-2 chicken breasts in water until they will flake apart -- cut them finely, flake them so they aren't in chunks, and add to your stew).

Reviews

[Darkhunter]

I gotta say, the looks of this were a little strange to me, but I fixed it just like you said to. I, also, used a whole onion, and chopped coarsely, as that's what my sisters prefer. Now don't take this the wrong way, but I felt as though I were serving dog food. But, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, it tasted fabulous!!! Of course, I've never fixed Brunswick stew before, so this must be the way this is supposed to look! The only change I will make is to add more heat. I couldn't taste it while cooking as I was wearing a mask. Health issues with my sister right now. But we will have this again, and again and again. Thnx for posting, MapleLeafLili Hill

[cause4chubbyhubby]

Tonight was my second time making this, and according to my Georgia-native hubby it's very close to being exactly as he remembered it! My alterations were as follows: One whole onion, half the amount of tomatoes, 3-4 garlic cloves, and half the amount of corn (which I chopped). Hubby says next time make it a little less runny and a tad more salt and it'll be perfect! Thanks for helping me bring a bit of his childhood back.

[kclay61]

I live about 10 miles from Zeb's BBQ. I don't care for the BBQ itself but the Brunswich Stew is awesome!!!!