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Virginia Brunswick Stew

A hearty stew of chicken, bacon, potatoes, corn, beans, tomatoes, and bread simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Virginia Brunswick Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Add the cut-up chickens and finely chopped bacon.

  3. Cook until the chicken meat separates from the bones.

  4. Remove the chickens and extract the bones.

  5. Return the chicken meat to the pot.

  6. Stir in the mashed potatoes, green corn, butter-beans, and skinned tomatoes.

  7. Season with black pepper, red pepper, salt, and butter.

  8. Add the light bread just before the stew is nearly done.

  9. Stir constantly as it thickens, adding more water if it becomes too thick.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Potato + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Potato + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together655 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chickens
Provide the meat and flavorful stock that form the base of the stew.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor to the broth.
Irish potatoes
Mashed into the broth, they thicken the stew and add body.
Light bread
Soaks up liquid and helps thicken the stew as it cooks down.
Green corn
Adds sweetness and tender texture to the stew.
Skinned tomatoes
Contribute acidity and a fresh, tangy brightness to the stew.

The step that matters

Stir constantly as it thickens. The bread and mashed potatoes can scorch on the bottom of the pot and thicken unevenly. Constant stirring prevents sticking and keeps the texture smooth, while adding water loosens a stew that has become too thick.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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