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Today's Case


The Varsity Onion Rings & Mexico City Gourmet Salsa

Subject: Atlanta Georgia Old Hickory House Brunswick Stew Recipe
From: Brad 
Date: 10/31/2019, 8:15 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

Phaed !
What an exciting email for me to get, its encouraging.  There is so much I know 
and don't know on this topic. Thank you for correcting me on the JR's and their 
potatoes.  Thanks for the links you sent, I have seen all of those links, except 
for the one from Bold Springs Bakery, and sadly that is a broken link now. I have 
seen the other ones in my past searches and they aren't old hickory house, the one 
that really steams me is the one from "hisblessedkid" I see that posted often on 
Facebook and its not even remotely close to old hickory house. 
  
So, here is what I think I know about the Brunswick stew, and then is based on 
extensive, multi week box collecting.  I should first say that old hickory house 
does not sell cream corn on the menu, but I would often find cans of cream corn 
in the trash along with other likely stew ingredients.
So here is what I've found which are likely the Brunswick stew ingredients, which 
tells me even if they listed an actual recipe most  people could not make this at 
home because they don't have access to these food service products.  

Stokely's Golden Sweet Cream Style Corn 6lb6oz upc 070222028403 (ive never seen this 
for sale at any store)
West Creek 33%Tomato Ketchup 978192 3 gallon bags (there were many many boxes of this,  
and what they serve on the table is Red Gold Ketchup
Twelve Oaks 4% Colored Vinegar (if you google this, results show its a secret for BBQ sauces)
Lea and Perrins Worcestershire
Heinz Mustard
West Creek Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup 50oz can #265729
Pork - Hormel VP Pork Shoulder Butt 53456 or 319410
West Creek Diced Tomatoes in Juice 878218  6lb6oz cans
West creek Chopped tomatoes in Puree 6lbs6oz 878217
West Creek Iodized Salt

that's it for what I had found that is likely Brunswick stew components. I tell you this 
Phaed, in my lifetime I'm going to get that Brunswick stew recipe, even if it means laying 
out $1,000 to an employee asking for the secret.

If I had any more requests they would be these.  The Varsity Onion Rings (I know they use 
Chery's best Nickey Gregory onions, optimax canola oil, and mayfield buttermilk), and this 
one, while I realize that mexican restaurant salsas may seem a dime a dozen there was one 
in particular in Atlanta that was epic, Mexico City Gourmet,  they had multiple locations, 
one behind the Old HIckory House in Dunwoody and the other in Decatur GA.  I asked them 
for years for the salsa recipe.   When we learned they were closing I offered them that 
I would bottle and sell it to continue their legacy.  No go, they claimed someone else 
would do that.  Well guess what, its now been 6 years since they closed, the owners are 
dead, and their salsa is dead.  What a shame.  I am unclear what the point of that is.  
I want to add one link here you probably have seen and it really is a great story.  
It's about the "over my dead body cookie recipe" : 
Family Cookie Recipe Stands the Test of Time

blessings,
Brad 

Brad,

I had no success with The Varsity's Onion Rings or Mexico City Gourmet's salsa.

I'll post the requests in order to get input from readers.

Phaed

Phaed !
Thank you for your emails and the Morrison and Piccadilly recipe links, they make me really happy.
One thing I didn’t see on either of those lists were for the seasoned little red or “new” potatoes.  
Those were great and to this day is a calling card to go to Piccadilly when I am near one.  
So I used the embedded info from the now expired bold springs bakery Brunswick stew to use 
archive.org to find that recipe !!  That mans narrative about eating the old hickory house stew 
mirrors mine and his components are similar to what I found in the dumpster.  
Here’s the link see if it works for you.

Secret Ingredient Brunswick Stew

Also check this out, this is me on my YouTube channel last week when I was visiting Georgia 
it’s the recipe card for the varsity’s chicken salad sandwich.  They are retiring that menu 
item after 91 years and they released the recipe.  It’s a way for us to get the Varsity 
conversation going.

Varsity Chicken Salad

Thank you for all your exchange with me.  Once I get back to Texas next week I will make the Mac 
and cheese,  if I get more clarity or the stew recipe I will give it to you.  Do you want all the 
info I have from my old hickory house dumpster adventures ?  It may be helpful 

Brad
This is the "secret recipe" from Bold Springs Bakery:

http://boldspringsbakery.com/2014/01/24/secret-ingredient-brunswick-stew/

Secret Ingredient Brunswick Stew

Prep work:

1 – Prepare chicken:  Either roast 2 or 3 chicken breasts (w skin and ribs) in the oven – brush 
olive oil on chicken breasts and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper — 350 degrees for 
45-55 minutes until internal temperature is at least 170 degrees, then let cool and tear into 
bite-size pieces … OR take the all meat off of a rotisserie chicken, and tear into bite-size chunks.

2 – Chop 2 sweet onions, heat skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter, sprinkle 
chopped onions with 1 teaspoon salt, and cook over medium-high heat until translucent and turning a 
little golden.  This takes about 17 minutes on my stove-top.

Place all these in a crock pot and stir:
Chicken from step 1
Cooked onions from step 2
3 lbs prepared pulled BBQ pork (I buy this in 1 lb. tubs, found in the refrigerator section)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can creamed corn
2 cans super sweet corn
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I use KC Masterpiece original)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 can Mild Rotel tomatoes
2 T sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar - the secret ingredient.  This is the mystery element that makes people 
ask, “What makes this soooo good?”  And if you’re nice, you tell them.  Or make them guess.  
Or mislead them altogether.  Totally up to you.

then — salt and pepper to taste
2 – 4 cups chicken stock (depends on how thick you like your stew)

Cook on high for about an 1 hour, then on low for 4-6 hours.


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