May 16, 2010: Green Chorizo

I have roasted green chiles leftover from the Daring Cooks' challenge so I looked for a simple recipe.

Here's another simple recipe from Mexico - One Plate at a Time, hosted by Chef Rick Bayless

Green Chile Chorizo (Link: http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=236)
Chorizo Verde
Makes about 1 1/2 pounds (3 generous cups)

Ingredients

1 large fresh poblano chile [I had roasted]
1 or 2 fresh serrano chiles, stemmed and roughly chopped [I had 1 roasted serrano and 1 roasted jalapeno]
1 medium bunch of cilantro, tough lower stems cut off, the leafy part roughly chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground pork (you’ll need pork that’s a little fatty - 25 to 30% - and preferably coarsely ground) [I used country style ribs with the intent of using a food processor.]
3 tablespoons spinach powder (available on the internet) [I was debating whether I should make my own spinach powder by drying my own, but did not have the time... I left this ingredient out.]
2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Roast, skin and seed the peppers.


2. Mix and pulse in a food processor.


3. Hand mix to ensure complete mixing. Cover and refrigerate for several hours before frying.


Note: I should have pureed the chiles, cilantro and salt first to make a paste, before adding the meat. As you can see, there are still large leaves of cilantro in the final blend.

May 14, 2010: Daring Cooks Roasted Green Chile

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.



Our hostesses chose a Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe using tomatillos. They recognize that some of you may not have access to fresh or canned tomatillos, or you may have already mastered a tomatillo sauce, so feel free to make any homemade Mexican style sauce that will challenge you.

Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the U.S. seem to get bigger and better each year. We don't know if that's because of the increasing Mexican-American population in the U.S. or if it's just a great excuse to have a fiesta with fabulous Mexican food. Either way we hope you'll join us in a little Mexican fiesta for May's Daring Cooks Challenge.

Recipe Source (Two recipes):
Fine Cooking (Online),
Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas,
Green Chile Sauce

Notes:
1. Roasting the Anaheim chiles is a critical part of the Green Chile sauce. More information about how to do this is included below, but please resist the temptation to rinse the chiles to remove the skin or seeds. You will lose lots of flavor if you do this!!
2. If using a broiler to roast the chiles, lining the broiler pan or baking sheet with foil greatly simplifies the clean-up process!
3. You may want to consider using gloves when peeling and removing seeds from the chiles. I keep a set of gloves in the kitchen for just that purpose. All it takes is one hand to the eye or nose for a lot of pain to set in!

For those who can't find tomatillos... Audax Artifex makes the following recommendations -
I've done some research on substitutes for tomatillos and came up with green gooseberries (which you can easily get in Australia and New Zealand) which look and taste very similar to tomatillos but gooseberries can be tarter than tomatillos so use only 3/4 of the recipe amount or add some sugar. A number of recipe sites in Australia mentioned this substitute and they stated it was a good sub for tomatillos.

I just got a phone call back from a mate of mine who does a lot of Tex-Mex cooking he suggests green tomatoes with tamarind paste (1 kg tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste) which he says is the best sub he has found - the tamarind paste is very tart and adds that unique taste. Also he says that green tomatoes with equal amounts of lime juice and prune juice (no added sugar) is better than lime juice alone.

Tomatillos look like green tomatoes, except they're encased in a husk that you peel off using.


For this challenge we'll be roasting green chiles.

Roasting Fresh Chiles
1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.

I've never used my broiler so this is a chance to break it in after owning it for 6 years.
Also, I didn't bother oiling the peppers before roasting.


2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.

Char, baby, char!
Remember to turn on your vent fan and open some windows. :-)


3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.

The charred peppers were placed in a bowl and covered to steam.


4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.

5. DO NOT RINSE!

I found that using a spoon made for easy skinning and seeding. Tongs were used to steady the pepper so I don't accidentally get pepper juice onto my hand and eventually into my eye. Fortunately, I don't contacts.


