Brunswick Stew, a southern classic

The day before Easter I cooked a rabbit. What might be considered slightly more offensive is that I fed it to the neighbor kids... in a stew. Before then, I'd never cooked rabbit nor tasted one for that matter. Honestly, I was a little squeamish at the notion of either. I think the timing of the holiday was the exact, cheeky impetus I needed to execute (the traditional approach to) this recipe. Besides, my Easter basket arrived via the US Postal Service a few days early. Really, there was very little to lose.

Recipes for Brunswick Stew vary greatly but it is usually a tomato-based stew containing lima beans or butter beans, corn, okra, other miscellaneous vegetables, and one or more types of meat. Most recipes claiming authenticity call for squirrel or rabbit meat, but for the less adventurous, chicken, pork, and beef are also commonly acceptable. The stew resembles a vegetable soup with meat. What distinguishes Brunswick Stew from vegetable soup, though, is the consistency. Most variations are quite thick, having more meat and vegetables than broth. In fact, it's been said that Brunswick stew is not finished simmering “until the paddle [used to stir it] stands up in the middle” of the pot on its own.

This version of the stew has a distinctly smokey taste imparted by simmering with good quality bacon. The slight gaminess of the rabbit also adds an interesting spiced nuance. Rabbit is actually a fairly lean white meat, so the healthfulness factor is quite favorable. A third element integral to building the flavor of this stew is using a homemade chicken stock. It makes a world of difference, so is worth the little extra effort it entails. My new favorite stock recipe is thoroughly detailed in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and a good explanation of Judy Rodgers' tips are given here. A key difference from most other stock recipes is her preference to use a whole, fresh chicken (head and feet included, yet minus the breast meat). I'm quite proud to say I (a person with raw meat squeamishness) made this meat-laden meal, entirely on my own! ...though gratefully the chicken I purchased from my local butcher did not still have its head or feet intact.

One final stew ingredient I used that's worth mentioning is the gorgeous Christmas Lima Beans from Rancho Gordo. These chubby, heirloom beans are true limas originating from Peru. They have a distinct chestnut flavor and taste nothing like the much tinier, green ones I avoided as a kid. If you enjoy cooking with dried beans, Rancho Gordo is a fantastic resource for the more unusual varieties.

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.

Brunswick Stew
From Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Serves about 12

¼ lb slab applewood-smoked bacon, thickly sliced
2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1 lb rabbit, quartered, skinned
4-5 lb chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed
1 TBS sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
2-3 quarts Homemade Chicken Stock (I recommend the recipe in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook)
2 bay leaves
2 large celery stalks
2 lbs potatoes, diced
1½ cups carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped
3½ cups onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped
2 cups corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears) or fresh frozen
3 cups Christmas Lima Beans, cooked and drained
35 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
Hot sauce to taste

In a 10-12 quart stockpot, 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. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

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. Don't crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set this aside.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock to the pan to deglaze, making sure to loosen the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. The stock will become a rich dark color. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil until reduced by at least half. Add the remaining stock, 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 the pot. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so to thoroughly meld the flavors.

With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. By this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling off the bone. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard. When cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot and discard the bones. Add the carrots to the pot, 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.

Add the onion, lima beans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them carefully. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and lima beans are tender. Remove from heat and add in the vinegar and lemon juice. Stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and hot sauce if desired.

Preserved Lemon Risotto and Arancini

Well, it’s been 30 days. This is the official, first use of the lemons I preserved last month. To be honest, having never had a preserved lemon, I really wasn’t sure what would come of allowing Meyer lemons to soak unrefrigerated, in a salty brine for a month. I think I anticipated something akin to a pickle. Instead what I got was exactly what the name implies: lemons still fresh as the day I preserved them. Certainly, the flesh is quite salty (and as such, often discarded), but if you peel this away and give the skin a quick rinse, you are left with the same brightly flavored rind from the outset. From a historical perspective, I can understand how this might be invaluable to your cooking repertoire if fresh lemons were not available year-round. I also see the value if you are one (such as me) who prefers to obtain your food according to what’s apropos of the seasons.

