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Irish Stew
The best description of this would be a neck of mutton, onions and potatoes, stewed, the potatoes being the only Irish ingredient in the stew; for Irish stew is not a national Irish dish in spite of its name. A good recipe for it is as follows: Cut two and one-half pounds of loin of mutton into fairly thick chops, and cut off the square ends of the bones. Peel a large quantity of potatoes and cut them into slices, also peel about one pound of onions. Put the chops and vegetables in layers, moisten to their height in cold water, set the saucepan on the fire until the liquor commences to boil, then move it to the side and keep it simmering gently for two hours or so. When the meat is tender, take it out and pile the potatoes, which should be thick, in the center, arrange the chops around the pile, garnish the dish with whole boiled potatoes and a few button mushrooms, and serve hot.
A plain layered braise that depends on the potatoes breaking down into their own sauce. Two details matter: the water only comes partway up, and the pot never boils after the first minute.
- Keep it at a bare simmerOscar's instruction to move the pan to the side of the fire is the hinge. A rolling boil toughens the mutton and turns the potato into gluey scraps rather than a thick, creamy binding. On a modern hob that means the lowest setting with a lid on.
- "A large quantity of potatoes"No weight is given, and the amount is genuinely open. About 3 lb of a floury variety (russet, or a good baking potato) suits 2 1/2 lb of meat: sliced ones inside the pot to thicken, plus a few small whole ones for the garnish, boiled separately so they hold their shape.
- Water level"Moisten to their height" means liquid level with the top layer, not covering it; add only as much cold water as it takes to reach that height. The potatoes and meat give up plenty more. Adding stock instead of cold water is common now but takes the dish away from what is written.
- MuttonMutton is sheep over two years old and is stronger and firmer than lamb. Butchers sell it by arrangement; lamb shoulder or lamb loin chops substitute directly, but reduce the simmer to about 1 1/4 hours since lamb becomes tender sooner.
- Loin versus neckThe headnote describes neck, the recipe calls for loin. Neck and shoulder chops have more connective tissue and more flavour and are the better choice for a two-hour simmer; loin chops are leaner and can dry out.
- TrimmingSawing off "the square ends of the bones" is presentation, so the chops stand neatly around the potato pile. Skim the fat from the surface before plating, or chill the stew and lift the set fat off, which is easier.
- SeasoningNo salt or pepper is specified, which is common enough in recipes written this compactly. Salt the layers as you build them and finish with plenty of black pepper; a bay leaf and a few parsley stalks are unobtrusive additions.
- YieldServes four generously as written. The button mushrooms are a Waldorf flourish rather than anything Irish; cook them in butter separately and add at the last moment.
Oscar opens with a small act of debunking: Irish stew as served in hotel dining rooms owed its name to the potato and little else, being essentially a mutton and onion braise of a kind cooked all over the British Isles and northern Europe. The version that reached the Waldorf-Astoria, some time in the closing decades of the century, was dressed for the room: loin chops, bones trimmed square, the potatoes mounded in the centre, and button mushrooms scattered over a garnish of whole boiled potatoes. Mutton itself was ordinary market meat in New York then and is nearly unobtainable in American shops now, which says as much about a century of changing taste in lamb as any note on technique could.