Irish Stew

Here is the recipe here as written in Time/Life's Foods of the World - The Cooking of the British Isles, 1969:

quote:

To serve 4 to 6:

6 medium-sized peeled potatoes (about 2 pounds), cut cross-wise into 1/4-inch slices
4 large onions (about 1.5 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
3 pounds lean boneless lamb neck or shoulder, trimmed of all fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Cold water

Spread half the potatoes on the bottom of a heavy 4- to 5-quart casserole or Dutch oven, and cover them with half the onion slices, and then all the lamb. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, a few grindings of pepper and the thyme. Arrange the rest of the onions over the meat and spread the remaining potatoes on top. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of black pepper, then pour in enough cold water just to cover the potatoes.

Bring the stew to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to its possible point, and cover the casserole tightly. Simmer for 1.5 hours. Check from time to time and add boiling water, a tablespoon or two at a time, if the liquid seems to be cooking away.

Serve the stew directly from the casserole or Dutch oven, ladeling it into heated, deep individual serving plates. Traditionally, Irish stew is accompanied by pickled red cabbage.

Note: If you prefer, you may cook the stew in a preheated 350-degree oven instead of on top of the stove. In that event, bring the casserole to a boil on top of the stove before placing it in the lower third of the oven.

Back in late May, I was able to make this luscious Irish stew, using a few slight variations that I will enumerate below. Results were outstanding for the most part, with only a couple of minor problems - and what problems there were, were my fault alone. With that, I do believe that this recipe on its own is quite sound, and one can make it as-written, or incorporating any of these modifications as they prefer.

I'll begin as always with a shot of the goods for an amount that approximates a batch-and-a-half:



Easy stuff! A few notes:

Lamb - I wish! Unfortunately, I had none available at the time, and the one source that I know of is very good, but also very expensive. This is too bad, because the few times I have had lamb, I enjoyed it. Instead, I used a nice beef chuck roast. I am willing to bet that this would be great with venison.

Onions - The larger onions are from the store, but the smaller ones were the last of the ones my dad grew in his garden last year; very good, flavourful onions that really had a nice, earthy taste to them - perfect for some good, old peasant cooking.

Beer - Yes, the recipe called for water, but I figured, "why not?" and used Guinness Black Lager - a very dark, smooth, non-bitter beer that I found to be quite good, and I hoped that this goodness would carry over to the stew. I got the idea from various sources, including Dave's mention of a Guinness stew that he makes (I thought we had a pictorial here, but now I can't seem to find it!). I was also bouncing the idea around due to the proximity of a local Irish pub that has a quasi-weekly special that they call "Guinness Stew." In fact, the pub is just a few steps away from my office, and a co-worker of mine loves it, waiting on pins and needles for the next time it is served. It is good stew, to be sure, but I keep telling her that she could make her own for a lot less. This pictorial is an attempt to show her just how easy it is.

Parsnips and carrots - The recipe simply calls for potatoes, but based on a couple of conversations I had regarding other soup/stew dishes, I decided to give parsnips a try, working them into the recipe along with some carrots; no problems here, as some research turned up many references to both of these root vegetables in Irish stews. I'd never tried parsnips before, so this was a bit of a leap of faith, but what the heck - you only live once!

Ready to get started, and looking forward to some really good eats, I began my prep work. First, I trimmed the chuck roast and cut it into cubes:



Then, I peeled and diced the (left to right) parsnips, carrots and potatoes:



Keeping with the aforementioned conversations that I had had on other threads, I decided to try pan-roasting the vegetables a little in order to get some extra flavour out of them:



For this first attempt, I just gave them a light browning, but this did achieve good results, and in the future, for these types of soups and stews, I will see about getting a deeper browning.

Meanwhile, I gave my onions a good dicing, then melted a little butter in my Dutch oven carmelised them until they started to get nice and toasty-brown:



When the onions were just right, I removed them and began to sear the chunks of chuck:



My plan was to do them in batches, in order to get better searing action, compared to previous attempts with other similar stews, where I simply did all the meat at once. This worked pretty well, but I probably should have done each batch a little smaller. No worries - we learn as we go, right?

In any case, the beef seared pretty well as it was; here's a batch about halfway-through:



Once the beef was seared, I began to put this whole thing together. First, I put down a layer consisting of half the vegetables:



Then, I placed half the onions:



After that, I added all of the beef, plus the thyme, salt, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of flour:



Next, the other half of the onions:



And the rest of the vegetables:



Then, I added the ingredient that I hoped would really make this stew interesting, taking it up a notch: the Guinness Black Lager:



To me, Guinness Stout is just too....stout - and I was concerned that its bitter or hoppy qualities might affect the taste of the stew. I had this happen once when making a similar stew from the The Low Countries called carbonade Flamande:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeb...amande_topic274.html

Since I knew that the Black Lager was much more smooth and mellow, providing all of the flavour with none of the pain, I reasoned that this would be an excellent choice for this stew, lending a rich depth and a little pinch of Irish brogue.

