Years ago, I went to see the Monkees — no, not during their heyday, it was a codger concert at the Calvin and there were only three of them — the best part was seeing Mickey Dolenz do Randy Scouse Git on the kettledrums.
Scouse, aside from being a slang term for someone from Liverpool, is a stew that’s eaten all over the North Atlantic and Baltic. This recipe was snagged from the Guardian.
Scouse
Scouse is a dish so close to the Liverpudlian heart that they’ve adopted it as a nickname – though lobscouse, or lapskaus, lapskojs or skipperlabskovs, depending where you are, is a popular dish throughout northern Europe, thought to have its origins in the simple cooking of Hanseatic sailors, and with even more variants than names. In Germany, for example, labskaus is more like corned beef hash, while in Norway, lapskaus is a chunky stew much like our own.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 800 g scrag end/lamb neck on the bone, in thick slices, or 600g boneless lamb shoulder
- 2 tbsp beef dripping or neutral oil
- 500 g floury potatoes cleaned
- 2 onions
- 600 ml beef stock
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 carrots
- 250 g swede optional
- Salt and pepper
- Worcestershire sauce to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan)/320F/gas 3; alternatively, cook this on the hob. Heat the fat in a large, lidded saucepan or ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat, then sear the meat in batches, until properly browned.
- Lift out and set aside. Meanwhile, peel half the potatoes and cut into small cubes, setting the rest aside for the time being, and peel and thinly slice the onions.
- Turn down the heat, add the onions and fry, stirring regularly, until soft.
- Now add the cubed potatoes, fry for five minutes more, then stir in the stock, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan as you do so, and return the meat to the pot along with the herbs.
- Bring to a simmer, then cover and put in the oven (or leave on a low heat) for 60 minutes, until the potatoes have begun to dissolve into the sauce. Mash a few of them against the sides of the pot to help them along.
- Meanwhile, peel and cube the carrots and swede, if using, and dice the remaining potatoes – there’s no need to peel them.
- After the scouse has been cooking for 60 minutes, add the vegetables to the pot and return to the oven (or hob) for another hour, or until the vegetables are tender.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and serve hot with pickled cabbage or beetroot.
Notes
Scouse or lobbies, beef or lamb – or neither? How do you make yours, what do you eat it with – and can anyone shed more light on its origins?
