{"id":1395,"date":"2015-04-13T23:31:49","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T04:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1395"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:17:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T17:17:05","slug":"going-home-again-brunswick-stew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1395","title":{"rendered":"Feeling Young Again: Brunswick Stew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1395&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_1400\" style=\"width: 387px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-1400\" href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?attachment_id=1400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1400\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1400   \" title=\"Williamsburg Stocks\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Williamsburg-Stocks-896x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"377\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Williamsburg-Stocks-896x1024.jpg 896w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Williamsburg-Stocks-87x100.jpg 87w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Williamsburg-Stocks-262x300.jpg 262w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Williamsburg-Stocks.jpg 1051w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some Things Never Change (It&#39;s not about protecting the innocent)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>From what I always understood, second childhood was supposed to be that time when I lost control of my faculties and could no longer take care of myself. (As opposed to now?)<\/p>\n<p>Well, forgive me for nitpicking but that sounds more like childhood number five, or at the very least, three. \u00a0Second childhood is what I\u2019ve been going through ever since my kids were born.<\/p>\n<p>What parent hasn\u2019t forced their children to live through all the experiences he\/she had as a child? \u00a0The most recent parent-induced trauma for my brood happened just last week, when we drove out to Washington DC, Mount Vernon and Williamsburg, VA.<\/p>\n<p>Was it any fun?<\/p>\n<p>Well, my wife and I had a good time.\u00a0 It was certainly a lot more fun than the trip my family took when I was my daughters\u2019 ages.<\/p>\n<p>Did my kids feel the same way?\u00a0 Time will tell.\u00a0 Not that we\u2019ll have to pay a price if it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 That bill gets passed on to the next generation.\u00a0 Like the national debt, environmental clean-ups and, well, everything.<\/p>\n<p>What I remember most about my first trip to DC was walking up and down the Washington Monument.\u00a0 So you better believe I was waiting in line for tickets an hour and a half before the booth opened.\u00a0 How else could I be sure my kids would have the exact same memories I had?<\/p>\n<p>Did I mention the sun hadn\u2019t come up yet and it was freezing cold?\u00a0 Good character building stuff, right?<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, the ranger at the monument told us that they no longer let people walk up the monument steps.\u00a0 Something about it being a health issue.\u00a0 Interestingly, the last year they did let anyone walk up the Monument was in 1970, the same year my wife and I were both there with our own parents.<\/p>\n<p>This time we went up the elevator and that was just great.<\/p>\n<p>The next stop was Mt. Vernon, George Washington\u2019s boyhood and manhood home, which was far and away the best part of the trip for our girls.\u00a0 No thanks to George or anything historical, but because we bumped into some friends from Chicago <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">their<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">kids<\/span>. Suddenly Virginia was a wonderland, the mist and rain didn\u2019t matter and farm animals were, once again, fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>After that we drove to Williamsburg.<\/p>\n<p>From a parent\u2019s perspective, this was also great. The tours, the reenactments, the conscription \u00a0of a certain wayward dad into the Virginia militia, none of the stuff I remembered from my own visit.\u00a0 Not that I remembered all that much from back then. \u00a0I remembered the stocks, the costumes, tri-corner hats and Brunswick stew.\u00a0 I remembered Chowning\u2019s Tavern was the place that served the stew.\u00a0 I even remembered that Brunswick Stew was made from chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, onions, okra and lima beans.<\/p>\n<p>What I don\u2019t remember was liking it.<\/p>\n<p>I hoped I would like it more now, but more importantly, I wasn\u2019t about to let an easy recipe reenactment escape the Soup Blog.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, we got there too early.\u00a0 Chowning\u2019s Tavern opened up the week after we left so I never got to order Brunswick Stew as an adult.\u00a0 I did find a cookbook in one of the many fine gift shops of Colonial Williamsburg and I was pleased to discover that my memories of the stew were dead on.\u00a0 But for the teaspoon of sugar that they call for in the end, I had guessed exactly right.<\/p>\n<p>When we got home a few days later, I tried out the recipe and the family dined just like the colonials did\u2014in front of the TV.\u00a0 And, everyone cleaned their plates.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps that was the biggest surprise from this whole trip: that my daughters really liked Brunswick Stew.<\/p>\n<p>I guess there must have been something wrong with me when I was a child.<\/p>\n<p>The first time anyway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brunswick Stew<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 6-8)<br \/>\n1 whole chicken, cut into pieces<br \/>\n3 cups chicken stock (enough to cover the chicken)<br \/>\n1 14 \u00bd oz. can tomatoes<br \/>\n1 cup frozen okra<br \/>\n1 cup frozen lima beans<br \/>\n2 cups frozen corn<br \/>\n1 large onion, chopped<br \/>\n2 small potatoes, peeled and diced<br \/>\n1 tsp sugar (optional, I didn&#8217;t add any)<br \/>\nsalt &amp; pepper to taste<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cut the chicken into pieces\u2014breasts, wings, drumsticks, thighs\u2014place in a soup pot and add enough stock to cover it (about 3 cups, maybe 4).\u00a0 Then let the chicken simmer for about an hour.<\/li>\n<li>Remove the chicken to a plate and let it cool.<\/li>\n<li>Place the vegetables in the pot, bring the stew to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer for 30-40 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>When the chicken is cool enough, pull the meat from the bones, chop it up and return it to the pot and heat through.<\/li>\n<li>Taste, adjust the seasonings to your taste and add additional stock if you\u2019d like.\u00a0 My stew could have done with some extra liquid as it was pretty dry when I finally plated it.\u00a0 Otherwise everything was terrific.\u00a0 As I said, my whole family cleaned their plates.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li>Serve with bread and butter and maybe a flagon of ale      or whatever suits you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: <\/em>\u201cCruel &amp; Unusual Punishment\u201d from a photograph by the author\u2019s daughter.\u00a0 <strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Another fun thing about Williamsburg was talking to the chef at the Governor\u2019s Palace.\u00a0 He used all the same ingredients and cooking methods they used in colonial times.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I could make do without my immersion blender.\u00a0 What favorite kitchen item would you miss if you had to live in old Williamsburg?<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From what I always understood, second childhood was supposed to be that time when I lost control of my faculties and could no longer take care of myself. (As opposed to now?) Well, forgive me for nitpicking but that sounds more like childhood number five, or at the very least, three. \u00a0Second childhood is what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,126,129,128,16,8,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn","category-no-dairy-products","category-lima-beans","category-okra","category-potatoes","category-poultry","category-tomatoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1448,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}