Green Chile Sauce
Ingredients

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)
7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems
4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)
¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
Hot sauce, your favorite, optional

Directions:

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.

Instead of boiling, I went broiler crazy and started charring all the other sauce ingredients.


Slightly charred :-)


I added a jalapeno just in case I wanted to boost the heat level. However, I opted not to use it in the end.


2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.

3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

Ready for the cooking.


4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.


6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.


Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas
2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)
3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)
Kosher salt and pepper
12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)
6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)
Green Chile Sauce
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional


1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Instead of grilling a chicken, I went to the local Costco and purchased a rotisserie chicken. Inexpensive and tasty with the emphasis on easy.

Also, I used the bones and meat bits to make a stock for the green chile sauce.


2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.

3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.

4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.

5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).

6. Drain on paper towels.

7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.

8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.

9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.

10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

Tortillas are fried and layered into a baking dish


11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.

12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.

13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Baked 450F for about 20 minutes. Finished off with Mexican cheese, Queso Blanco. A semi-crumbly cheese almost like Feta, but not as crumbly and salty as Feta.


14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.

The final dish... the stacked enchiladas topped with queso blanco and fresh tomatillo and avocado salsa. Mexican style brown rice and shredded lettuce. The shredded lettuce adds a nice cooling crunch to contrast the rest of the dish.


Overall, the flavor of the dish was good. The stacked enchiladas were a little mushy in the center... so that means I should have fried the tortillas a lot more darker, crunchier.

Recipe: Tamatillo-Avocado Salsa

May 13, 2010: Easy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

I'm a little late for Cinco De Mayo, but I was watching a TV cooking show, Mexico - One Plate at a Time, hosted by Rick Bayless.

He demonstrated a super simple salsa that require no cooking, just cutting up some veggies and using a food processor or blender. Also, the salsa looked delicious too.

Reference: Recipe from Season 7 of Mexico - One Plate at a Time

Link: Crunchy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa
Salsa Verde Crujiente con Aguacate

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

8 ounces (about 4 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1/2 cup (loosely packed) coarsely chopped cilantro
Hot green chiles to taste (roughly 2 small serranos or 1 small jalapeño), stemmed and roughly chopped [I used two roasted pepper - 1 serrano and 1 jalapeno]
1 ripe avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin
1 small white onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
Salt
1/4 C water so the blender/food processor can create a puree.

Directions:

1) Combine the water, cilantro, half of the tomatillo - coarse chopped and half of the avocado. Process into a coarse mixture.


2) Chop the onion and rinse through a strainer. This will take some of the bite off the onion.
Chop the remaining tomatillo and avocado - about 1/4" dice.


3) Pour into a bowl and combine. Add salt to taste.


4) Cover and refrigerate until needed.


A nice slightly tart green salsa that's very simple to make. The salsa gives a refreshing brightness to a dish.

I think a clove of garlic would be a nice addition too.

May 04, 2010: Tofu Tuesday Mango

Today's dish, Mango Pudding, is actually not tofu, but a gelatin dessert that looks like tofu.

In Cantonese, it's called "Mango Tofu Fa." Tofu fa (literally: Tofu flower) is usually made with silken tofu served in a light sugar syrup. However, I've heard this referred to as "mango fa" [mango flower], "mango tofu fa" and, according to wikipedia, "mango bo'ding' [phonetic Cantonese pronunciation of mango pudding].

The recipe is loosely based upon Dim Sum by Ellen Leong Blonder

Original Recipe
1/2 C water
2 Envelopes (2T) Unflavored Gelatin
1 1/4 C Sugar
2 Mangoes
1 C half & half
1 3/4 C boiling water

Why I did something different...
Well, I'm on this kick about making stuff with unflavored gelatin, like Panna Cotta, but worried that I'll end up with gummi bears instead of a delicate dessert. Of course, I decide to make mango pudding when mangoes are out of season where I could only find frozen mangoes.



