This Authentic Irish Lamb Stew Recipe Makes a Hearty Meal (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional Irish stew made of? ›

Irish stew is considered a national dish of Ireland. Irish stew is a celebrated Irish dish, yet its composition is a matter of dispute. Purists maintain that the only acceptable and traditional ingredients are neck mutton chops or kid, potatoes, onions, and water.

The main difference between an Irish stew and classic beef stew comes down to the protein. Traditional Irish stew is usually made with lamb, while beef stew is always made with beef. Our version includes beef chuck, which is less traditional, but easy to make and equally delicious.

The origins of Irish stew are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it's believed to have originated in the 17th or 18th century. At that time, the dish was often made by shepherds and rural farmers who had access to only a few ingredients but needed a nourishing meal to sustain them through long days of work.

While Irish stew (in the modern sense) can be made with mutton, lamb, or beef, beef stew is always made with beef. Both stews can contain potatoes, root vegetables, flavorings like beer or wine and herbs, and thickened with potato, flour, cornstarch, or nothing at all.

Irish Stew is a thick, hearty dish of mutton, potatoes, and onions and undisputedly the national dish of Ireland.

Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump. After adding the slurry, bring the stew to boil. This will cook out the flour taste and allow the starch to swell.

What gave the Irish stew its fresh flavour? - Quora. Simply by using good quality meat and FRESH vegetables, not frozen. While making stew, the woman of the house would go out to the kitchen garden and cut or pull what she needed, rinse them in cold water, chop them up and add them to the pot.

As Rogers and Shields point out, Irish stew tastes even better the next day, so the easiest way to degrease is to drain the stew, then chill it and the liquid separately, so the fat solidifies on top of the gravy.

The Irish often used the good land to grow things like wheat and corn that they would sell to pay their rent. This left the farmers with a small piece of land to grow their own food. Potatoes took up very little space and were very nutritious. One acre of potatoes could feed a family of four for a year.

What did the Irish eat instead of potatoes? ›

Until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, grains such as oats, wheat and barley, cooked either as porridge or bread, formed the staple of the Irish diet. The most common form of bread consisted of flatbread made from ground oats.

Grass Fed on our Greenest Pastures

This allows for any beef product to be fully tracible from farm to fork. Ireland has some of the best pastures in the world which allows us to produces the best beef. Grass-fed livestock is much healthier for you and produces a much leaner cuts of beef.

The one thing I do differently to most Guinness Beef Stew recipes, including very traditional Irish recipes, is to thicken the sauce slightly with flour. If you don't do this step, the sauce is quite thin and watery, and while the flavour is still lovely, I really prefer the sauce to be more like a thin gravy.

Downtown Family Foods - Puritan Brand.

Corned beef sourced from cattle reared in Ireland and Scotland was used extensively for civilian and military consumption throughout the British Empire beginning from the 17th century onwards due to its non-perishable nature.

Irish stew is made of lamb, potatoes and carrots and is very simply flavored with perhaps parsley or thyme and salt and pepper. In contrast, Hungarian goulash is made of beef and flavored very strongly with paprika.

Irish ingredients – from seafood, meat and dairy products to soda bread, oats and the ubiquitous potato – are the basis of Irish cuisine.