Irish Stew
For Irish stew, take the following: two pounds of potatoes; two pounds of neck of mutton; four onions; one-half pint of hot water; pepper and salt. Cut the mutton into pieces, and arrange in a stewpan in alternation with the potatoes and the sliced onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add the hot water. Cover closely, and let the stew cook gently for two hours, shaking the pan occasionally. Serve very hot.
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A three-ingredient braise that depends entirely on a tight lid and low heat. Everything that could go wrong here is a matter of moisture and pot management.
- The hinge: keep the lid sealedHalf a pint (one cup) of water is all the added liquid there is; the rest comes out of the onions and meat. If steam escapes, the bottom layer scorches long before two hours are up. Use a heavy pot with a well-fitting lid, and shake rather than stir so the potatoes stay intact.
- Neck of muttonMutton is sheep over a year old, now sold mainly by halal and specialist butchers. Lamb neck or shoulder, bone in, is the usual substitute; it is milder and will be tender closer to 90 minutes than 120. Bone-in cuts matter here, since there is no stock to give the gravy body.
- Two pints, not two cupsHalf a pint of water -- "One-half pint of hot water" is one US cup (8 fl oz). If you are working from a British edition of the period, an imperial half-pint is 10 fl oz, which is near enough not to matter in a covered pot.
- PotatoesA floury potato such as russet or Maris Piper is traditional: the bottom layer collapses and thickens the liquid while the upper pieces hold shape. Cut them thick, at least an inch, or you will finish with soup.
- Heat level"Gently" means the barest simmer, a bubble every second or two. On a modern burner that is usually the lowest setting, with a diffuser if the pan is thin.
- SeasoningSalt and pepper are the whole seasoning list, which is orthodox for the dish. Season each layer as you build it rather than only the top, since nothing gets stirred.
- SkimmingNeck is fatty, and two hours of covered cooking renders a good deal of it. Skim before serving, or cool the stew and lift the set fat off; it reheats better the next day in any case.
- YieldFour servings. Bread and a green vegetable alongside are usual; no thickener is wanted.
Irish stew in its plainest form is mutton, potato, onion and water, and the argument over whether anything else belongs in it is older than most cookbooks. The dish belongs to a cottage economy where the pot hung over a low fire all afternoon and the sheep that came to table were old ones past their useful wool and breeding years, whose tough necks and shanks needed exactly that long slow treatment. Its appearance in an American household manual reflects both the reach of Irish immigration and the wider fashion for cheap one-pot meat cookery. The stray "R" at the end of the entry is unexplained; it might be a mark of attribution, a page or column marker, or simply an artefact of scanning.