VGS Chicken Muddle vs Brunswick Stew
Newsletter: VOL. XVII, NO.1
POST OFFICE BOX 7469, RICHMOND, VA. 23221
January - February 1991
Brunswick Stew vs Chicken Muddle
A few years back, some good people in Brunswick County, Virginia, were incensed that a Jamestown publication gave that locality as the first to serve the hunters' stew termed Brunswick. In other countries a stewed meat with a few fresh vegetables thrown in is termed chasseur (hunter) cacciatore (hunter) jäger (hunter). A number of letters erupted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch pro and con over the origin of our local version of the stew, for Virginians are very touchy about our precedence in all things cultural. The best letter on the subject was that written by the Rev. Oliver K Brooke, of Emporia, and it effectively put an end to the exchange, at least for the time. We present it here for you folks out west so you can see that even our cooking is seasoned with the spice of history.
Correspondent LeeNora Everett is quite right in taking the stew story back to Brunswick County (Officials Stew in Brunswick") for this is where the confusion actually began.
Roy L Schreiner is also correct in connecting Jamestown with the naming of the stew. The first "Brunswick Stew" was served in Jamestown, and its origins do go back to Brunswick County, Va.
When Brunswick County was separated from Prince George in 1732, the court reporters at Williamsburg remembered or resurrected from the files the account of Governor Spotswood's visit to Fort Christianna in April 1716. These records and the memories of the Tavern crowd resulted in a re-enactment of Governor Spotswood's fun with John Fontaine, who accompanied him on the trip to the Indian fort where he was forced to eat the unnamed stew. They arranged for an Indian family near Jamestown to cook up a stew like that described by the governor.
The gentry from Brunswick, then in Williamsburg, who had so successfully lobbied for the creation of Brunswick, were invited to the feast.
John Fontaine's journal, edited by Edward Porter Alexander and published by the Williamsburg Foundation in 1972, contains the following entry for April 19, 1716:
The seventh day, Christianna, after breakfast we assembled ourselves and read the Common Prayer. There were with us cight of the Indian boys who answered very well the prayers and understood what it read. After prayers we dined and in the afternoon we walked abroad to see the land which is well timbered and very good. We returned to the fort and supped.
Nothing remarkable. This is a very apt and true description of Brunswick stew, at least it is historical.
At the time this stew, Indian-style, was served to Governor Spotswood and John Fontaine at Christianna in 1716, Fontaine was in Virginia prospecting for land grants. At that time Brunswick was the backside of Prince George County. Formation of Brunswick took place in 1732. It was a fitting occasion to name the unremarkable delicacy that was the subject of many tavern jokes at the time and continues to fire the imagination more than the appetite.
An even older version of the colonial fastfood trade is "chicken muddle." The honor of concocting chicken muddle is claimed by the carly residents of Greensville County, in and around Hicksford, which is now Emporia. It's much thicker and very rich, with a taste of hickory smoked bacon. Brunswick stew is a latecomer, easier made, much thinner, quick and easy.
The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter
POST OFFICE BOX 7469, RICHMOND, VA. 23221
January - February 1991
Brunswick Stew vs Chicken Muddle
A few years back, some good people in Brunswick County, Virginia, were incensed that a Jamestown publication gave that locality as the first to serve the hunters' stew termed Brunswick. In other countries a stewed meat with a few fresh vegetables thrown in is termed chasseur (hunter) cacciatore (hunter) jäger (hunter). A number of letters erupted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch pro and con over the origin of our local version of the stew, for Virginians are very touchy about our precedence in all things cultural. The best letter on the subject was that written by the Rev. Oliver K Brooke, of Emporia, and it effectively put an end to the exchange, at least for the time. We present it here for you folks out west so you can see that even our cooking is seasoned with the spice of history.
Correspondent LeeNora Everett is quite right in taking the stew story back to Brunswick County (Officials Stew in Brunswick") for this is where the confusion actually began.
Roy L Schreiner is also correct in connecting Jamestown with the naming of the stew. The first "Brunswick Stew" was served in Jamestown, and its origins do go back to Brunswick County, Va.
When Brunswick County was separated from Prince George in 1732, the court reporters at Williamsburg remembered or resurrected from the files the account of Governor Spotswood's visit to Fort Christianna in April 1716. These records and the memories of the Tavern crowd resulted in a re-enactment of Governor Spotswood's fun with John Fontaine, who accompanied him on the trip to the Indian fort where he was forced to eat the unnamed stew. They arranged for an Indian family near Jamestown to cook up a stew like that described by the governor.
The gentry from Brunswick, then in Williamsburg, who had so successfully lobbied for the creation of Brunswick, were invited to the feast.
John Fontaine's journal, edited by Edward Porter Alexander and published by the Williamsburg Foundation in 1972, contains the following entry for April 19, 1716:
The seventh day, Christianna, after breakfast we assembled ourselves and read the Common Prayer. There were with us cight of the Indian boys who answered very well the prayers and understood what it read. After prayers we dined and in the afternoon we walked abroad to see the land which is well timbered and very good. We returned to the fort and supped.
Nothing remarkable. This is a very apt and true description of Brunswick stew, at least it is historical.
At the time this stew, Indian-style, was served to Governor Spotswood and John Fontaine at Christianna in 1716, Fontaine was in Virginia prospecting for land grants. At that time Brunswick was the backside of Prince George County. Formation of Brunswick took place in 1732. It was a fitting occasion to name the unremarkable delicacy that was the subject of many tavern jokes at the time and continues to fire the imagination more than the appetite.
An even older version of the colonial fastfood trade is "chicken muddle." The honor of concocting chicken muddle is claimed by the carly residents of Greensville County, in and around Hicksford, which is now Emporia. It's much thicker and very rich, with a taste of hickory smoked bacon. Brunswick stew is a latecomer, easier made, much thinner, quick and easy.
The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter
Connect With Us
We would love to connect with you. Feel free to follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.
|
|
|
