Looking for an Irish stew recipe? Read on to learn how to make Ireland’s most popular dish…
The Irish stew is perhaps the most well renowned item from the cuisine of the country. It is an extremely filling and flavorful dish which is highly economical to make. All the ingredients used in making this soup are cheap and easily available in the market.
Traditionally the Irish stew is also known as stobhach gaelach and ballymaloe in the local language. Mutton and lamb are the meat of choice when it comes to the Irish stew. Other ingredients include potatoes, parsley and onions. In particular neck bones and shanks were used for the stock whereas other trimmings would be retained in the stew.
The vegetables used further enhanced the flavor and had a thickening effect on the soup as well. The vegetables also made the stew more filling. Some people would also add a range of other vegetables such as carrots, turnips and barley. With the passage of time the recipe of the stew evolved to adapt to a changing environment as the Irish made their way to the United States.
It was in America that the Irish stew was made using meats other than sheep due to the scarcity of the animal. A few new ingredients were added to transform the soup into a gourmet dish from being the peasant’s food.
Making the Irish stew
You will need stewing beef, mince beef, beef stock cubes, oxos, carrots, onions, dried herbs, celery, medium potatoes, mashed potatoes, bisto and black pepper to make the traditional Irish stew.
You will start off by boiling the stewing beef for about one hour alone. On the side you will brown the minced beef. Then strain most of the fat from the stewing beef. Cut all the vegetables into small spoon sized chunks and put all the ingredients together into a big pot. Keep it on the stove for about an hour and a half to simmer. When the time is almost up add the bisto along with a cup of cold water. You need to keep stirring and mixing it well so that all the ingredients blend in together and the stew becomes thick. Once the stew is ready serve it over mashed potatoes.
This is the most basic recipe of the traditional Irish stew. If you are looking for a more exotic Irish stew recipe then here follows one that makes use of a lot more ingredients.
For this particular recipe you will require olive oil, garlic cloves, tomato paste, dried thyme, Worcestershire sauce with the rest of the ingredients being the same. But naturally the addition of these ingredients means the recipe is going to vary in some ways.
You will start by heating the olive oil in a pan and sauté the beef in it. To this you will add the garlic, beef stock, sugar, thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well and bring to boil reducing the heat to low and leaving to cook for an hour.
Melt butter along with meat and stock in a large pot and add the potatoes, onions and carrots. Once the beef stew is ready add the browned vegetables in the stew and simmer till the contents become tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.
