Stirring the Pot – Stew Masters blend the ingredients in seasoned black kettles until the Brunswick Stew is just right!

Browns United Methodist Church was a popular spot in Jackson Tennessee this morning beginning shortly after midnight. Pickup trucks rolled in, lights in the pavilion blazed, ingredients were assembled, cooks gathered, and Stew Masters Lee Tomlinson and David Pearson got the six pots, ranging in size from 30 to 10 gallons, cooking by 4:30 AM. Perched on stools with boat paddles in hand, the men stirred the pots continually, talked, and watched as the sun came up over the Browns Church Cemetery where many of their ancestors now rest. Making stew is typically a ‘guy-thing.’

Men don’t stand around the pots just to gossip although plenty of that is done. They do it because it takes a lot of work to stir a stew, which must stay in motion to prevent scorching and to blend the flavors. You can’t stir 30 gallons of stew with a kitchen spoon. It takes an unvarnished boat paddle and a figure-eight movement to do the job right. Stewmasters are particular about what goes into the pot and when, but they will turn over the stirring to just about anyone with strong arms who is willing to do it.

Today the stew was made by the Browns Church Ruritan Club, following the tradition established by the Browns community when cooks at the Browns School and members of the church would cook the stew and sell it at the West Tennessee State Fair every fall.

Stew Masters Lee Tomlinson and David Pearson

The Brunswick stew which many Tennesseans were raised on may be foreign to those new to West Tennessee. Originally cooked by Edward Claiborne Sturdivant of Brunswick County, Virginia; the recipe came with him to Tennessee when he married Mary White and moved to Haywood Country in the 1840’s. One of their sons founded Sturdivant Packing Company and produced the stew using the original recipe. It later was sold to Kelly Foods in Jackson who produced the stew for years.

Several country churches and individuals in West Tennessee still make the stew each year. The stew plays a starring role at fund-raising events and holiday gatherings, anywhere crowds gather to eat. Typically it is cooked outside either over a fire or with gas burners, as you can’t make just a little bit at a time. It takes a big pot and a boat paddle to keep it stirred from start to finish. There’s no telling how many community centers were renovated, homes rebuilt after a fire, needy families clothed, or critically ill children helped because of this tradition.

The black kettles used for cooking are prized and many are over a hundred years old. Some were originally used to boil lard so they are really seasoned. You can’t run out and buy these kettles just anywhere today, but it takes something this large for the big batches. It is also a minimum of a three men operation, as the stew must be stirred with a boat paddle from the moment the burners are turned on until about 20 minutes after they are turned off to prevent the stew from scorching. Four hours of stirring is quite a workout! That’s if everything is preboiled; otherwise it takes about 8 hours of cooking.

Most stew masters have tweaked the recipe over the years to suit their tastes, but it’s still close to the original. Country living guaranteed you usually had plenty of garden vegetables and though Browns Church uses only chicken and beef in their stew, others mix in pork, squirrels, or rabbits. The next time you have to feed a crowd or raise a few dollars for a good cause, try your hand at cooking up a pot of the stew that has been popular in our neck of the woods for over 170 years. That’s if you can find a kettle big enough.



Coach Don Williams and Page Tomlinson Jackson



If not, just mosey on over to Browns Church during Labor Day weekend, take a number, and get in line for some of the best stew on Earth. Page Jackson, and her able bodied assistant, Coach Don Williams, welcomed the customers, took their orders and gave them numbered tickets. Funny how they knew the biggest part of the crowd; Don laughingly called most them by name, and Page concentrated on keeping the orders straight. Gallons sold for $17 and quarts for $5; within hours the pots were emptied. Over 120 gallons of stew was sold, the Ruritan Club, though tired and worn out, had another successful venture, and the Browns Chuch Labor Day tradition continues.

BRUNSWICK STEW (Sample recipe as most Stew Masters guard their secret concoctions. Some won't add black eyed peas because it looks like bugs; some add a bottle or hot sauce; others add sugar and butter; and some refuse 'to drag it through the garden' as they call it, preferring less vegetables.

50 pounds boiled chicken

3 gallons chicken broth from cooking chicken

30 pounds of stewed beef

2 gallons of beef broth from cooking beef

6 gallons tomatoes

6 gallons lima beans

1 gallon tomato ketchup

5 gallons green beans, cut into pieces

3 gallons carrots, sliced

65-75 pounds potatoes, cut up

4 gallons English peas

5 gallons onions, cut up

1 gallon tomato paste

6 gallons whole kernel corn

2 gallons cream style corn

4-6 ounces black pepper

Plenty of salt

Red pepper to taste

Remove all the skin and bones from the cooked chicken and pull meat into big pieces. Cut stewed meat into pieces, remove and discard fat and any gristle. Turn on the burner and add chicken broth to the pot first thing and start stirring. Then add the chicken, tomatoes, lima beans, tomato ketchup (which adds just the right amount of sweetener,) green beans, carrots, potatoes, English peas, onions, and tomato paste (which gives the stew the pretty color) and continue stirring. Bring to a boil and cook through and through for about 2-1/2 or 3 hours, stirring constantly. Add the corn, pepper, salt and pepper; stir constantly or the corn will stick. Cook another 1 to 1-1/2 hours. When it’s done, turn off the burner, add creamed corn and continue stirring for 30 minutes to prevent scorching. If you didn’t preboil the chicken, you would need to cook the stew for about 8 hours. When it’s done, ladle into bowls and serve. You don’t need many fixins because everything’s in the bowl. Saltine crackers and a cold Coke for washing away the sting of the hot pepper is all that’s needed. There's nothing like it, knowing that lots of love and elbow grease went into the cooking.