I have been planning on making my favorite Brunswick Stew for a while now and knew my dad would help with the barbecuing. First off, this is not a dish for the impatient as it takes a good 9 hours to make. Is it worth it? You bet.

On the other hand is this post worth the 9 hours it took to create it? God, I hope so. You see living out in the country, high speed Internet is not an option. I have had to tweak my sister’s computer to have all the gear and gadgets I need to create a post. Finally, a quiet moment presents itself, and I sit down to finish my writing. This opportunity lasted all but 2 minutes when the computer shut down and wouldn’t let me back on. Not back on the Internet or your site for that matter; it just wouldn’t let me get back on my site.

Trying to fix the problem while sitting a foot away from two guinea pigs playing around in their cage, loudly munching on their food was hard enough when suddenly my sister’s dogs came in the room to wrestle. This is a sight and a sound as Kyle is a 100-pound retriever with a head as big as a moose and Princess is a 10-pound daschund. They are wrestling over a stuffed toy fox, and Kyle seems to be winning while Princess’s feet are a mere 1-2 feet off the ground and she is being spun in a circle going from airborne to ground and back again. She won’t give in and this romping goes from my room to the hall and back again around my chair as they bump into me.

These are just the noises and disruptions from the animal kingdom. I am not even going to mention the human disruption and noise. The animals can’t read, but the humans can. I will say no more.

So, all in all this dish is so worth it, which is why I am not pushing the delete post button that is tempting me at the present moment. I am persevering to deliver to you the real McCoy of Brunswick Stews. A fewq months back I wrote “Is there a squirrel in my Brunswick Stew?”, you can read this humorous post if you want to learn of another simpler version. This is how much I care and want to share this gem as I know a few of you have 9 hours to prepare a meal. The redeeming factor is that this recipe yields 12 quarts - enough to make it worthwhile.

And of course, my joking about the squirrel in the Brunswick Stew finally caught up with me. It seems that the family, spear-headed by my Salmon- bonking daughter D, have been conspiring to surprise me since Saturday’s arrival.

The story goes like this. They were in search of a squirrel to deliver to me for the feast on Wednesday. My daughter D texted my sister H today and said, “the squirrel is en route.” My sister came home from work with a brown paper sack and said, “I brought you a surprise from Walt’s butcher shop. I stopped to get something for dad and you won’t believe what they had for $6.95 a pound. They had one left and it was a pound and a half-er!”

“What did you get me,” I asked?

“Open it and see.”

Well the trusting mom and sister that I am, I began to open the bag when I felt something was not right.

I screamed and ran away from the table, saying “did you really buy this or was it road kill?”

This brought hysterical laughter which brought on my spastic squirrel dance. The spastic squirrel dance is similar to my spastic snake dance. My feet and arms uncontrollably thrash and flail in the air while I try to get far away from the thing that is causing me to freak out. Not only did they laugh at my reaction, my daughter M took a series of photos of my movements. “Too funny!” they say. “Put those on the post.”

Now, I wouldn’t mind you seeing the spastic feet in the air episode of my squirrel dance if I were thinner. But, seeing that I am a woman with her priorities in order, I’ll leave you to your own imagination, which actually in hindsight could be worse than the real deal.

Enough of their pranks. Let’s get to the heart of the matter - Brunswick Stew and not just any Brunswick Stew. This recipe is the real McCoy in my book. Pretty bold for a Yankee to say, especially one who hasn’t eaten her way up and down the Southern states in search of the real thing. But some things you just know. Like when a meal or dish can’t get any better. This is one of those.

This version of Brunswick Stew is a lot of work and requires a big pot, as it makes 12 quarts. Yes, this is not a typo error. Don’t halve it as it needs to be made when you have a big group. The balance freezes well and you will be grateful for leftovers. Serve this with my cornmeal muffins and some coleslaw and you will have a crew of happy campers at your table. This is one of those meals where you force yourself to have seconds when you know there is no room.

For some reason I was craving some good old fashioned homemade baked beans to go with this stew. I will post the recipe for the best baked beans I have ever made. The recipe I chose is an adaption of Julia Child’s baked bean recipe. It was a perfect match and even though 100% Yankee food, it was a match made in Heaven.

I have had this photocopied recipe for over 20 years. My copy has the word Atlanta at the bottom of the page, so I am thinking it must be from the Atlanta Journal/Constitution or Atlanta Magazine. Researching proved unsuccessful as to the source of the recipe. This is an adaption of the original recipe and for someone who is not a big saver, I have had this tucked away for safe keeping knowing that I will return to it again and again. Now that I have had my grilling lesson from Dad, I feel confident to fix the pork roast.

Brunswick Stew

1 baking hen 2-3 pounds

1 4-6 pork butt

3 tablespoons of Spice Rub

3 pounds lean ground beef

chicken stock (from hen)

4-5 cups cut corn from the cob

1 46-oz tomato juice

12 oz ketchup

4 oz white vinegar

2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 oz Worcestershire sauce

4 oz soy sauce

1 heaping tablespoon dry mustard

1 heaping tablespoon chili powder

1 heaping teaspoon thyme

8 dashes Tabasco or hot sauce

• Boil a baking hen and its giblets in 2 quarts water, until quite done (2-3 hours,) reserving the stock for later. When done, set aside to cool and remove meat from bones. Grind in a food processor and grind to a coarse consistency.
• Pre-heat your grill outside and set to slow coals to about 250-275.
• Cut diagonal slashes criss-crossing the pork butt and rub the Spice mixture over it.
• Set the pork butt in a cast iron pan or another pan that will withstand the heat for at least 6 hours. Roast for 2 hours then begin to brush with the barbecue sauce (see recipe below), basting every 1/2 hour till the last hour. At this point you will add equal amounts of ketchup to the barbecue sauce and baste 3-4 times for the last hour. You want the meat to fall off the bone. Set aside to cool. Pull meat off of bones, and grind in a food processor to a coarse consistency.
• Mince the garlic and chop the onion.
• Brown the ground beef in a large pot and when almost done, add the garlic and onions till they soften.
• Then add the remainder of the ingredients and enough chicken stock to make a stew like consistency. (It will be thick so don’t worry.)
• Save the chicken stock to add to it if needed.
• I added 1 cup of the leftover barbecue sauce to this on a whim and it worked out.
• Simmer for 2-3 hours till the flavors have a chance to develop.
• Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Barbecue Sauce

8 oz soy sauce

8 oz Worcestershire Sauce

6 oz vinegar

2 oz lemon juice

6 oz orange juice concentrate

1 heaping teaspoon garlic powder

1 heaping teaspoon black pepper

2 heaping tablespoon brown sugar

1 heaping tablespoon dry mustard

8 dashes Tabasco or hot sauce.

• Combine and mix thoroughly.
• Use this to baste the meat about 2 hours into cooking.
• Keep basting every 30 minutes or so.
• When meat is almost done about the last hour, add equal amounts of ketchup to the sauce and baste every 20 minutes.
• Don’t add the ketchup sooner or it will burn.