Easy Brunswick Stew

I was in the mood for stew the other day, but I wasn't in the mood to go to the store.  All I had was some chicken legs, fresh corn left over from a BBQ, and assorted staples from my fridge and freezer.  So I started thinking, can I combine these things into a stew without leaving the house?  Cacciatore needs mushrooms, so that's out.  Chicken chili?  Nah, didn't have any cheese or sour cream.  Curry usually has more vegetables, so no good there either.  Ah, but Brunswick stew, now that's about the right combination of ingredients - chicken, corn, lima beans, canned tomatoes, BBQ sauce.  That's right, all the things a growing boy needs... plus lima beans.

Brunswick stew is, according to Wikipedia:

"a traditional dish from the southeastern United States. The origin of the dish is uncertain, and there are two competing claims as to the place in the South where it originated, in addition to some claim to a German origin.... Recipes for Brunswick stew vary greatly but it is usually a tomato-based stew containing various types of lima beans/butter beans, corn, okra, and other vegetables, and one or more types of meat. Most recipes claiming authenticity call for squirrel or rabbit meat, but chicken, pork, and beef are also common ingredients."

Thankfully, while I was fresh out of squirrel, I did have a stash of chicken legs around to put to good use.  And while a quick raid of the freezer turned up no lima beans (I'm not sure how many people wouldn't have this same problem), it did at least yield some frozen edamame - medium-sized, green, bean-like things that I could convince myself were lima beans, but without the funny taste.  Everything else basic I actually had on hand, which makes this the ultimate convenience stew other than straight-up chili.

It was about 7 PM when I got home, and I was pretty hungry.  If this stew was going to be ready before I keeled over, I was going to have to pull out the stops - time for the pressure cooker.  When you're pressed for time but you want something to taste like it's been cooking all day, there's nothing else out there that will get the job done, and I am no stranger to this thing.  I bought mine about 8 years ago after extensive research to assure me that I wasn't going to blow up my house or scald myself, based on horror stories remembered by my family.  Turns out pressure cookers are now, surprisingly, much safer than they were when they first were invented in the 1600s by Denis Papin.  They were originally called 'digesters', because they could break down bones into a tasty jelly in a matter of minutes (often before blowing up and killing legions of French chefs).  The principal is simple - increase the pressure by trapping boiling steam, and you increase the boiling temperature of the liquid inside, while also infusing steam into the food.  This ends up cooking food in as little as 1/3 of the normal cooking time.  Picture stew cooked in 30 minutes, beans cooked in 12, rice in 5.  I have a Presto pressure cooker, since they've been in the business for about 100 years, and I figure that's enough experience that they've probably got the details worked out.  If you're uncertain about what kind to get, here is a quick reference:

Safe to use...

...not as safe to use.  From the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris - a model of the first 'digester' or pressure cooker, called the 'Marmite'

You can tell which ones are safe by the lack of a GIANT FREAKING SCREW on the top, and also by looking for a number of safety release valves.  Anyway, me and my pressure cooker set off on a short journey to a pretty good meal, which from start to finish took about 40 minutes to prepare.  Not bad, considering the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender.

The recipe I used was a mash-up from Joy of Cooking, Paula Deen, and substitutions per what I had on hand.  The results were pretty good for the little amount of effort I put in (just brown some onions and chicken, then throw everything in the pressure cooker for a few minutes).  And while I wasn't sold on the edamame, which cooked themselves gray unlike lima beans, they still had some bite left to them, and a slightly nutty, sweeter taste which I thought wasn't half bad.  So now, I present to you:

Easy [Almost] Brunswick Stew

• 6 chicken legs
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 ears of fresh corn, shucked
• 2 cups edamame
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce

Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Heat oil in dutch oven and brown chicken on all sides.  Remove to pressure cooker, and remove all but 2 tbsp fat from the pan.  Reduce heat to medium and add onions.  Cook 5 to 7 minutes.  Add to pressure cooker along with edamame, crushed tomatoes, barbeque sauce, garlic, chicken stock, and bay leaves.  Seal, bring up to pressure, and cook for 15 minutes.  Release pressure and add fresh corn, simmering uncovered for 10 more minutes.  Season with Worchestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can still make this.  Just cook for 45-60 minutes in a large stock pot where it says 15 minutes, then continue as usual.  Still works, probably even tastes better and makes the house smell more awesome, but it will take longer.  Similarly, you could use a crock pot if you have one.

The cast iron skillet was clutch to get some color on everything

Just throw it in the pressure cooker and walk away

Add the corn for a few minutes at the end, and...

The finished product.  Not bad for 40 minutes of total prep AND cooking time!