Brunswick Stew!

Things have been a little busy and I haven't really used my cast iron lately, but I thought I'd share a recipe that I just made over the weekend. My son is a Brunswick stew fanatic, but he's also very picky about it. There's this one restaurant about 45 minutes away that makes his perfect version of it, but of course we haven't lived in that area for going on a decade, so it's rare that he gets to eat it. A while back, we bought a Boston butt from someone whose child was doing a fundraiser, but when we pulled it to have sandwiches, it was a little bland and it was obvious they were cooked in a hurry. That's when I decided that the rest of it should be used for Brunswick stew.

I did this as a stew with ground meat, because to me, that's Brunswick stew. If you prefer your stew chunky, skip the

Before you use this recipe! Please read to the end. My yield on this recipe was just over 1-1/2 gallons, but for the amount of work you're about to put in, I wouldn't recommend cutting it in half. In fact, double or quadruple this recipe for big events! Give it away, freeze it, donate it to a soup kitchen, or hand it out to the homeless, but remember that it's the large batch stew that usually tastes the best. I'm going to give the recipe as I made it, but then I'm going to do a "what I'd do differently" section based on my observations. I'll also repost the recipe with my alternative versions as I tweak it, which you'll be able to search for with the label "Brunswick stew" if you're interested.

Brunswick Stew

2 pounds cooked Boston butt, preferably smoked
2 pounds chicken breast, see below
1 large chicken bouillon cube (or 2 small ones)
1 large vegetable bouillon cube (or 2 small ones)
2-3 cups water
2 (15 ounce) cans of whole kernel corn
3 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes
1 medium sweet onion
6 small potatoes
48 ounces of ketchup4 Tbs Paw Paws Snake Bite Habanero Hot Sauce (See note below)
2 Tbs smoked paprika
2 Tbs cayanne pepper
1 Tbs garlic powder
3 tsp minced garlic
32 ounces Blue Moon Bar-B-Que Award Winning Bar-B-Que Sauce
2 Tbs tumeric
2 Tbs yellow mustard
1 (15 ounce) can of cream corn

Chop the pork into small pieces, set aside. Boil chicken with bouillon cubes and enough water to cover the chicken in a small pan. Reserve stock and cut chicken into small pieces. Run both meats through a meat grinder (I used the large holes on the attachment to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer), and set aside. Open and drain both the kernel corn and tomatoes, then mix them together in a bowl. Trust me, it makes the next part easier, but it's still a little messy. Slowly feed the corn and tomato mix through the grinder, set on the lowest setting. Peel and cut the raw onion and potatoes into small pieces and feed them through the grinder as well.

Combine all the ingredients, except the cream corn, in a deep pot and bring them slowly to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the cream corn. (If you add it earlier, you're more likely to have issues with the stew sticking. Split into 2 batches (unless you have a very large crock pot), putting the first batch into the crock pot for 8 hours on low. Put this batch into freezer containers and replace with the 2nd batch, repeating the cooking directions.

What would I have done differently?

At this point, I think I want to reduce the hot sauce by half, and probably use roasted diced tomatoes for the next batch.

Regarding Paw Paw's Snake Bite Habanero Hot Sauce, I happened to have this on hand because I bought it at a local festival. It's the best hot sauce hands down if you want tons of flavor and not just heat. I've tried to find a web site where you can purchase it, but apparently it's not in any online stores anymore. The couple may still be selling it at festivals, but if you're interested in contacting them about buying some, you can find their contact information here.