Hmmm.... not much mango flavor here. It's the best I have at the moment.


My version is sort of a hybrid between mango pudding and panna cotta where I use a ratio of 3 cups of fluid for every 1 pack of gelatin.

1/2 C water
2 Envelopes (2T) Unflavored Gelatin
1 1/2 lbf Frozen Mangoes
2 C Heavy Cream [That's what I had in the refrigerator]
2 C Water
6 T Whole Milk Powder
3/4 C Sugar [or more to taste]

1. Bloom the gelatin in 1/2 C water.

2. Combine the mango, heavy cream, water and milk powder and blend into a smooth shake.


3. Strained the mango shake to get rid of any strings.


4. Over low heat, added 3/4 C of sugar. I generally add half the sugar in a recipe and add more as needed to taste.


5. Add the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved.


6. Pour into a baking dish, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
Cut into cubes before serving.


The mango pudding.

The mango flavor was rather mild. In fact, it tasted more like pear pudding than mango.


I should have just made a 3 cup batch with 1 envelope of gelatin. Also, talking with a coworker, he believes mango pudding is typically made with yellow Manila mangoes instead of the Tommy Atkins mango found in US supermarkets.

I'll have to try again when mangoes are in season. Also, I'll follow the recipe a lot closer. :-)

Apr 27, 2010: Daring Bakers All Steamed Up!

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

The challenge Esther set for us this month is to try a very British dish and a very British ingredient.

The actual recipes (I am giving you a choice) are pretty simple really but the cooking method and the core ingredient are something that many people do not use or do on a regular basis if at all.

Some of you will know about the British and the word pudding but for those that don't we use the word for many things:

1) Black pudding and white pudding a sort of meat and grain sausage. Black pudding uses blood as well as meat.
2) Pudding — a generic word for desert
3) Pudding — any dish cooked in a pudding bowl or pudding cloth normally steamed, boiled but sometimes baked.
4) An endearment i.e., "How are you today my pudding?"

For this challenge we are using the third meaning a dish cooked in a pudding bowl or cloth, though many of you may opt to do a sweet version in which case version two also applies!

The special ingredient is suet. Please, please don't worry if you can't get it. I will be suggesting alternatives but if you want to stretch yourselves and try some very traditional British dishes do try and source some as it does make a difference to the texture and Daring Bakers is all about trying things you wouldn't normal do or use. Please remember there are alternatives so please don’t worry if you can’t get or don’t want to use suet !

So what is suet?

It is the hard but flaky fat found on the inside of a cow or sheep around the kidneys and that area of the body. Suet in its raw form crumbles easily into small chunks so much so that my butcher says it covers his floor in bits if he doesn't have it taken out as soon as possible. In fact unless he knows he has a customer for it he has the abattoir take it out and throw it away and when I want some he gives it to me for free! It also melts at quite a low temperature, which has an effect on how it works in cooking. In some places such as the UK it is sold processed which basically means it is grated and combined with flour to keep the individual pieces from clumping together, and it becomes a sort of dried out short strands, almost granular in texture.

[Eat4Fun: No luck finding suet so I used shortening.]

Mandatory elements of this challenge are:

1) to make a suet pudding using real suet or as close a replacement as you can manage or is acceptable to you; and
2) to cook it by steaming or if you want to be even more traditional by boiling tied up in a cloth.

Recipe Source: Recipes come from the following sources: Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course, The pudding club (www.puddingclub.com), Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and the Dairy Book of Home Cooking and my family’s recipe notes!

[Eat4Fun: Many recipes were given for this challenge and I decided to make the steamed sponge pudding - Spotted Dick. For the full list of recipes see the Daring Kitchen or Esther's blog, The Lilac Kitchen]

Steamed Suet Pudding, sponge type.