The recipe says to add enough liquid to just cover the vegetables, and that's what I did:



In this case, it took just under 4 bottles, leaving a swig for the chef.

Then, I covered the Dutch oven and, rather than simmer on the stove-top, I placed it into the oven at 300 degrees for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2.5 hours (3 would probably be just fine, as well). The length of time was to ensure nice slow cooking that would provide wonderful qualities to the beef, making it tender and flavourful. For lamb, which is a different kettle of fish, such long, slow cooking might not be quite so necessary. If you prepare this with lamb, I would suggest following the cooking instructions outlined in the recipe above.

It wasn't long before the house really started to smell nice, which was just fine on this cool, grey, rainy day. It was a real temptation to wait until the beef was fully tender, but well worth it. When I judged the time was right, I lifted the lid, and this was the first thing that I saw:



One of the great things about cooking in cast iron is its heat-retaining properties, wrapping your food in a wonderful blanket of enveloping, even heat and really transforming the ingredients into something special.

I stood there for a moment, mesmerized by the deep:



Rich:



Bubbling wonder:



And then snapped out of it and got myself to serving this treasure to my starving family.

I kept it simple, serving the stew with only some bread on which I had toasted a little sharp Cheddar cheese:



And then we gave it a try.

The stew was really, really good - just as deep and rich as the pictures make it appear:



The Guinness was a great choice for this, working with the beef, onions and other flavours, to provide a savory warmth that took the chill off the day. I can only imagine how good this would have been with cubes of tender lamb bubbling around in the bowl - but having said that, the beef was incredible.

The addition of the carrots was a good one, to be sure, but I'm not so sure about the parsnips. For me, their spicy, peppery accent wasn't what I was expecting for the stew, and while I am fully confident that they would be great in other soups or stews, or as an accompaniment for many dishes (especially northern European specialties), they just didn't seem to work here, for me. One of the kids thought they were pretty darn good, and I am sure they would fit right in for the tastes of many people, especially those who are used to the unique qualities of the parsnip; but for me, it didn't quite work. The good news was that the stew was so good anyway, it really didn't ruin anything at all - it just made me consider that the results would have been more to my taste if I hadn't used them. No worries, I will try them again in other dishes until I find a few that work well for me.



In any case, this Irish stew really was something I enjoyed over-all, and so did the family. It is a very versatile dish that can be as easy as originally written in the recipe or modified a bit as I did to try a few new things or accommodate available ingredients. As long as you cover the basics and the method, you are going to find yourself on the Emerald Isle, enjoying a hearty, satisfying meal that will surely bring a twinkle to your eye and joy to your heart.

Not hard to make a good stew . The original is about like my basic stew .Different meats can be used and additives depending on your likes and avaiability. Carrots, peas, mushrooms .Not too much need for spices other than salt pepper ,parsely.
One comment about beer . Marinating and cooking with beer requires one with flavor !! Forget your 'lite' beers ! Lots of choice there and your local micro-brewery may have a good one.

All good stuff !

Tasunkawitko, great pictures, great recipe; I will have to try this recipe.

Wow! That is serious looking stew. That will be a must do dinner very soon. Another great presentation of a fabulous recipe. Thanks for posting so many delicious recipes.
Scott

That looks like a great recipe.

An Irish Stew is one of my staples. A few variances. One, I usually use a venison roast, intead of stew meat or chopped up meat -- but not always. Still brown it before adding.

Second, lot's of celery -- chopped. I do like peas and corn, but that's just me.

I also add turnips, if available, but they should be added late in the cooking process or they will get mushy. Whole if small, cut if bigger.

Then, I bow to my South/East Texas roots. I like Poblano peppers, which add a lot of flavor and a very little bit of heat. You could use bell peppers as well, if you didn't want any heat.

Finally, just before serving, add a bit of file (sassafrass) to thicken the stew. Don't cook too long after adding the file or it can get bitter.

Thanks, everyone -

I tried to keep it traditional, something that would be made during those cold grey months when the nights are long and a good, hot, satisfying bowl of stew does wonders for the soul ~ The ingredients can vary, of course, and my goal was to use ingredients that might be down there in the bottom of the root cellar during the bleakest winter.

I'm glad everyone enjoyed it, and hope that it brings back more than a few memories ~