is never associated in the literature with beef....lamb or mutton. Note
also that there is the usual variety of interpretation. So go for it and
find your mode....enjoy!
AN IRISH STEW.
Take a couple of pounds of small thick mutton cutlets with or without
fat according to the taste of the persons to whom the stew is to be
served ; take also four pounds of good potatoes, weighed after they are
pared, slice them thick, and put a portion of them, in a flat layer, into
a large thick saucepan or stewpan ; season the mutton well with pepper,
and place some of it on the potatoes, cover it with another layer,
and proceed in the same manner with all, reserving plenty of the vegetable
for the top; pour in three quarters of a pint of cold water, and
add, when the stew begins to boil, an ounce of salt; let it simmer
gently for two hours, and serve it very hot. When the addition of
onion is liked, strew in two or three minced ones with the potatoes.
Mutton cutlets, 2 Ibs.; potatoes, 4 Ibs.; pepper, 1/2 oz.; salt, 1 oz.;
water, f3/4pint: 2 hours.
Obs.—For a real Irish stew the potatoes should be boiled to a mash:
an additional quarter-hour may be necessary for the full quantity here,
but for half of it two hours are quite sufficient.-From: Modern Cookery,
in All It's Branches:reduced to a System of Easy Practice.,Eliza Action,
1858
if Irish stew is put upon
the bill of fare it will be gone long before any other dish
on the list ; and what is Irish stew but one of the forms
of Scotch broth ? The Irish have nothing to do with it. -
The misnomer came from the French, who also call the
Scotch barley broth Orge a l'Irlandaise. The principle of Scotch broth
is to make a pot-au-feu of mutton, to 'work up the liquor into soup with
various assortments of vegetables, and to present the mutton to be eaten
along with it. Therefore it is a mistake to confine the name of
Scotch or mutton broth to barley broth. It is a name which equally
belongs to the thick potato-and-onion soup known as Irish stew, to the
pea soup which Soyer has called "the inimitable hotch potch." and to
various other assortments. It is not any particular soup, but a system
of soups set up in contrast to the French system of bouillon and bouilli
in homely life. Perhaps the best example of the Scotch or mutton broth
is the Hotch Potch, which will be found described under its own name.
Here we give the receipt only for what is especially in England called
Scotch broth. Take about six pounds of the neck or breast of mutton cut
as for Irish stew, and carefully trimmed of fat. Put it into the pot
with six quarts of cold water, six ounces of barley, and some salt. Boil
it, remove the scum, and then let it simmer for an hour; after which put
into it two carrots, two turnips, three onions, and three heads of
celery, all cut into dice or sliced, with a faggot of sweet- herbs and a
pinch of pepper. Let the simmering go on for another hour, and the soup
is ready. The cutlets can be served ei
ther with it or apart-From:Kettnere's Book of the Tabgle: A Manual of
Cookery, Practical, theoretical…, Eneas Sweetland, 1877.
No. 594A.—IRISH STEW.
Cut up about four pounds of either neck or loin of mutton into
eight or ten neatly trimmed chops, paring away all excess of m
and rough bone; season plentifully with pepper, and moderately
with salt; place the chops in a deep stewpan or saucepan, with
sufficient water to cover in their surface, add eight good sizeo
onions, put the lid on and set the whole on the fire to stew gently
for half an hour; the stew must then be removed from the fire,
the liquor poured into a basin, and after being freed from «11
grease, is to be poured back to the chops ; add a dozen pt«l«d
potatoes, and a pint of good stock or gravy, if handy, or failing
that, (in case that the moisture has been reduced to half its original
quantity) a like quantity of water will do. The whole i-<
then to be placed on the fire to boil gently for about three qnarten
of an hour, due care being taken that the moisture docs not K-
come wholly absorbed by the stew, or burnt at the bottom of t: -
etewpan, as this latter accident would entirely spoil the dish.
As soon as the Irish stew is done, let it be dished up as follows,
viz.: first remove the potatoes carefully on to a plate, and tlx:.
use a fork and spoon to place the cutlets or chops neatly round
the dish, add the potatoes in their centre, and pour the gravy acd
onions, &c., over the whole, and serve hot.
NOTE.—A less expensive method of making Irish stew, is to
use the scrag end of a neck of mutton, or indeed any infcr\r
pieces of meat most convenient, as well as the remains ol •
cooked joint of beef, mutton, or veal.-From:The Cook's Guide, and
LHouskeeper's &Butler's Assistant. Charles Elme Francatelli, 1867.
183. Good Plain Family Irish Stew. — Take about two
pounds of scrag or neck of mutton; divide it into ten pieces,
lay them in the pan; cut eight large potatoes and four onions
hi slices, season with one teaspoonful and a half of pepper, and
three of salt; cover all with water; put it into a slow oven for
two hours, then stir it all up well, and dish up in deep dishes.
If you add a little more water at the commencement, you can
take out when half done, a nice cup of broth.
The same simplified.—Put in a pan two pounds of meat
as before, which lay at the bottom; cover them with eight whole
onions, and these with twelve whole potatoes; season as before;
cover over with water, and send to the oven for two hours.
Almost any part of the sheep can be used lor Irish stew.
A gallon pan is required for this and the preceding receipt.-From: A
Shilling cookery for the people., Alexis Benoit Soyer, 1854.
STEW, Irish.
Ingredients.—3 Ibs. of the loin or neck
of mutton, 5 Ibs. of potatoes, 5 large
onions, pepper and salt to taste, rather
more than 1 pint of water. Mode.—
Trim off some of the fat of the above
quantity of loin or neck of mutton, and
cut it into chops of a moderate thickness. Stilton Cheese Pare and halve
the potatoes, and cut the onions into thick slices. Put a layer of
potatoes at the bottom of a stewpan, then a layer of mutton and onions,
and season with pepper and salt ; proceed in this manner until the
stewpan is full, taking care to have plenty of vegetables at the top.
Pour in the water, and let it stew very gently for 2A hours, keeping the
lid of the stewpan" closely shut the ,ikole time, and occasionally
shaking the preparation to prevent its burning;. Time. —2i, hours. A
rerage cost, for th,s quantity, 2л. S,/. ¿Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Sea,unable.—Suitable for a winter dish. I STEW, Irish. Ingredieoti.—2 or
3 Ibs. of the breast I of mutton, Ц pint of water, salt and pepper to
taste, 4 Ibs. of potatoes, 4 large onions. Mod,.—Put the mutton into a ,
stewpan with the water and a little salt, and let it stew gently for an
hour ; cut the meat into small pieces, skim the fat from the gravy, and
pare and slice the potatoes and onions. Put all the ingredients into the
stewpan, in layers, first a layer of vegetables, then one of meat, and
sprinkle seasoning of pepper and salt between each layer ; cover
closely, and let the whole stew very gently for 1 hour, or rather more,
shaking it frequently to prevent its burning. -Time. —Rather more than 2
hours. Average cost, ls. 6d. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable,—Suitable for a winter dish. -Note.—Irish stew may be
prepared in the samo manner as above, but baked in a jar instead of
boiled. About 2 hours or rather more in a moderate oven will be
sufficient time to bake it.-From:Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day
Cookery., Isabella Mary Beeton.
