This hearty, Southern stew is a sure fire remedy for home sickness. If you've never heard of this dish, you've been doing winter wrong.
I'm a Southerner on the West Coast and I maintain my connection to home via Southern cuisine, Georgia dishes to be more specific.
West Coast Livin'
Both from the metro scene and the nature vibes, this landscape is beautiful.
Living on the West Coast is great. The weather is great. The women are beautiful. Restaurants galore. Museums galore. Entertainment galoooooore!! And there are so many beaches.
And there are mountains all around me, too. So many hikes!
There’s desert not far away, which I’ve come to find is a pretty damn cool adventure. And yes, that was an intentional oxymoron. But seriously, Joshua Tree National Park is dope.
And the forests here are lush, à la Yosemite National Park.
And yeah…there are celebrities everywhere too, if that zests your lemon.
And actually, smart ass, that is indeed the real Morgan Freeman. That’s me standing next to his preserved original body. In truth he died eons ago, but he was allowed to return to Earth because God is worried about us and needed someone to chaperone, while he tends to bigger matters, like re-instating Pluto as a Planet. Prove me wrong.
Both from the metro scene and the nature vibes, this landscape is beautiful.
And that’s all me. I love people watching, city slickin’, and exploring the great outdoors. If you read a list of my interests and hobbies and read a description of Los Angeles, you be like “yeah this guy is right where he belongs”. And I agree with that….but damn, sometimes I just miss home.
Reminiscing Life in The South
There’s nothing like The South, man. I miss The South. Most notably, I miss the people and their purity. I miss the charm and the hospitality. I miss random strangers being genuinely interested in my well-being. I miss having racism served direct and overt. I miss black folk embracing me wholeheartedly, simply and solely because I too am black.
The South maintains a simplistic beauty.
In full regard, The South is a much complex place. Maneuvering amid the rigorous matrices of racial tensions and nuances and questionable traditions and ideals is certainly a grand rigmarole for the conscious to endeavor. For an outsider, understanding the passive aggressive dialect and southern Ebonics may be even tougher than learning the English language is to a foreigner. Yet, in all of that, The South maintains a simplistic beauty. At the end of the day, things are black and white, figuratively and literally. For what it’s worth, I miss that culture.
Be xXesty!
Luckily I have my kitchen, a space where the culture is whatever I want it to be. If you’re feeling home sick, cooking a dish native to home is a great remedy. This may sound obvious or cliche, but it seriously helps. It might require you calling loved ones back home for tips or it may offer you an opportunity to share a piece of your roots with someone else. At the least, cooking a meal native to home will spur sweet memories and eating it will taste like home. You'll feel like you're at home.
I stayed in Los Angeles over the holiday season, but I really wanted be amongst my family in Georgia. Back home, we always eat Brunswick stew during the holidays, and I’ve always loved it. So I decided to cook the dish out here on the West Coast. For those of you who have never heard of Brunswick stew, you’re really missing out. It’s up for debate whether the dish originated in Virginia or Georgia, but one thing is clear; this dish is hearty, delicious, and most definitely Southern!
The Recipe
Here's what you'll need:
The Brisket
1-2 pounds of beef brisket
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp ground mustard
2 tbsp ground thyme
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp paprika
1/4 cup of liquid smoke
*Note: You could also just buy cooked brisket (no sauce).
The Stew
2-3 large onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp jarred beef soup base (Better Than Bouillon brand)
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 (28 oz.) cans of fire roasted tomatoes
1 (12 oz.) pack of frozen whole kernel corn
1 (12 oz.) pack of frozen peas
1 (12 oz.) pack of frozen lima beans
1 (12 oz. pack of frozen okra
1 12 oz. bottle of chili sauce (add more for more spice)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste
Pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 top ground mustard
1-2 pounds of cooked brisket, chopped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Hot sauce (optional)
The Brisket
Total Time: 5-6 Hours
If you opted to buy cooked brisket skip these steps and move on to The Stew.
Step 1
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Pour 3 cups of water into a roasting pan and add the liquid smoke.
Step 2
Combine salt, pepper, brown sugar, ground mustard, ground thyme, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika in a small bowl and rub all over the brisket. Place the brisket on roasting pan rack and cover the roasting pan tightly with foil.
Step 3
Slow roast the brisket until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F. Then remove the foil and continue roasting until internal temperature reaches 168 degrees F.
The Stew
Prep time: 25 Minutes
Total Time: 2 Hours 40 Minutes
Yield: 16 Cups
Step 1
Sauté onions and garlic in 7.5 quart pot until tender.
Step 2
Mix beef soup base with 2 cups of water and add to pot. Stir in chicken and next 11 ingredients. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Step 3
Uncover. Shred chicken using 2 forks. Stir in brisket and lemon juice. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with hot sauce, if desired.
Enjoy!
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