Brunswick Stew w/ Smoked Chicken & Pork

Until 4 days ago I hadn't heard of Brunswick Stew, which is more popular down south than around these parts. I was looking for a hearty one pan meal for today and nothing beats a tasty stew. Particularly when it uses smoked meat. Traditionally Brunswick Stew was made with whatever meat was handy such as rabbit or squirrel. I didn't feel the need to go quite that authentic. The recipe I found used smoked chicken breast and smoked pork shoulder. It was a 2 day cook. I smoked the meat on Friday and threw the rest of the soup together on Saturday.



It was a great day for Winter smoking. Sun out, no winds, temps in the mid-20's. We've had our share of snow in January though, the snow banks are at the level of the side table of the CG.





The 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts were sprayed with EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper.





The 4 pound pork shoulder roast was also sprayed with EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper.





The chicken and pork shoulder are on the smoker which is running at 225 using Stubbs 100% All-Natural Charcoal Briquettes and pecan chunks. This was my first time using Stubbs brand and I was quite pleased.





The chicken is done after 2 1/2 hours.





The chicken gets chopped into 1/4" x 1/4" strands.





The pork shoulder roast is up to 190 after 7 hours.





The pork shoulder roast also got cut into 1/4" x 1/4" strands. It gets refrigerated overnight along with the chicken.





It is now Saturday and the smoked chicken and pork are out of the refrigerator and it is time to make the stew.





Besides the smoked chicken and pork the stew uses diced tomatoes, ketchup, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, white vinegar and Texas Petes hot sauce for the broth. The veggies are corn, peas, green beans, yellow beans, diced potatoes and diced onions. The seasonings were salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.





The ingredients are all prepped and have been added to an 8 quart pan.





The stew has been simmering for nearly 4 hours and is ready to eat.







Some buttermilk bisquits are out of the oven and it is time to eat.





This was an incredibly tasty stew. Everyone had seconds.

This was my first time eating Brunswick stew and I can tell you it won't be my last. This was the first stew I've had with a tomato based broth, as opposed to beef. The large amount of veggies gave this stew great flavor and every bite was a little different from the one before it or the one after it. This hearty stew was just the ticket for a cold Winter's day.

Jim

Mmm...that looks incredible!!! I've never had Brunswick Stew, but now I HAFTA have it!!! Wish I could've had a bowl of that.....Great smoke rings and Great colors to that stew!!!

Jim.. You always take your posts "to the next level" with in depth pics and it's appreciated.. Awesome job (again)!!

That's one hearty looking stew. Seems like you put a lot of effort into making it, and it paid off handsomely. Thanks for sharing.

The stew looks great, but I am not sure I could have resisted the pork butt till the next day. Great smoke ring. That looks like the prefect meal to go with the piles of snow outside.

Nice job...

Thanks all!

QJuju:
You assumed I had the will power. I knew better. I will let you do this math: I needed 2 1/2 pounds of shredded pork and I intentionally bought a 4 pound roast. There was about 3/4 of a pound of fat I removed when shredding it. Does that add up to 4?

Now there just happened to be some BBQ sauce, white bread and pickles around when I shredded that pork. Can you guess what became of the extra 3/4 pound of shredded pork?

Jim

The stew looks wonderful! I've been looking for ideas for something new and I think this one gets added to the list. Thanks for sharing.

Being from the north I to had never had or even heard of Brunswick Stew before moving to Savannah.

Once here, I found that it is a standard side dish on nearly every BBQ joints menu.

There are more recipes for the stew than you can count and there's not one I haven't enjoyed.

I am not a big fan of stew, but that one looks I might enjoy it. Almost looks like a soup tho.

I am sure nobody faults you for sampling some of that pork a little early. We all would.

Man that looks great. I could go for some today with this 18" of snow that's hitting us right now.

Jim, since you didn't mention cooking it I take it the diced onion was raw when you put it into the stew? How noticeable was the flavor?

I like the tableware, especially the tureen. Much nicer than just using some big old bowl!

Brad

Brad:
Everything but the meats went in raw. Next time I will par boil the potatoes before dicing, they were still a tad hard. As for the onions: I didn't really notice their flavor specifically. The predominate flavors were from the diced tomatoes in the tomato based broth, the smoked meats and the hot pepper sauce. The rest was a blend of flavors from the veggies. You could always leave out one or both onions, but I think you'd be hard pressed to pick out the onions flavor.

I got the dishes and the tourine two summers ago when I started making soups using the grill or smoker.

Jim