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Jungle Stew
8 SMALL POTATOES 2 POUNDS CANNED TOMATOES I QUART WATER 1/2 TABLESPOON SALT Soak beans overnight and in the morning cook until half done in a big, black kettle. Brown onion with bacon and add with everything else to the kettle, to cook tender with the beans, adding more water if necessary.
This stew originated in no African jungle but in the good old American jungle where the unemployed and out of luck migrant workers gather and pool whatever food they can get hold of to make luscious meals that stick to your ribs. Anything else in the way of vegetables or meat can go into your jungle stew, of course, this being but the basic recipe to insure substantial food and flavor.
We have a lot of good stews to thank the fine cooks of the jungle for, among them pheasant mulligan so luscious it would make a millionaire drool.
A camp bean stew built around a long, slow pot. The proportions below are the ones the text gives; the rest is judgment.
- The beans set the clockEverything else is timed off them. Soak overnight, then simmer until about half tender before anything else goes in, or the acid in the tomatoes will stall the skins and you will cook for hours without softening them.
- Add tomatoes lateTwo pounds of canned tomatoes is a little more than one large 28 oz can with its juice. The recipe adds them once the beans are half cooked; holding them back further will not hurt, for the same reason.
- The big black kettleA cast-iron Dutch oven of at least 6 quarts, over coals rather than open flame. On a modern range use a heavy 6- to 8-quart pot on the lowest steady heat; the point is gentle, even bottom heat that will not scorch starch.
- WaterA quart is a starting point, not a total. Beans absorb unpredictably depending on age, so keep hot water at hand and top up to keep everything just submerged.
- Salt timingHalf a tablespoon is modest for this volume. Add it with the tomatoes rather than at the start, and taste again at the end once the bacon has given up its salt.
- Bacon and onionRender the bacon first, brown the onion in the fat, and tip both in with the fat. That fat is most of the body of the dish; do not drain it off.
- YieldThe text does not state how many beans go in, so no firm yield can be given; with eight potatoes, a quart of water and two pounds of tomatoes this is plainly a large potful. It reheats well and thickens considerably as it stands.