(100 grams/4 ounces) All-purpose flour
(1/4 teaspoon) salt
(1.5 teaspoons) Baking powder
(100 grams/4 ounces) breadcrumbs [used whole wheat sliced French bread]
(75 grams/3 ounces) Caster sugar [used regular granulated sugar.]
(75 grams/ 3 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard) [75 g of Crisco turned out to be about 7T]
(1) large egg
(6 to 8 tablespoons) Cold milk

Variants:
Spotted Dick - Add 75g/ 3oz currants and 25g/1 oz of mixed chopped peel with the sugar [Wasn't sure if chopped peel referred to candied or zest. I used about 1/2 t of zest.].

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.

[Since I used shortening, I treated the dry ingredients, plus the sugar, and the shortening like I would a pie crust. First the dry ingredients are pulsed in a food processor to "sift" the ingredients. Next, the shortening is added an pulsed until combined.]


2. Add breadcrumbs, sugar and suet [sugar and fat was used in step 1].

[For breadcrumbs, I used whole wheat bread. The reasoning was to add some color and texture to the steamed pudding.]


[After a few pulses, coarse breadcrumbs!]


3. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk

[The recipe reminded me of bread pudding... so instead of milk I used heavy cream.]


[Since I was making Spotted Dick, I next added the currants. Tiny raisins the size of a BB pellet.]


[I wasn't sure what chopped peel referred to... candied citrus peel or zest? I used about 1/2 t of lemon zest.]


4. Turn into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.

[As I was going through the cabinets looking for a bowl, I found a rectangular glass dish with a glass lid. Looked perfect for the job and I didn't have to worry about covering the batter.]


5. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours

[For a steamer, I used my improvised wok steamer. The wok has a large dome lid so I'm able to cover the setup completely.]



[After 3 hours, we have a sponge pudding!]


6. Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce.

[The spotted dick was turned out onto a serving dish.]



[I viewed this as a bread pudding so I knew (or had it stuck in my mind) that I wanted to to a rum sauce for the dessert. Thumbing through one of my cookbooks, I found a Creme Anglaise recipe which called for vanilla and liqueur. My liqueur of choice is rum.

Slices were served with rum Creme Anglaise.]



[My first ever bite of Spotted Dick and British pudding in general.]


I wasn't sure what to expect from this challenge. Suet in a dessert dish and steaming on top of that lead to some apprehension on my part.

However, the end results turned out very nice, reminded me of a very rich (from the shortening) and moist (from the steaming) quick bread, such as, zucchini bread, but with currants/raisins instead of zucchini.

Also, the rum Creme Anglaise was a nice complement to the dessert.

Overall, a surprisingly tasty challenge.

Apr 14, 2010: Daring Cooks Brunswick Stew

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.



[Eat4Fun: Brunswick Stew is a recipe I've heard about quite often, but never really looked into it. I always thought it was named after a New England city, Brunswick, Maine. I don't know why I thought Maine, but apparently the stew is a Southern classic.

Wolf from Wolf's Den is our host for this challenge and provides the history behind this recipe. I learn something new with all these challenges. :-) ]

Brunswick Stew has a long, and oft debated history. Brunswick, Georgia claimed that the first Brunswick Stew was created there in 1898. There is, at the Golden Isles Welcome Center on Interstate 95, a bronzed stew pot with a plaque proclaiming this fact.

However, Brunswick, Virginia claims that the first Brunswick Stew was created there by a camp cook named Jimmy Matthews in 1828, for a hunting expedition led by Dr. Creed Haskings, a member of the Virginia State Legislature for a number of years. He was said to have used squirrel in the original Brunswick Stew created for the group when they returned. The hunters were at first skeptical of the thick, hearty concoction, but upon tasting it, were convinced and asked for more.

Every year, there is an Annual Brunswick Stew Cookoff that pits ‘Stewmasters’ from both Virgina and Georgia against their counterparts, and takes place every October in Georgia.

