Raleigh Way's Recipe for Brunswick Stew

A Traditional Southern Meal
Brunswick stew is a hearty meal made from chicken, pork, some vegetables and your favorite BBQ sauce. If you like BBQ sauce, you'll more than likely enjoy Brunswick stew. There are many versions of this recipe throughout the South, so this recipe is like opinions, everybody has their own.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large Boston butt
  • 1 large chicken or cooking hen
  • 2 large potatoes, cubed (less than an inch thick)
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1 regular size bag (or box) of frozen corn kernels
  • 1 regular size bag (or box) of frozen English peas (petit pois)
  • 2 or more regular size bottles of BBQ sauce (I use Kraft original)

Notes: You can use whatever veggies you like; some people like to add lima beans. (I would not recommend soft veggies or anything else that falls apart easily while cooking.) I've tried it with different BBQ sauces, too, but I always come back to Kraft, not that it is the "best," it's just what I got used to as a child.

Initial Preparations:

  1. Cover the Boston butt with foil on a slotted baking tray (to drain fat away from the meat), and bake it at 300-350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 3 hours. At 3 hours, remove the foil and continue to bake until the outside of the butt is almost charred, maybe 2 more hours. The meat should flake easily with a fork or knife. It usually takes about 5 hours to cook the pork to the desired point. When the pork is done, remove the bone and excess fat, and shred or dice it into small pieces.
  2. Boil the chicken or hen in a large pot of water until the meat begins to fall apart. Remove the meat from the pot, and keep the broth. Remove all bones, skin and fat from the meat, and then shred the meat into small pieces.

Assembly:

You are going to combine the pork, chicken, veggies and BBQ sauce in one large pot. The meat should be finely shredded or diced.

  1. Add pork and chicken to a large (really large!) pot.
  2. Add the 2 bottles of BBQ sauce. (You might try adding just one initially and adjust later to your own taste.)
  3. Add the veggies.
  4. Add enough chicken stock (defatted if you prefer - I do) to make the stew a little soupy. The stock should cover the meat/veggie mixture completely plus some.
  5. Simmer the stew on low heat on the stove for at least 3 hours. Stir frequently to prevent the meat and BBQ sauce from scorching in the bottom of the pot. The final consistency of the stew should be sort of thick, but easy to stir. You can adjust the consistency with chicken stock to suit your own taste; some people like it soupy, others like it thicker.

Serving the MealI stole this picture from the Web... I hope they don't find me. Actually, I found it on several sites, so I figured it was up for grabs!

Serve the stew in an individual soup or pasta bowl. Cornbread or corn sticks make a nice accompaniment.