Mulligan Stew — The Pot You Make When You Don’t Know What Comes Next

March 2020 and the world changed. I have been writing about ordinary things and this week is not ordinary. The pandemic arrived this week in the way things arrive when they are going to be large: suddenly and completely, the news going from something happening elsewhere to something happening here.

The university went online. The daycare closed. I am furloughed. I went to the grocery store on Thursday and it was unsettling: empty shelves in some sections, lines at the checkout, a particular kind of civic anxiety in the air that I have not felt before. I bought dried beans, rice, canned tomatoes, flour, oil, sugar, yeast. The things you can build from. The things Gloria would buy.

I came home and cooked. I made a pot of red beans and rice, long and slow, the apartment filling with the smell of something familiar and good, and I sat at my kitchen table with Biscuit beside me and I thought: I know how to do this. I know how to take simple things and make them into enough. I have been learning this my whole life. The specific anxiety of not knowing what comes next, of whether there will be enough, is not new to me. I know this anxiety from inside.

Gloria is sixty-nine. James is seventy-two. I called immediately. She said: we are staying home. James is not happy about it but we are staying home. I said: good. Please stay home. She said: you stay home too. I said: I will. I will stay home and cook and call you every day. She said: every day. I said: every day.

That pot of red beans and rice steadied me, and it reminded me that this is what I know how to do: build something from almost nothing. Mulligan Stew is cut from the same cloth — a recipe with roots in making-do, in pulling together whatever is on the shelf and letting heat and time do their work. It is what I made the day after, and the day after that, rotating through what I had brought home from those unsettling shelves. If you are in a week that feels too large and you need something to fill the apartment with warmth and the smell of something familiar, this is the pot to make.

Mulligan Stew

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef or stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 medium carrots, sliced into rounds
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained (or 1 cup frozen corn)
• 4 cups beef broth or water with 2 bouillon cubes
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (optional, for thickening)

Instructions

1. Brown the meat. Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5–7 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. Soften the aromatics. In the same pot, reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
3. Build the stew. Return the meat to the pot. Sprinkle flour over the mixture if using and stir to coat. Add the diced tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and paprika. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle boil.
4. Add vegetables. Stir in the potatoes and carrots. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 35–40 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are fork-tender.
5. Finish with beans and corn. Add the drained beans and corn. Stir gently and simmer uncovered for another 10–15 minutes, until the broth has thickened slightly. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls. Good with cornbread, crusty bread, or plain — just as it is, which is enough.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 8g | Sodium: 620mg