In the early 20th Cent, the rivalry of the two Brunswicks helped make this dish as popular as it is today, and it quickly became a pan-Southern classic. Some recipe call for the original addition of squirrel, but most allow for chicken, turkey, ham, or pork, even beef on occasion. Rabbit is also used. The vegetables can vary widely from variation to variation, however, the Brunswick Stewmasters recipe says *exactly* what is used in competion stews, and states that “Adding any additional ingredient(s) will disqualify the stew from being an original Brunswick Stew.”

However, most agree that, Brunswick stew is not done properly “until the paddle stands up in the middle.”

The first recipe is more traditional - long and involved, as can be many Southern recipes. The second was the very first Brunswick stew I ever tasted. Both are fairly straight forward and easy, requiring no special equipment, techniques, or super hard to find ingredients.

Recipe Source(s)- The first is from “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee”, and the second from the Callaway, Va Ruritan Club, who hand out cards with their recipe printed on them, every year at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, and where I tried my first ever Brunswick Stew.

Mandatory- You must use one of the two recipes provided. Now, to not exclude our vegans/vegetarians, if you’d like, use vegetable stock and leave out the meats. It won’t be a ‘true’ Brunswick Stew, but it’ll have the spirit of one.}J There’s no gluten anywhere in this that I’m aware of, so we’re good in that regard.

[I opted to to do the first recipe so for the second recipe please see Wolf's Den.]

Variations allowed-
Recipes may be halved if you choose.
You may substitute any vegetables you don’t prefer. You may use fresh, canned or frozen vegetables. My variations are included in the notes. For example- some recipes include okra in their stew, others use creamed corn.
You may sub out the rabbit for pork, turkey, beef, or even another game animal if you have it available.

[Thank goodness we can sub out the rabbit. I wouldn't even know where to find rabbit.]

Brusnswick Stew
Ingredients-
Recipe One, the Long Way-
From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Serves about 12

1/4 lb / 113.88 grams / 4 oz slab bacon, rough diced
2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1lb / 455.52 grams / 16oz rabbit, quartered, skinned
1 4-5lb / 1822.08- 2277.6 grams / 64-80oz chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / ½ oz sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
2-3 quarts / 8-12 cups / 64.607-96.9oz Sunday Chicken Broth [I used homemade stock]
2 Bay leaves
2 large celery stalks
2lbs / 911.04 grams / 32oz Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped
3 ½ / 804.72 grams / 28.266oz cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped
2 cups / 459.84 grams / 16.152oz fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)
3 cups / 689.76 grams / 24.228oz butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen
1 35oz can / 996.45 grams / 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup / 57.48 grams / 2.019 oz red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Tabasco sauce to taste

[In place of rabbit, I used chicken. To keep it lean and similar to rabbit, I skinned the chicken. However, I did leave the skin on the wings. Also, for extra flavor and keeping it Southern, I used a smoked turkey wing.]


[Chopped aromatics.]


[Bay and chili pods]


[Yukon potatoes and red tomatoes.]


Directions-
1-In the largest stockpot you have, which is hopefully larger than the 5 qt ones I have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

2- Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside.

[After frying the bacon, the chicken was slightly browned with the chili pods. With all of the flavorful pan fond on the bottom, I added the aromatics to sweat and loosen the fond.]


3- Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.

[Butterbeans is another name for lima beans. I look for frozen lima beans and could not find any. I ended up with dried beans, which I rehydrated overnight. As a result, I added the beans early in the cooking process.

Broth and the smoked turkey drumstick was added to the limas and aromatics.]


[Next, I added the chicken to allow for all the flavors to meld and cook.]


4- With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.5 After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

[The meat is retrieved and taken off the bone.]


5- Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.

[Next, the potatoes and tomatoes, plus more broth and the meat is added to continue cooking]


[Finally the frozen vegetables is added for the last bit of cooking. Finished off with the vinegar, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.]


6 You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.

The Finished Dish:
When I think about Southern cooking, I think about corn bread. The Brunswick stew was served over corn bread.

The stew had a rich smokey ham flavor which reminded me of red beans and rice.

A very nice, flavorful, hearty Southern meal.