A stew by any other name

During my travel writing days in the early 1990s, when Northern Ireland was coming out of its ‘troubles’ and its tourism board was anticipating an increase in visitors not looking for trouble, I looked down into a familiar bowl of Irish stew. By Alan Titchall.

It was in a pub restaurant in Belfast with ‘me-self’ and what appeared to be the entire office of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board viewing my sponsored lunch on the itinerary as an opportunity to make the best of a Friday luncheon.

When I mentioned that Mrs O’Connell’s stew – the house speciality, a thickish grey gruel with a large potato floating in the centre – looked and tasted identical to my mother’s, my hosts were incredulous. 

Between my Kiwi ‘twung’, the musical Ulster parlance (drop the ‘h’), the Bushmills whiskey, and the brouhaha of the pub during Friday lunch, something got lost in translation, so we celebrated the culinary fame of the pub’s signature dish reaching the distance shores of New Zealand. More misinterpretations followed. While describing my home city of Auckland, an earnest question sang forward in that sweet brogue from the end of the table. 

“And what do these (h)awks look like Alan?”
My mother was of Northern Irish decent, and a third-generation New Zealander, and that her Irish stew was almost identical to Mrs O’Connell’s is testament to the power of a good recipe and culinary heritage that can travel unscathed and appreciated through both distance and time.

Origins

Early written recipes for Ballymaloe or ‘stobhach gaelach’, as Irish stew is called in Gaelic, involve the neck, loin or shoulder of lamb or mutton (a sheep at least two years old), spuds, onions and seasoning. 

Later recipes added root crops, such carrots, turnips or parsnips (which increase the depth of flavour) and other ingredients - including barley and even beer or Guinness.

Our take on the traditional stew sticks to lamb and root vegetables. We use a slow cooker (see other story in this winter 2010 issue on slow cookers). We recommend that the fat is trimmed from any meat thoroughly – there’s nothing worse than the taste or smell of simmering sheep fat. And, as the lid of the slow cooker shouldn’t be lifted during the cooking, you don’t have an opportunity to skim the liquid fat off the top of the stew as the meat renders down. Brown the meat after it has been lightly (and we mean lightly) dusted with plain flour, as it always provides more depth of flavour. Never underestimate your stock flavour (quality chicken, white beef, or vegetable) as, with any casserole or stew, it adds flavour depth to this dish that water won’t. We did not thicken the stew after it has cooked – so it stayed ‘broth like’.

From a mother’s heart

My mother did not pass on her Irish stew recipe to any of her six children but my recollections are similar to those of Allyson Gofton who features her mother’s recipe on both on her website (ecook.co.nz) and in her beautiful new recipe book Slow. 

She says this recipe is her, “favourite winter meal served with hot buttered toast”. Allyson was raised in Elizabeth Town in Tasmania where her parents had a lovely old country pub (as only Tasmania has them), while I was raised in the central North Island of New Zealand, proving, as I already mentioned, the long reach of Irish culinary heritage. And what I like about Allyson’s recipe is its ‘broth-like’ finish so it is served in deep plates or shallow bowls. My mum was from a Kiwi generation of home cooks who ‘thickened’ their stews and casseroles at the last minute with a paste of cornstarch or arrowroot so it sat on a flat plate without running. In those more parsimonious days my mother, feeding a family of eight on a single income, typically chopped or diced everything into comparatively small chunks - including the meat. In both of the following recipes, the vegetables are cut into chip-like batons and the meat into steaky chunks(or left as chops), which works better for both the very low heat cooking techniques and presentation.

The following recipe is reprinted with permission from Slow by Allyson Gofton with photography by Alan Gillard. Published by Penguin Group (NZ). RRP $49.99. Copyright (c) Allyson Gofton, 2010.

Irish Stew
Serves 8, preparation time 20 minutes, cooking time low 8-9 hours, high 4-5 hours

Ingredients
8 lamb shoulder chops
2-3 large onions, peeled
3 large potatoes, peeled
2 large parsnips, peeled
1-2 large swedes, peeled
2 large carrots, peeled
1 bay leaf, optional
4 cups water or light chicken stock
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Trim any excess fat from the lamb chops. Season the chops well with salt and pepper. Dice the onions finely. Cut the potatoes, parsnips, Swedes and carrots into large chunky pieces. Layer the lamb and vegetables in the pre-warmed slow cooker. Add bay leaf if using. Pour the water or chicken stock into slow cooker and cover with the lid. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. 

Drizzle in Worcestershire sauce and scatter over parsley before serving with warm buttered soda bread (recipe on same page in the book).

Foodstyle’s rich Irish stew

1kg of boned lamb leg 
1 swede and 2 parsnips peeled and cut into big batons
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into big batons
10 small pearl/pickling onions peeled and left whole
2 kumara peeled and cut into big chips
150g small mushrooms
2 celery sticks (cut out strings from the stems)
1l chicken or vegetable stock
4 garlic gloves peeled and whole
1 bay leaf
Fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to season

Method
Cut the boned lamb leg meat cross the grain into large slabs and brown. Take out meat from the pan, take the pan off the heat and quickly deglaze with a little of the stock. Layer meat, vegetables, herbs, stock, bay leaf, and pan liquids into slow cooker. Season. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Before serving add 30ml of cream and blend into the stew. Serve in shallow bowls.

Unthickened, broth-like stew. Serve in shallow bowls.

Winter 2010 

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