Brunswick Stew

This is a great recipe from Cuisine at Home (Oct 2001). While you can use possum and squirrel, I prefer the beef/chicken version myself!!!

• Ready In: 4 hrs 15 mins
• Yields: 16 cups

Ingredients

• 4  lbs chicken breasts, split
• 2 1⁄2 lbs  chuck roast, boneless
• 6  ounces  thick sliced bacon, cut into 2 inch pieces (5 slices)
• 2  cups yellow onions, chopped
• 3  tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1  cup low sodium chicken broth (combine with meat juices for a total of 3 cups, see directions for details)
• 6  cups tomatoes, chopped (or 2 28oz cans diced tomatoes with juice)
• 2  cups ketchup
• 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄2 cup prepared yellow mustard
• 1⁄2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1⁄2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2  tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)
• 1  tablespoon Tabasco sauce
• 3  cups corn, frozen
• 2  cups baby lima beans, frozen (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Rinse chicken and pat dry, cut breasts in half and chuck roast into 4-5 pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and roast 1 hour.
2. Remove roasting pan from oven. Place meats in a separate container to cool. Pour meat juices into heatproof measuring cup, place in freezer for 30 minutes, then remove and scrape off the fat.
3. After fat has been skimmed, add enough chicken broth to meat stock to bring level up to 3 cups (you should start with about 2 cups of meat stock). Set aside until ready to use.
4. When chicken has cooled, remove the skin and bones. There is no need to cut up the pieces as it will stew for an additional 2 hours and will wind up shredding on its own.
5. Chop bacon into 2" pieces, saute in large stockpot over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon and drain off all but 2 T of fat. Return bacon to pot and increase heat to high.
6. Add onions and cook to soften, stir, scraping up the bacon bits. Add garlic and cook until you can smell it. Deglaze pan by adding meat stock mixture to loosen all brown bits on bottom of pan.
7. Add the tomatoes, ketchup, brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire, cider vinegar, lemon juice and Tabasco. Stir well.
8. Add chicken and beef pieces to the pot. Stir meat into the stew so that all the pieces are submerged in sauce. This is stewing--simmering tough pieces of meat to tenderize and flavor.
9. Cover and simmer stew for 2 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure sugars aren't scorching. Remove cover during last 1/2 hour. Break up large meat chunks with a potato masher if needed.
10. Add corn and lima beans (if desired) and cook stew for 30 minutes more.
11. Serve with corn muffins and extra Tabasco.