Irish stew

Ingredients

Stew

• 1.2 kglamb or mutton neck chops on the bone, or shoulder cut into large pieces
• 1.2 kgfloury potatoes, half cut into 3 cm chunks and half left whole or halved
• 4onions (600 g), thickly sliced
• 4carrots, cut into thick lengths
• 3 sprigsthyme
• 1bay leaf
• 1 litrelight broth or water
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tspcoarsely ground black pepper
• 30 gbutter

To finish

• 1large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2spring onions, sliced (optional)
• soda bread and butter, to serve

Directions

1. Trim the worst of the fat from the chops but leave the bones in; the marrow and the collagen are what give the stew its body, since nothing else thickens it.
2. Layer the pot: a bed of onion and carrot, then the meat seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme, then the chunked potatoes, then the remaining onion, finishing with the whole potatoes on top.
3. Pour in enough broth or water to come three quarters of the way up, not to cover. This is a stew, not a soup.
4. Bring slowly to a simmer on the hob, skim any grey foam, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat, or in a 150°C (300°F) oven, for 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes.
5. Do not stir at any point. Stirring breaks the top potatoes and turns the whole pot to mash.
6. Check at 2 hours: the meat should slide off the bone and the lower potatoes should have collapsed into the liquid, thickening it naturally to a light gravy, while the top potatoes stay whole.
7. Tilt the pot and spoon off surface fat, then stir in the butter and check the seasoning. Mutton needs more pepper than lamb.
8. Rest 15 minutes off the heat, scatter with a great deal of parsley, and serve in deep bowls with buttered soda bread. It is better reheated the next day.

Technique

• The two-potato trick is the traditional technique: chunks that dissolve to thicken the broth, whole ones that survive intact. No flour, no roux and no browning of the meat.
• Purists insist on mutton, potato, onion and water only. Carrot, barley and thyme are nineteenth-century and later additions, and the argument is still live in Ireland.
• Mutton, if you can get it, is far more flavourful than lamb and needs the full 2 hours 30 minutes. Neck and shoulder on the bone beat any lean cut.
• Never brown the meat. A true Irish stew is pale, and the flavour comes from long, slow simmering.

Substitutions

• No mutton: hogget or lamb neck is the standard modern substitute; shorten the cooking by 30 minutes.
• Pearl barley, 60 g added at the start, thickens the stew and is common in the midlands, though disputed by purists.
• Floury potatoes can be replaced by a mix of waxy for the whole ones and floury for the ones that dissolve.

Variations

• Dublin coddle is the pork cousin: sausages, rashers, onion and potato simmered the same way.
• Some Ulster versions add a bottle of stout to the liquid for colour and depth.
• A leek-heavy version is common in the south-east when leeks are in season.

History

Mutton, potato and onion stewed together; recorded under the name from the early nineteenth century as the food of the rural poor.

Frequently asked questions

What is Irish stew?

Irish stew is a soup & stew from Ireland: lamb, potatoes, onions, and carrots slow-simmered together. Mutton, potato and onion stewed together; recorded under the name from the early nineteenth century as the food of the rural poor.

How long does Irish stew take to make?

Irish stew takes 25 min of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Irish stew?

Yes, within limits. No mutton: hogget or lamb neck is the standard modern substitute; shorten the cooking by 30 minutes. Pearl barley, 60 g added at the start, thickens the stew and is common in the midlands, though disputed by purists. Floury potatoes can be replaced by a mix of waxy for the whole ones and floury for the ones that dissolve.

What is the most important thing to get right in Irish stew?

Layer the pot: a bed of onion and carrot, then the meat seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme, then the chunked potatoes, then the remaining onion, finishing with the whole potatoes on top.