Writing About Food - Hopkins County Stew (Excerpt from "Tales from Texas Tables")
Dallas resident, Mrs. Opal White Elder, 84, recounts her memories of growing up in Hopkins County and making the stew.
"Years ago in Hopkins County, on the last day of school, there'd be no classes. People in the community donated the chickens, and they'd get big iron wash pot from somewhere; it would take three or four. The men would come to the school early in the morning to build the fires so the wood would burn down to hot coals. Then, they put the wash pots on stands over the fire and put the chickens in with plenty of water so they'd start cooking. Later on in the morning, the women and children would come to school and women finished making the stew. The women stayed busy, peeling potatoes and onions. Nobody wanted to peel the onions because they knew the onions would make them cry"
"The mothers had such a good time together talking and visiting while the stew cooked. Tomatoes and creamed corned would be added: a quart of canned tomatoes and a quart of creamed corn for each chicken. They didn't add more vegetables like they do now, because they didn't have any to add. I still make my stew without a lot of vegetables. They seasoned it with salt, pepper and chili powder and served the stew with cornbread, baked in cakes about 1 inch thick and cut in pieces. Most people crumbled their cornbread in the stew."
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