Colonial Williamsburg Brunswick Stew

[6pt-Sika]

I’ve been wanting to try making the Williamsburg Brunswick Stew for a bunch of years now . However I want to use the original meat tree rats (squirrels) instead of the preferred meat of most makers these days (chicken) . Saturday is out last day of deer season so the following Wednesday and or Thursday I’ll see if I can’t pop right or nine tree rats .

[6pt-Sika]

If the Brunswick Stew comes out palatable there’s another recipe in the Williamsburg cookbook I’ve wanted to try for quite a few years and have actually had it at “Christiana Campbell’s Tavern” in Colonial Williamsburg all be it thirty or so years ago , the “Colonial Game Pie” . This one says use venison , rabbit and duck . See if I can’t enlist a couple friends to let me go with them next month after little furry bunnies . Shouldn’t need more than three bun buns . Might have to go to Williamsburg one day before I try making this and eat it at the Tavern just to refresh the taste buds as to how it tastes when they make it . Although I’m sure all the venison , hares and ducks they use are farm raised .

[mobirdhunter]

Hey, Craig, Brunswick stew is on my day-off-from-quail-hunting list for this year before the squirrel season ends, and I may use your recipe. BTW, Williamsburg is my home town...and, for those of our colleagues from Georgia (this will get a rise, no doubt), Brunswick stew is a Virginia original, not from Georgia. But, hey, if you grew up in Virginia, you learned all of this in school.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

Hey, Craig, Brunswick stew is on my day-off-from-quail-hunting list for this year before the squirrel season ends, and I may use your recipe. BTW, Williamsburg is my home town...and, for those of our colleagues from Georgia (this will get a rise, no doubt), Brunswick stew is a Virginia original, not from Georgia. But, hey, if you grew up in Virginia, you learned all of this in school.

Many many churches fire departments etc in Virginia make their own versions of Brunswick Stew and use them to raise money . I’ve never had one that was bad but I’ve also never had it made with tree rats . Intresting to know you grew up in Williamsburg ! My mom loved the beach and my pop would get sun sickness at the beach after a day or two . My pop was also a big historian which may explain my taste in furniture art etc . Anyway when they took a weeks vacation we’d usually do four days at Colonial Williamsburg and three days at Virginia Beach . Everyone was happy and my pop usually came out in flying colors . Funny story one year we were there and I think we were at Kings Tavern having lunch think I was in the 8-11 range . Anyway I ordered Orange sherbet and iced coffee . The waiter looked at my mother and said bring it with half a glass of milk and of course there was sugar on the table . The waiter stood and watched while I mixed it the way my maternal grandmother did it was about 50-50 coffee and milk with a spoonful of sugar . After that strangely enough they never questioned it again .

[mobirdhunter]

Assuming we are fairly close in age, I'm sure I was probably wandering about Williamsburg when you were making your exotic treat. It was interesting growing up there. Many of my friends parents worked for what we called, "The Restoration" (Colonial Williamsburg), and I recall one friend's father who came home from work dressed like a blacksmith. At that time if you lived in the area, you got free guest passes (also to Jamestown and Yorktown) and could use the buses and enter the various buildings for free. It was a great place to grow up...and the town cleared out in the winter, making it even more appealing. We belonged to a hunt club (a poor man's version) that had about 400 acres adjacent to the Colonial Parkway. We had deer stands along the route and when you heard a car slow down, you knew a deer was crossing and needed to be ready to shoot. On "stand" was to sit atop a Revolutionary War embankment -- my favorite. I also hunted on land that is now Busch Gardens. Things change (and seldom for the best).

BTW, do you put butterbeans in your stew? It's the only thing I won't put in mine...ever(!) Squirrel, however, was a staple for dinner at our house growing up.

I hope you'll post a photo of your stew like you often do for you "lunches at the shop."

[Andy]

I'm going to wait for this Craig. I have a hankering to drop a few skwerells (the spelling I think I saw in "Undaunted Courage" with my 16g Trojan. As a kid I could never make the damn things taste good. Regarding pot pie, I make a pheasant pot pie that is just great, although have mixed in Chukar as well, wonder how it would work with squirrel. One pie will feed 5-6 people.

[6pt-Sika]

I’ve never tried making Brunswick stew so I’ll most likely put Lima beans . My great grandmother used to fry squirrels for me if I killed them . I’ve never been a big fan of tree rats to eat but I wanna try . I turned 60 this year .

[Keavin Nelson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

I'm going to wait for this Craig. I have a hankering to drop a few skwerells (the spelling I think I saw in "Undaunted Courage" with my 16g Trojan. As a kid I could never make the damn things taste good. Regarding pot pie, I make a pheasant pot pie that is just great, although have mixed in Chukar as well, wonder how it would work with squirrel. One pie will feed 5-6 people.

Andy,
how about sharing your recipe for the Pheasant Pot Pie?
I grew up on crock pot squirrel stew! With moms biscuits, mmmmmmmgood!

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

I turned 60 this year .

A young pup you are! But, I was living in Williamsburg when you were 8-10. Come to think of it, I do recall scuttle about some kid who mixed an odd coffee drink at one of the taverns in town. I think it made the famous Virginia Gazette.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by keavin nelson

Andy,
how about sharing your recipe for the Pheasant Pot Pie?
I grew up on crock pot squirrel stew! With moms biscuits, mmmmmmmgood!

2 cups chicken broth
1 pound pheasant cut into bite size pieces
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
some garlic
Half yellow onion chopped
1 stick carrot chopped
1 bag frozen peas
1/3 cup salted butter
2/3 cup whole milk
Salt and black pepper
1 t dried rosemary
1/2 t dried sage
1/2 t ground celery seed
1 beaten egg white
1 refrigerated pie crust

Preheat oven to 400
Sautee pheasant, mushroom and onion in some oil for 10 minutes, add 1 clove of mashed garlic for flavor and remove it when done. You can remove the onion if you don't like it in your pie. Reserve the drippings and pheasant/mushroom bites (I use just breast from two birds)
Boil the broth and add carrots and celery for 10 minutes, add peas for one or two minutes. Drain and RESERVE THE BROTH, adding the carrots/celery to the pheasant bites
Melt the butter in a saucepan for 5 minutes, medium heat
Stir in the flour continuously, you want a blonde roux here
Pour reserved broth and milk into the flour mixture, stirring constantly
Add pepper, rosemary, sage and celery seed and salt to taste, bringing slowly to a boil and then back to a simmer and stir and watch until it's thickened
Press your pie crust into a pie plate and brush with egg white. Put this in the oven for a few minutes until it just starts to firm up and turn color.
Remove from the oven, and turn heat to 375
Scoop 1/4 of the pheasant/mushroom/veggie mix into the pie plate, then mix the remaining pheasant/mushroom mix into your flour/broth/spice roux.
Pour this into the plate last, cover with the other half of the pie crust, crimp the edges, cut to vent and bake until golden brown all over about 35-45 minutes
Remove, let rest for 20 minutes.
*here's one before I covered it, I like it better with mushrooms