What's this? Random food porn?

Yeah, I fixed something pretty good for dinner last night. Got to tell the truth, I've tried a couple recipes for this that fell short of expectations. This one is it. I am really pleased.

We are talking, of course, about Brunswick stew, which originates in Brunswick, Virginia, not Brunswick, Georgia, although the two cities have a competition every year, so I am told. I went to the site of the masters and got this recipe. Tweek it to meet your needs (the recipe is designed to feed hundreds, apparently, so unless you want a lot of leftovers, you might want to cut this in half), but it is fabulous. You can feed a crowd, or yourself for a week. Start with 5-1/2 pounds of chicken thighs. Skin and debone them:

Chop up about 6 ounces of fatback:

Put the deboned thighs and the chopped fatback in a large soup pot. Do not cut up the thighs:

 Cover the mixture with water, and bring to a boil:

While that is coming to a boil, you will mix your seasonings and chop up 4 pounds of white potatoes and two large onions:

You want these ready before the chicken comes to a boil, because you will now be stirring pretty much constantly. This is a stew, not a soup. For the seasoning, combine 1/4 ounce of black pepper, a teaspoon of red pepper, 1-1/2 ounces of salt, and 1-1/2 ounces of sugar. Stir it nicely. You will add this in stages. Also, be careful to to put in too much water. Just cover the chicken with enough water to boil them in. Those thighs don't need room to play. So chop up those veggies:

Boil the chicken until it begins to fall apart. Stirring constantly, people. Work with me here:

When the chicken starts to fall apart, add the onions and potatoes:

Bring that to a boil again (you better be stirring constantly, or you're going to be in trouble):

Add 1/4 of your seasoning mix once this comes to a boil again:

Boil until the potatoes are soft, then add 1-1/2 quarts of stewed tomatoes:

Bring it back to a boil, and cook for five minutes, then add about 2 quarts of drained lima beans. Because I couldn't get fresh lima beans and was doing this on the fly and hence didn't have time to soak some dried lima beans, I just poured in a couple cans of lima beans, drained. Sue me.

Toss in another 1/4 of the seasoning mix. Add a stick of butter, the rest of the seasoning, about a pound of white shoepeg corn (frozen is fine) and cook for about 15 minutes more at a low boil. Stir constantly, damn it:

As you can see, this is a stew, not a soup:

Ladle some of that into a bowl, and enjoy:

Damn, I love Southern cooking. Tomorrow, game food porn!