Brunswick Stew: Murfreesboro's Favorite Comfort Food

Brunswick Stew is a popular dish in the Southern United States, and it is possible to buy it in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It is available at Walmart, both in-store and online, and can also be purchased on Amazon. Additionally, it is sold at various local grocery stores in the region.

Where to buy Brunswick Stew in Murfreesboro, TN

If you're looking to buy Brunswick Stew in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, there are a few options available to you.

Walmart

You can find Brunswick Stew at Walmart, both in-store and online. They stock a variety of brands, including Castleberry's and Mrs Fearnow's.

Amazon

Amazon is another option, offering Brunswick Stew from brands such as Castleberry and Mrs Fearnow. However, it's important to note that Amazon's product listings may vary depending on your location.

Local Grocery Stores

Additionally, you may want to check your local grocery stores in Murfreesboro. Some stores in Tennessee that are known to carry Brunswick Stew include Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Joyner's Supermarket. It's always a good idea to call ahead and confirm availability before making a special trip.

Brunswick Stew ingredients

Brunswick stew is a Southern dish that features beans, vegetables, and meat in a tomato base. Early recipes used small game meats like squirrel, rabbit, and opossum, but today, it is more common to use chicken, beef, or pork.

For the vegetables, you will need corn, lima beans, and potatoes. You can also add celery, okra, onion, and garlic. For the tomato base, you will need diced or whole peeled tomatoes, and tomato paste or tomato puree. To add flavour, you can include barbecue sauce, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.

How to make Brunswick Stew

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes (undrained)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds smoked pulled pork or chicken
• 8 oz. frozen corn
• 8 oz. frozen lima beans
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

• Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the garlic and onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire, brown sugar, cayenne, smoked pork, lima beans, corn and salt and pepper.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

You can serve this stew with pickles, coleslaw, or a salad on the side. Don't forget about the cornbread or biscuits.

Brunswick Stew history

Brunswick stew is a Southern staple, especially in barbecue restaurants around the region. It's a distinctly Southern dish and is typically served in the fall and winter.

The history of the dish is hotly contested, with both Brunswick County, Virginia, and Brunswick, Georgia, claiming to be the birthplace of the dish. However, the origin of this Southern delicacy goes back further than either of these places, all the way back to Southeastern Native Americans.

In precolonial times, Native Americans only ate what they could grow or catch on the land they were on, and they used every part of the animal for survival. Brunswick Stew was one of the hearty recipes that reflect this resourcefulness, as it was made with essentially whatever meat and veggies they had at the time.

When European settlers came to the United States, the Native Americans shared their foodways, teaching the settlers how to grow corn and cook with the ingredients at hand. Because of this, many of our classic American dishes have Native American roots, like cornbread, corn fritters, grits, chilli and baked beans.

The first published recipe for “Virginia Stew” was in the Southern Recorder of Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1862. However, there are plenty of written accounts of a dish called Brunswick stew being cooked in Virginia prior to the Civil War. In 1849, the Alexandria Gazette described Brunswick stew as "a genuine South-side dish, composed of squirrels, chicken, a little bacon, and corn and tomatoes."

In 1855, the Petersburg Intelligencer explained the stew's origin, noting that "in the good old county of Brunswick" it was popular during the hot summers "to repair almost every Saturday to some spring, to spend half the day." For entertainment, the men would shoot squirrels and stew them "in a pot with a sufficient quantity of water [...] over a slow fire. In due time were added tomatoes, corn, butter-beans, potatoes, with the requisite condiments of salt and Cayenne pepper."

Over time, more details were added to the Virginia origin tale. Accounts from the 1880s attributed the recipe to a noted hunter and cook named James (or Jimmy) Matthews from the Red Oak neighbourhood in Brunswick County, Virginia. Matthews was an African American hunting-camp cook who, in 1828, concocted a squirrel stew for his enslaver, Creed Haskins.

In more recent years, the "stew wars" between Virginia and Georgia have generated good publicity, with cook-offs that have boosted the economies of both areas. In 1988, the Virginia General Assembly proclaimed Brunswick County, Virginia, as the originator of the Brunswick Stew. A year later, Brunswick, Georgia, finally gave the claim to Brunswick County, Virginia, but Georgians still happily enjoy the stew with great enthusiasm.

Brunswick Stew recipes

Brunswick Stew is a classic Southern dish that is often served as a side in barbecue restaurants. It is a thick, tomato-based stew that typically includes meat and vegetables. Here is a recipe for Brunswick Stew that you can make at home.

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes (undrained)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds smoked pulled pork or chicken
• 8 oz frozen corn
• 8 oz frozen lima beans
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

• Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the garlic and onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, smoked pork or chicken, lima beans, corn, and salt and pepper.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Serve warm with crusty bread or cornbread.

Tips:

• You can use any combination of leftover meats, such as chicken, pork, beef, or even squirrel, rabbit, or other game meat.
• For a vegan version, omit the meat and use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock.
• Feel free to add other vegetables such as potatoes, celery, okra, or green beans.
• Adjust the spices to your taste. You can add more or less barbecue sauce, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, or hot sauce to suit your preference.
• This stew freezes well, so you can make a large batch and enjoy it anytime!

Frequently asked questions