Brunswick Stew

NORFOLK, Va. - This recipe will take about 3 hours to complete and feeds 6-8 people.

Pressed for time? You can buy the fully cooked version locally at Mary Truman's father's restaurant, The House of Eggs in Norfolk, that's where we cooked the stew, as well as Taste Unlimited.

Or you can order it online at www.thecinnamoncafe.com . The Cinnamon Cafe, by the way, is in Lawrenceville, in Brunswick county, which is south west of Emporia.

Brunswick Stew Recipe, Courtesy of The Cinnamon Cafe in Brunswick County, Virginia - Mary Truman

What You'll Need:

4 lbs. chicken (thighs and legs)

1/4 lb. fatback (diced)

5 lbs. diced potatoes

2 1/2 lbs. diced yellow onions

8 cups crushed tomatoes

3 cups baby butter beans (if from North, called lima)

2 cups white shoepeg corn (save juice)

1 1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

3 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. sugar

1 stick butter

Preparation Instructions:

Place chicken and fatback in large pot (cast iron is best) with enough water to cover the chicken by about 3 inches. Boil chicken until falling off bones (about 1 1/2 hours). Chicken needs to be stringy. Pick out bones. Add all spices except sugar. Add diced potatoes and diced onions. Cook until potatoes are done and you have a milky consistency. You can add water if you feel you need to, but you want it to be a heavy thick stew. Continually stir.

Add tomatoes, stirring constantly. Add sugar. Cook about 15 minutes. Then add drained butter beans. Stir constantly. Cook about 15 minutes. Add corn and about one cup corn juice. Stir constantly. Add butter. Turn off heat. Stir constantly.

The stew, when done, should be thick enough to almost eat with a fork! Stew will burn very easily so you must stir at all times even after heat is turned off until stew cools.