Now the fun comes with thinking of ways to incorporate lemon rind in my cooking. Risotto seemed a natural fit. In the recipe I present below, the bright flavor of the lemon pairs really nicely with some unusual additions (cinnamon and allspice) to a standard, homemade chicken stock. What may seem like an odd combination of mulled flavors for a rice dish, results in a classic Moor-inspired savoriness. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I highly recommend making a chicken stock from scratch! The fundamental flavor is incomparable to anything you’ll ever pour from a can or reconstitute from a cube. Yes, it involves a bit more of a time commitment, but the tasks are simple, and the payoff is beyond.

In the spirit of full disclosure, a dear, kind friend made the stock for this recipe. I’m still seeking courage to handle meat for undertakings such as these. Although, currently I'm reading a book that just may entice me to get over this hurdle.

Inspired by a blog post from Not So Humble Pie, with the leftover risotto I made arancini. This was accomplished by stuffing a cube of smoked mozzarella into a clump of cold risotto, rolling it into a ball, then dredging it in egg followed by panko bread crumbs, and deep frying to a golden crisp. The full recipe can be found here. Apparently, I seem to have no fear of deep frying. Isn’t that peculiar?!

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

Chicken Stock
Makes about 2 quarts

1 large chicken, 2-3 pounds
2 onions, roughly diced
1 medium leek - white part only, roughly diced
2 stalks celery, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
oreganothyme
peel of ½ lemon
¼ tsp allspice

Wash the chicken and bones and places in a large stock pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil. Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface. Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil. Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1½ hours.

Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup! Simmer the stock gently for another hour to concentrate the flavor. You will end up with about 2 quarts of stock. Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be. The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don't need for later use.

Preserved Lemon Risotto
Serves 4

4 TBS olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1¾ cups arborio rice
4 TBS white wine
5 cups or more chicken stock, simmering
the peel from 1 preserved lemon, rinsed, patted dry and finely diced.
1 TBS parsley leaves, finely chopped
4 TBS unsalted butter,chilled and cut into small cubes
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Simmer the stock in a large sauce pan. In a dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. When shimmering, add shallots and sautee for several minutes until lightly golden. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly. Add the wine to the rice mixture, cooking until wine is nearly absorbed.

Add a ladle or two of stock, enough to cover the rice. Cook at a steady simmer, stirring from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed. Gradually repeat the process of adding stock, a ladle full at a time, until the rice is creamy and firm. This will take at least 20 minutes depending on your desired level of al dente.

Stir in the preserved lemon. Add an additional ladle full of stock and the butter, and stir until both are completely absorbed. Stir in the Parmesan, cover with a lid and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

Dragon Well (Green Tea) Chicken Noodle Soup

I often contribute recipes to the blog of my friends' tea company, Arbor Teas. Here is the latest recipe I developed using one of their teas.

The health benefits of green tea seem to be popping up perpetually in the news these days. Just recently a published study found that drinking green tea increases the effectiveness of antibiotics. Good news for those suffering this flu and cold season! Another well-vetted remedy for these ailments is a humble bowl of chicken soup. Why not combine the two to give your immune system an additional boost? Yes, green tea can be incorporated into the broth of the soup, but did you consider for an extra-added health benefit that the steeped leaves could also be eaten—as a vegetable? Go ahead; incorporate some of the unfurled tea leaves within the soup instead of discarding them in the compost bin.

In developing this recipe, I played quite a bit with the ratio of green tea to chicken broth. The tea adds subtle notes of astringency as its smooth, light-bodied flavor competes with the aromatic celery, parsley and peppercorns on the palate. Be it your goal to boldly bring forward the tea’s flavor or to creatively incorporate more green tea in your diet, try playing with the ratios yourself to suit your taste preferences. A good starting point is 1 teaspoon of loose tea per 1 cup of chicken stock. Interestingly, the noodles absorb the green tea flavor and color as they cook in the soup, providing yet another vehicle with which to consume the tea. As for any soup or stew, homemade stock makes all the difference in this recipe, adding a level of clarity and richness to the flavor. It is well worth the extra time it entails.

Wishing you wellness this winter!

Dragon Well (Green Tea) Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 4-6

1 whole roasting chicken, rinsed well
1 large onion, quartered
6 carrots, divided
4 celery stalks, divided
One bunch of parsley, stems and leaves separated
6 ounces pappardelle (or other wide style) egg noodles (I used Pasta é Pasta-brand made in Michigan!)
About 3 TBS loose, organic green tea such as Dragon Well (Lung Ching) from my friends at Arbor Teas
1 TBS (plus more to taste) salt
1 TBS (plus more to taste) whole peppercorns

In a large stockpot, combine the chicken with onion, 3 carrots and 2 celery stalks cut into two or three pieces, parsley stems, salt and peppercorns. Add 8 cups water (or just enough to cover chicken) to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Skim and discard impurities from the top frequently.

