A hearty fuelling soup that you want to warm your bones on a cold day.
Irish stew is a traditional Irish dish that typically consists of lamb or mutton, potatoes, onions, and sometimes carrots. It’s a hearty and comforting dish that has been a staple in Irish cuisine for centuries. The ingredients are usually cooked slowly in a pot or casserole dish, allowing the flavors to meld together and the meat to become tender. The simplicity of the ingredients and cooking method reflects the rural origins of the dish, where it was often prepared by farmers and households with limited ingredients and resources.
Winter often evokes feelings of cold and coziness, and there’s something inherently comforting about a warm bowl of soup on a cold day. The warmth and heartiness of soup can be particularly satisfying during colder months.
Many soups feature ingredients that are in season during the winter months, such as root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and parsnips, as well as hearty greens like kale and cabbage. These seasonal ingredients can impart deeper, richer flavors to the soup.
In colder weather, our bodies may crave warmer, heartier foods to help maintain body temperature. This can lead to a heightened appreciation for the flavours and textures of soup. The aroma of soup simmering on the stove can be especially inviting during the winter, filling the home with comforting scents and adding to the overall enjoyment of the meal.
I have two other soup recipes on my website you may enjoy. Take a look at these suggestions.
Vegetable Soup and Pea and Ham Soup.
You will see that I have included two methods in how to cook the Irish Stew. One is a more traditional approach of on the stove top. You could also leave it simmering on top of your fire throughout the day. The second method is using a mutlicooker like an Instant Pot. I am a big fam of using a multi cooker. My preferred brand is Instant Pot as I enjoy the stainless steel bowl it includes. I have the Dua Nova and I love it so much that I call it a magic pot! It amazing me so often at how beautiful it cooks, and in what speed it can cook a delicious meal.
There are many advantages of cooking soup using a stove top method. They include;
- Cooking soup on a stovetop allows you to easily monitor the progress of the soup and stir it as needed throughout the cooking process. This helps prevent sticking, promotes even cooking, and allows you to adjust seasoning or ingredients as desired.
- Flexibility with pot size: Stovetop cooking gives you the flexibility to use pots of various sizes, depending on the quantity of soup you’re making. You can easily scale up or down the recipe to accommodate your needs.
- Flavor development: Cooking soup on a stovetop allows for longer simmering times, which can enhance the flavors of the ingredients as they meld together. This slow cooking process helps develop depth and complexity in the soup’s flavor profile.
- Aroma: Cooking soup on a stovetop fills the kitchen and home with delicious aromas, enhancing the overall dining experience and creating a welcoming atmosphere.
But if you are like me and are often time poor then there are many advantages to using a multi cooker too. They are;
- Time efficiency: Instant Pots cook food much faster than traditional stovetop methods due to the pressure cooking function. This can significantly reduce the cooking time for soups, making it a convenient option for busy individuals or families.
- Set-it-and-forget-it convenience: Once you’ve loaded the ingredients into the Instant Pot and set the cooking time and pressure level, you can largely leave it unattended until it’s done cooking. This frees up time for other tasks or allows you to relax while your soup cooks.
- Retains nutrients: Pressure cooking helps retain more nutrients in the ingredients compared to boiling or simmering on the stovetop for extended periods. This can result in a healthier soup with more vitamins and minerals intact.
- Flavor infusion: The sealed environment of the Instant Pot allows for intense flavor infusion as the ingredients cook under pressure. This means that soups cooked in an Instant Pot often have deeper, more robust flavors in a shorter amount of time.
- Tenderizes tough cuts of meat: The high pressure and moist environment of the Instant Pot are ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat, such as beef or pork, resulting in tender and flavorful meat in your soup.
- One-pot cooking: Many Instant Pot soup recipes involve sautéing ingredients directly in the Instant Pot before pressure cooking, which means you can brown meat or onions without needing an additional skillet. This minimizes cleanup and makes for easy one-pot cooking.
- Safety features: Instant Pots come with built-in safety features that regulate pressure and temperature, reducing the risk of accidents associated with traditional pressure cookers.
Irish Stew
Ingredients
Broth
- 500 grams or more of lamb or mutton (Necks and shanks are good un-utilised pieces to make this soup with)
- 4 litres of cold water
- 2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar
- 1 onion quartered (skin and all)
- 1 large carrot (wrinkly ones from the veggie drawer are the best for broth)
- Chopped celery stalk
- 1 bayleaf
- A few peppercorns
Soup
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 onion
- 2 beef stock cubes (or powdered equivalent)
- 400 g canned tomatoes
- Chopped fresh rosemary
- Chopped fresh thyme
- 11/2 cup pearl barley
- 2 potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped (or you could grate them)
- Salt and pepper
- Splash of red wine or red wine vinegar (optional)
Instructions
Stove Top
- Cover your cuts of lamb or mutton with cold water and add the onion, carrot, bayleaf and peppercorns and place on a medium heat.
- Simmer for two hours.
- Strain the broth and discard the bones and vegetables. Chop the meat into small chunks and place into the strained broth.
- Pop the broth into the fridge and allow the fat to solidify on the surface.
- Once the broth is cold and there is a layer of white fat set on the top, use a slotted spoon to scoop the fat off.
- Make sure to start with a clean pot.
- Add a little butter or oil and sauté the onion, garlic and herbs. Return the lamb or mutton to the pot and coat it with all the flavour.
- Turn the heat down and add the tomatoes and both.
- Now the barley and vegetables. Simmer on a low heat for another hour until the barley is soft.
Magic Pot
- Cover your cuts of lamb or mutton with cold water and add the onion, carrot, bayleaf and peppercorns.
- To make the broth pressure cook for 30 minutes (or if you have a broth/soup button use that).
- Strain the broth and discard the bones and vegetables. Chop the meat into small chunks and place into the strained broth.
- Place in the fridge and allow the fat to solidify on the surface.
- Once the broth is cold and there is a layer of white fat set on the top, use a slotted spoon to scoop the fat off.
- Make sure to begin your soup in a clean bowl.
- Add a little butter or oil and press the sauté button. Sauté the onion, garlic and herbs.
- Return the lamb or mutton to the pot and coat it with all the flavour. Cancel the sauté function.
- Add the tomatoes, broth, barley and vegetables.
- Press the soup button or manually pressure cook for 30 minutes.
To Serve
- Add a splash of red wine or red wine vinegar to the soup just before serving to give a flavour boost.
- Season to taste.
- Give it all a good stir and make sure to get a good amount of veggies and meat with each ladle full.
- Serve with something yum to mop it all up.
Notes
- If you don’t have access to a supply of mutton - use lamb. Have a conversation with your butcher and see if they can put aside these pieces for you. Or alternatively check for soup bones at your butcher or supermarket and pop a stash in the freezer.
- It is quite tasty with beef too.
- Use your own stash of freezer tomatoes if you have them. I recommend freezing your surplus tomatoes in summer in 500 gram amounts for such occasions.
- Dried herbs will do just fine too.
- Fresh herbs from the supermarket never do last all that long (even if you try and plant them). Pop to your garden store and grab a few herbs seedlings and some cute pots for your kitchen bench. Simply just snip off what you need as you need it. Just don’t forget to water them.
- I make my broth the day before I need to make the soup. Then I simply scoop the layer of fat off in the morning and continue making the soup.
- Place the discarded fat on your bird feeder. They love it!