Traditional Irish stew.

Blub2k4

Alright guys and gals I bought myself quite a large piece of mutton yesterday with the intention of making a nice Irish Stew and freezing it off for work lunches.
Basically what I would like is your Irish stew recipes, traditional ones using mutton would be preferable but if you can modify your lamb recipe to use lamb then that would do too.
Obviously this wont be a 100g of this and that recipe more a handful of this and a rake of that....in any case let me have your fine recipes folks I will be forever thankful.

<edit> I googled it but would rather some genuine local home recipes as the ones online are all american and I would rather poke my eyes out.....

Shabadu

Well, from my neck of the woods you throw the onion, carrots and cubed meat into a saucepan, cover with water, bring to boil, skim, add a bouquet garnis, add salt and pepper, simmer for an age, then throw in peeled spuds and wait for them to thicken it.

I however, prefer to braise the meat and veg first. Not traditional, but I don't like watery chunks of floppy boiled onion. I'd also add a bit of garlic, a stock cube, and only add sufficient water to stew it, I don't like it really watery. Floury spuds are a neccesity. Some purists don't add carrots.

Alun

I do the same as Shabadu, but I usually put some of the potato in to start with cut quite small so it just dissolves and then add the larger chunks later on. Have also been know to add some cabbage too towards the end, but what do I know, I'm English

county

i would agree with shabadu but i would`nt add garlic,but its all about personal taste

Blub2k4

Hmm I think a mix of all of the above sounds good, I would be a fan of braising the meat first cos it's the way I learned it.
It's amazing when you work at this stuff for years in a foreign country you come home and enter a kitchen and dont know the names for the kitchen implements in english never mind Irish recipes, thanks all.

The Sweeper

Handful of barley. There's got to be a handful of barley.

Blub2k4

bought some barley there earlier, thanks for that.

Alun

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Handful of barley. There's got to be a handful of barley.

Horrible stuff ... never seent the point of it, like lot's of squidgy little eyeballs and totally tasteless.

The Sweeper

I find it thickens up the stew and - if it's not overcooked or undercooked - has a good mouth-feel along with the rest of the stew ingredients.

And it does have a taste. It tastes like barley.

bonkey

Blub2k4 wrote:

Hmm I think a mix of all of the above sounds good, I would be a fan of braising the meat first cos it's the way I learned it.

Yup, and I'd personally add the veg way, way later than most people here seem to favour.

I've neber understood how ppl can (for example) cook a carrot for longer than a potato....but hey...each to their own.

Shabadu

Carrots in Irish stew are not meant to be crunchy. They're meant to have almost melted into the stew. It's quite delicious.

That said, most vegetables have been treated quite badly by Irish people of a certain generation. My fiancé's grandmother used to boil cabbage for 3 hours. Seriously.

brianthebard

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Handful of barley. There's got to be a handful of barley.

At least two handfuls!God I love barley.

Fairy Dust

I always remove fat and gristle from meat. Then slice two potatoes into thin slices. Then get an onion and slice into thin rings. Cut other vegetables into narrow strips. Lightly grease a heavy based saucepan with oil to prevent ingredients sticking to the base. Line the base with the sliced potatoes. Top this with a layer of prepared meat then add a layer of onion rings, leek and celery.(celery was a trick my dad taught me.)

Add water and let it boil and then leave it for about one hour.
Top with the potatoes and leave until the potatoes are cooked (takes about 20 minutes.)

Or you can put it in the oven but that takes about 2 hours!

Alun

Shabadu wrote:

Carrots in Irish stew are not meant to be crunchy. They're meant to have almost melted into the stew. It's quite delicious.

True! Crunchy carrots have their place, but an Irish stew, or any other stew for that matter, isn't one of them IMHO.

BTW, the reason I put cabbage in my Irish stew is that I have a recipe for a Norwegian dish called Fårekål, which is a layered dish of lamb, potatoes and cabbage. It's remarkably simple to make, but it's a marriage of ingredients truly made in heaven, believe me.

boneless

I use sprouts instead of cabbage. I also like some turnip/swede or parsnip too. They can add some bite to the mix.


I remember my Granny making 'blind stew'... had no meat you could see!! It was a throwback to the times when she couldn't afford lamb or even stewing beef!!

Blub2k4

I ended up doing this on a very low heat for a very long time and as a result it was melt in your mouth, all the connective tissues in the mutton were broken down and gelatinous and it was very nice, I also left the bone in from when I diced the joint, to add to the stock, thanks all, frozen off and gets my girlfriends seal of approval so all is good.

Shabadu

Sounds great! I've totally gone off stews now that the weathers great though. I've been all about the gazpacho/miso/houmous with crudités this week.

Blub2k4

Yeah it isn't really stew weather but with all the spring lamb about, I felt like searching out some mutton just so the girlfriend could try a proper Irish stew.

Thanks all.