Brunswick Stew (1859)

[Sam Clements]

Rosengarten, whatever his heritage, doesn't know squat.

I come from Virginia and I make a Brunswick stew using the recipe in the
Williamsburg cookbook.  It's the original thing.

Rosengarten mentions "hot sauce."  WHAT hot sauce?  Where does that come
from?

Barry's excellent find, from the 1859 Augusta paper mentions "snaps."  If
you don't hail from southern Virginia, then you wouldn't know that they are
"green beans" which one had to 'string'and 'snap' before cooking.  I did
that many a day in the 1950's.

SC




----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2003 6:36 PM
Subject: Brunswick Stew (1859)


   _Brunswick Stew_
   You can't get much more American than this--a big old stew pot with
assorted meats, corn, tomatoes, beans, and hot sauce.  But you also can't
get too
specific, because Brunswick stew means different things to different people.
Two places called Brunswick in the United States claim the dish as their
own:
Brunswick County, Virginia, and Brunswick, Georgia (historians usually side
with
the Virginians, who apparently started making a stew like this in the early
1800s).
---David Rosengarten, IT'S ALL AMERICAN FOOD (2003), pg. 311.

   It's Virginia.  (Squirrel is for lovers?)
   DARE has "chiefly Sth, esp VA, NC, GA."  The first citation is 1856 and
the next is 1899.  DARE claims "From Brunswick Co., VA."
   If "Brunswick stew" originated in Georgia, we should see something about
that in the AUGUSTA CHRONICLE.  There are many hits for an ad in
February-March
1899; the first hit before that is 1859.


   16 November 1859, AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, pg. 2, col. 2:
   Lives there the man not a Virginian who comprehends the joys of Brunswick
stews, the bliss of roas'n ears, and the rapture of pot liquor?  Did any boy
but a Virginia boy ever catch catfish out of a branch with a pin-hook after
a
heavy shower?  (...) Did you ever eat any snaps cooked by an old Virginia
nigger cook?

   4 February 1899, AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, pg. 4, col. 5:
   GENUINE GEORGIA
_BRUNSWICK STEW_
   Made of selected Chicken, Beef, Corn
   and Tomatoes.  A complete meal in
   itself.  A perfect Lunch for Clubs.
(...)
COLD SPRING PACKING Co., Atlanta, Ga.


(WRIGHT AMERICAN FICTION)
Bagby, George William (1828-1883): What I Did With My Fifty Millions (1874)
1
match in 1 of 131 pages
Pg. 123:
immortality—all present longings, I mean. We had some pot-liquor with
dumplings, a cotopaxic Brunswick stew, vegetables of various degrees, 'coon
cutlets,
some bread—also forks—some


(MAKING OF AMERICA--MICHIGAN)
Title: Good Eatings
Publication Info.: Southern literary messenger; devoted to every department
of literature and the fine arts. / Volume 37, Issue 5, May 1863, pp.304-311
Collection: Making of America Journal Articles
Search results: 3 matches in full text
Pg. 308:
   Beling tired of fried chicken, and other every day Virginian dishes, the
decree went forth for a Brunswick stew.  That very evening, the squirrels
were
fetched from the tops of the tall oaks in the forest hard by, the garden
furnished the vegetables, and the next day it was served copiously,
superbly,
royally, under a grand old walnut tree whose mighty Briaerean arms shaded
half the
yard.  There was no other dish but the Brunswick stew, and that was enough;
for it contained all the meats and juices of the forest and garden
magnificently
conglomerated and sublimed by the potent essence of fiery Cayenne, pod upon
pod, lavishly thrown in. (...)
   I used to think that this was one of the Arabian Nights Entertainments,
but since that Brunswick stew under the walnut tree at Gannaway's, I am
prepared
to believe anything in the melon line;...

Author: Harland, Marion, 1830-1922.
Title: Common sense in the household; a manual of practical housewifery.
Publication date: 1872.
Collection: Making of America Books
Search results: 3 matches in full text
Pg. 172:  SQUIRRELS.
   The large gray squirrel is seldom eaten at the North, but in great
respect
in Virginia and other Southern States.  It is generally barbecued, precisely
as are rabbits; broiled, fricasseed, or--most popular of all--made into a
Brunswick stew.  This is named from Brunswick County, Virginia, and is a
famous
dish--or was--at the political and social pic-nics known as barbecues.  I am
happy to be able to give a receipt for this stew that is genuine and
explicit,
and for which I am indebted to a Virginia housekeeper.
Pg. 173
Pg. 544


   A search of George Washington's writings didn't turn up "Brunswick stew."
But it's very clear that "Brunswick stew" comes from Virginia.  A 2003 book
on American food should not suggest a Georgia origin.  "Virginia style" and
"Georgia style" Brunswick stew is another matter entirely.
   The Google numbers:

BRUNSWICK STEW--11,800 Google hits
BRUNSWICK STEW + VIRGINIA--2,030 Google hits; 347 Google Groups hits
BRUNSWICK STEW + GEORGIA--1,930 Google hits; 425 Google Groups hits

(GOOGLE GROUPS)
From: John Nall (nall at sun8.scri.fsu.edu)
Subject: Recipe for Georgia Brunswick Stew
This is the only article in this thread
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Date: 1992-07-07 01:13:44 PST

I had posted a query to the net as to whether or not anyonemight have a
recipe for Brunswick Stew that they would careto share with me.I received
the
following reply from KTRUETT at Ruby.VCU.EDU, who also advised that "you are
never
alone when a Bene Gesseritis nearby".  Shades of Dune!!  Anyway, she asked
if I
would post it, since she is unable to post to the net although shecan read
with
no problem.  So here it is, with full credit to her.  BTW, she also advised
that Georgia Style Brunswick Stewis distinct from Virginia Style Brunswick
Stew
, which apparentlyhas larger chunks of meat and probably other differences.
So if any Cavaliers are around with a recipe for VBS sure wouldlove to see
how
the two styles compare :-)

John