You guys never heard of "stew style?"
I'm from Texas, but spent several years on the East Coast. It's basically a lot of dry heat, a recipe, then you add Italian (stew style, not other), and baby, you gotta stew goin'. The secret is to use a dry heat so they don't dry for a long. Some people add a pork rib bone (only one, preferably with some good meat still on it) and moist water.
It's basically a free form kind of stew, and the Italian (stew style) DO when you cook them dry, but DON'T when you don't.
I'm pretty sure it's in Le Guide. Try recipe #1146...? IIRC.