The Old Fashioned Irish Stew

Old Fashioned Irish Stew

Ireland is a beautiful country to visit. The people are warm and friendly and m more than happy to share a little of their lives with anyone that will take the time to listen.

The countryside is both breath takingly beautiful and yet so baron in many places which gives it all a very special charm.

The tradition of the Irish Stew goes back several hundred years in Ireland, although the exact date it was conceived is not clearly known. This was a dish made by many peasant farmers. Sheep were the most common animal raised as they were prized for their wool and milk.

The recipe for this amazing stew eventually made its way across to England via many Irishmen who moved to England in hopes of a better life, where it became a favourite in many poorer homes there also.

Sheep could handle the very cold winters far better in both Ireland and England than most other domesticated farm animals and did not need to be housed in barns through the winter months like the cattle do.

Mutton was the most common meat eaten, other than wild rabbits or the odd deer that would be poached off the local Estates, as only the oldest sheep would be slaughtered for eating and only once they had become too old to bear any more lambs for milking and their wool lost its value as it became courser with age. As the mutton was generally very old it required the slow cooking to make it tender for eating. The haunches, or legs were generally slow roasted. The rib chops were generally slowly braised and served in a rich gravy with mashed potatoes or turned into sausages, and the necks were usually always reserved for a good old Irish stew.

In Ireland it has long since been a tradition to use mutton neck chops because of the depth of flavour that they impart into the stew. It was the poorest cut of the animal and did not possess a great deal of meat generally so potatoes were used to “fill” up the meal for the peasant farmers.

Traditionally the chops were cooked as they are, bones and all, as there is a great depth of flavour that comes from cooking any meat on the bone.

Large pans of stew would be set on the hearth in the coals to cook slowly over several hours. As the years went by the stew would be cooked on the old coal ranges. It was a warming site to come in out of the freezing cold and be able to sit down to a bowl of piping hot Irish stew.

In some areas dumplings would also be added to the top of the stews near the completion of the cooking time. This allowed the stew to feed more people when times got really hard for the farming families.

One thing was for certain and that was that an Irish cook learned to be very prudent and frugal with what meagre supplies they might have had to cook with. No one could ever accuse an Irish farmers wife of wasteful cooking.

"Irish stew is a celebrated Irish dish, yet its composition is a matter of dispute. Purists maintain that the only acceptable and traditional ingredients are neck mutton chops or kid, potatoes, onions, and water. Other would add such items as carrots, turnips, and pearl barley; but the purists maintain they spoil the true flavour of the dish. The ingredients are boiled and simmered slowly for up to two hours. Mutton was the dominant ingredient because the economic importance of sheep lay in their wool and milk production, and this ensured that only old or economically non-viable animals ended up in the cooking pot, where they needed hours of slow boiling. Irish stew is the product of a culinary tradition that relied almost exclusively on cooking over an open fire. It seems that Irish stew was recognized as early as about 1800"

Credit for this paragraph above goes to - Oxford Companion to Food, by Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press: Oxford] 1999 (p. 407)

Most Irish stews will contain the mutton neck chops, onions potatoes and carrots. I have yet to see one made with turnips, parsnips and pearl barley, but that does not mean that such a concoction was not ever made. Up in the high country, barley could most definitely have been used because of its amazing “warning” properties. The Irish even made porridge out of Barley. It gets mighty cold up in the mountains of Ireland, that is for certain.

Here is an old Irish stew recipe that dates back to 1874

Irish Stew

Take from two or three pounds of chops from the best end of a neck of mutton, and pare away nearly all the fat, for an Irish Stew should not be greasy. If liked a portion of the breast may be cut into squares and used, but a neck of mutton is the best joint for the purpose. Take as many potatoes as amount after peeling to twice the weight of the meat. Slice them, and slice also eight large onions. Put a layer of mixed potatoes and onions at the bottom of a stew pan. Place the meat on this and season it plentifully with pepper and slightly with salt. Pack the ingredients closely, and cover the meat with another layer of potato and onion. Pour in as much water or stock as will moisten the topmost layer, cover the stew pan tightly, and let its contents simmer gently for three hours. Be careful not to remove the lid, as this will let out the flavour."

Credit for this recipe graciously goes to: - Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations, published by [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.: London] in 1874 (p. 331)

And now for a recipe that has been handed down through the family to me. I hope that you all enjoy this as much as my family does.

My Family’s Irish Stew

1.5 kilos Mutton chops

3 kilos starchy potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

A handful of peas (optional and not traditional, but I added them simply to use them up and prevent waste)

Salt and plenty of pepper

Water to cover

Brown the mutton chops well to give them a good colour. Remove from the pan and place in a large stew pan or slow cooker if you prefer. Brown the onion and add on top of the chops. Season well with pepper and a little salt. Add the potatoes, onions and carrots. Add just enough water to just come to the top of the vegetables. Place the lid on and simmer slowly for 3 hours on the stove or cook for 4 hours in the slow cooker on high. About 15 – 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time add the peas and indeed dumplings if you are having them.

Note: We use starchy potatoes because they will break down slightly during the cooking process which is what will thicken the sauce of the stew as it cooks.

Your Irish stew should have a nice glossy look to it.

If you so desire you can add a few home made dumplings on top of the stew in the last 15 – 20 minutes of the cooking time. This will give you a far more filling meal.

We love eating our Irish Stew with chunks of torn off bread to help mop up the juices but you can serve it with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetable if you so wish.

Enjoy a little taste if Ireland this winter.