Irish stew (Irish: stobhach / stobhach Gaelach)[1] is a traditional stew made from lamb, or mutton, (mutton is used as it comes from less tender sheep over a year old and is fattier and has a stronger flavour) as well as potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley.[2]
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. Other would add such items as carrots, turnips, and pearl barley; but the purists maintain they spoil the true flavour of the dish. The ingredients are boiled and simmered slowly for up to two hours. Mutton was the dominant ingredient because the economic importance of sheep lay in their wool and milk produce and this ensured that only old or economically non-viable animals ended up in the cooking pot, where they needed hours of slow boiling. Irish stew is the product of a culinary tradition that relied almost exclusively on cooking over an open fire. It seems that Irish stew was recognized as early as about 1800...
---Davidson, Alan. (1999). Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (p. 407).
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Stewing is an ancient method of cooking meats that is common throughout the world. However, the Celts did not possess their first bronze cauldrons, copied from Greek models, until the seventh century BC. After the Celtic invasion of Ireland, the cauldron (along with the already established spit) became the dominant cooking tool in ancient Ireland, ovens being practically unknown to the ancient Gaels.[3] The root vegetables and meat (originally goat) for the stew were then all in place, save for the potato. The introduction of the potato, originally a South American crop, did not occur until after the sixteenth century.
More recent developments in Irish stews have included the adding of stout beer, starting in the twentieth century. In parts of the Irish diaspora where sheep are less common than in Ireland, such as in Canada and the United States, other meats may be substituted to create a new local variant. Primarily this means beef, but also wild or farmed game meats such as moose, wapiti, or bison.
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