The company I used to work for had offices all over the world but the particular department I worked for had offices in Northern Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia. It happened that I had to travel down to Atlanta on several 
occasions and while I was there, my co-workers introduced me to a world of Southern cooking that I hadn’t known existed before. Yeah, there were the traditional things like pecan pie and peach cobbler (just as an aside, it seems that every other street in Atlanta is know as Peachtree. There is Peachtree Boulevard, Road, Street, Peachtree Industrial, it is enough to drive you batty) and grits and stuff like that. But there is also this wonderful collection of stuff known as Brunswick Stew.
Now oddly enough, It is Brunswick County, Virginia for which this stew is named. The story goes that an African American hunting camp cook named Jimmy Matthews, concocted a squirrel stew for his master, Creed Haskins, in 1828. He named it in honor of his home county. Several other towns and places also try to lay claim to this stew including Brunswick, Georgia where a 25 gallon iron pot has been erected as a statue with the claim that this was the vessel that Brunswick stew was first made in back in 1898. Regardless of the actual origins, this stew has been become a loved part of Southern cooking.
Now like many stews and soups, Brunswick Stew is home for just about anything that you find bits and pieces of about your home. The original squirrel or other game meats have been replaced with smoked chicken, pork, beef or some combination thereof. Corn and tomatoes are the only vegetables that are absolutely required, however just about any vegetable can and does make an appearance in these stews.
Now, you’ll notice that in the above paragraph I said smoked chicken, pork or beef. It was at a BBQ shack that I first learned about Brunswick Stew and the Georgia BBQ community has certainly embraced Brunswick Stew as part of their own. I think that using smoked meat adds an extra dimension of flavor to this stew, especially since BBQ sauce is also part of the recipe.
Now the way I make Brunswick Stew doesn’t call for a lot of meat, there’s a ton of other stuff in it, so if you have some left over pulled pork or chicken than this is a perfect way to use a bit of it. In my case, I did not have any leftovers, so I went about smoking some meat specifically for it. Since only about a pound of meat is required, I didn’t feel like firing up the big smoker. Instead, I chose to turn my gas grill into a smoker for a day.
I can hear you purists shouting “Blasphemy!” already. Calm down please. While this won’t ever replace a good smoker, it is just fine as a quick and dirty smoker for just a small amount of meat. My grill has three burners that run side to side. Just above them are these upside down V shaped bars that are designed to incinerate anything that drips off the food and release the oils back as flavor into the food. Above these bars is the cooking grate. What I did was to take some pecan and cherry wood chips (not chunks, that’s too big for these purposes), soak them for about an hour in water, and then place them in a small aluminum pan. I then covered the pan with aluminum foil, poked some holes in foil to let the smoke escape and placed this pan on the flavor bars. I fired up the grill and did my normal burn down. By the time the burn down was complete, smoke was coming from the “smoker pan”.
I left the front burner on medium high as the “smoker pan” was over this particular burner. By using only one burner I was able to keep the temperature in the grill high enough to keep the wood smoking, but low enough for smoking, around 260 degrees Fahrenheit. I then placed the chicken I was smoking on the back portion of the grill so as to use indirect heat for this smoking session. The chicken had been liberally coated with garlic salt and Magic Dust. I then closed the cover and left the chicken for an hour. I took the temperature of the chicken, it wasn’t quite at the required 170 degrees Fahrenheit for chicken breasts, so I left it another 15 minutes. Voila! Smoked chicken on a gas grill.
Brunswick Stew
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 cup sliced carrots
1 lb smoked chicken (you can substitute pork or beef)
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice (author’s note: I prefer to use fresh ingredients whenever possible but winter tomatoes just suck. Canned tomatoes have a better ripeness and flavor and are more consistent which is why I use them here. If you wish to use fresh tomatoes, substitute 2 medium tomatoes or about two cups worth diced.)
1/2 lb fresh okra, sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh cut corn
2 cups fresh black eyed peas (It seems the author is at it again: If you can’t get fresh okra, corn or black eyed peas, you may substitute a 10 oz frozen package for the listed quantity.)
3 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
3 Tbs molasses
3 Tbs barbecue sauce
1 1/2 Tbs cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
In a large stewpot, sauté the onions and garlic over medium heat until golden brown. Add the carrots and sauté for an additional 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the stock and bring to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients, return to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Serve with plenty of Tabasco on the table.
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