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Brunswick Stew

A hearty stew of chicken or squirrel, tomatoes, butter beans, potatoes, corn, butter, fat, cayenne, salt, sugar, onion, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and beans 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 ↓

Brunswick Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the chickens or squirrels, tomatoes, butter beans, potatoes, corn, butter, fat, cayenne pepper, salt, sugar, onion, and water.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer slowly for 2.5 hours.

  3. Ten minutes before serving, add butter rolled in flour in small lumps.

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. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  2. Beans + corntop 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. Beans + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together655 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + potatotop 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 or squirrels
Provides the meat that gives the stew its body and savory flavor.
Butter beans
Hold their shape during long simmering and add starchy body to the stew.
Potatoes
Break down slightly as they cook, thickening the broth and adding bulk.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid that balance the richness of the meat and fats.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the broth, especially when finished with flour.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the broth when butter rolled in flour is stirred in near the end.

The step that matters

Adding the butter and flour lumps. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps, so it must be bound to butter first and added in small lumps. Stirring gently helps the starch disperse and thicken the stew evenly.

“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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