When it is fully cooked, remove the chicken from the pot. Shred meat from bone when cool enough to handle. Reserve the shredded chicken for later use in the soup, and then return the carcass to the stockpot. Continue simmering, uncovered for 3 hours or more, adding water as needed to keep the carcass covered. Taste the stock and season with salt and pepper accordingly. When stock has reached desired richness, strain into a clean heatproof bowl, discarding all solids. Let the broth cool, uncovered, and then chill in the refrigerator (or force chilling more rapidly in an ice bath).

When ready to finish soup, skim the fat from the stock and return it to a stockpot with 3 carrots and 2 celery stalks roughly diced, chopped parsley, and the shredded chicken. Bring the soup to just above a simmer. Withdraw about a cup or two of broth and pour through a steel mesh tea filter or disposable t-sac filter bag containing about 3 tablespoons of green tea leaves. Allow tea to steep for 5 minutes.

While the tea is steeping stir the dry noodles into the soup. When steeping is complete, return green tea broth to the stockpot, adding a portion of the steeped tea leaves as well. Continue to simmer about 5-10 minutes more or until the carrots are crisp tender and the noodles are soft. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper before serving.

Pho Ga – Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. This recipe is from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

As a broth-based soup, Pho (pronounced Fuh? as if you were asking a question) is only as good as the stock used for its foundation. Sure you can create a quick meal with a store-bought version veiled with spice additions, but it will never achieve the depth of flavor and overall satisfaction that comes from slow simmering in the DIY vein. The provenance of the stock I used kindly came from an earnestly adventurous and slightly River Cottage-obsessed friend. He learned to butcher and process a pasture-raised broiler chicken at Back Forty Acres, a farm just in the next town over. If you are familiar with the writing of Michael Pollan or the philosophy of Joel Salatin, than this is the stuff of which Polyface Farms is made: sustainable, pasture-based, local farming. Ironically, I used to live a short distance from Polyface, but never knew of its existence until I moved to Michigan, and the sustainable farming notion resurged with national press.

That very evening of the kill I was invited to dinner. AT LAST! This was my chance to taste fresh chicken, the chicken of the past, chicken that wasn’t raised in a CAFO and actually dined on grass: a chicken that genuinely tastes like, well, chicken. I gladly partook in the family-style roasted chicken feast and then knowing Pho was in my cooking queue promptly inquired as to the intentions for the stock. This particular stock was made from the carcass simmering for over half a day with carrots and kale and leeks and onion and garlic and thyme and bay leaf. It had the familiar aroma of Thanksgiving. Lucky for me plenty was available for this comforting soup, making it that much more special or, if you will, in more colorfully descriptive terms: pho-king amazing!

Pho Ga Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients:
For Broth:

1 onion, unpeeled and cut in half

1 3-inch piece of ginger, unpeeled

2 TBS whole coriander seeds

4 whole cloves

2 whole star anise


2 quarts chicken stock

1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)

1 to 2 TBS sugar

1 to 2 TBS fish sauce

1 lb. dried rice noodles (¼-inch wide)

Accompaniments:
2 cups bean sprouts
Fresh cilantro
½ cup sliced red onions

1 lime, cut into wedges

Sliced fresh chili peppers

Directions:

Place ginger and onion on a small baking sheet. The top of the onion should be about 4-inches from the heating element. Set to broil on high for 15 minutes. Turn the onion and ginger occasionally, to get an even char. The skin should get dark and both should get soft. After cooling, rub the onion to get the charred skin off; peel the ginger and cut into thick slices.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise. Toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a small dish to prevent burning.

In a large pot combine broth, charred onion, ginger, toasted spices, chicken, sugar and fish sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface if necessary. Meanwhile, prepare rice noodles as directed on the package.

Once chicken breasts are cooked, use tongs to remove. Shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if applicable. Strain broth and discard solids.

To serve, ladle the broth into bowls, add shredded chicken breast and noodles. Allow each person to customize their own bowl with additional accompaniments.