On the heat. Mild

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb or mutton neck on the bone
• 1.2 kg potatoes — half sliced thin, half in big chunks
• 4 onions, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots, in big pieces
• 1.2 l water or light stock
• 3 bay leaves · a large bunch of thyme and parsley stalks, tied
• Salt, a great deal of white pepper
• Chopped parsley and chives, to finish
• Soda bread and butter

Method

1. Do not brown anything. This stew is pale by design and browning turns it into something else entirely.
2. Layer in a heavy pot: onions, then the thinly sliced potatoes, then the meat, then the carrots, seasoning each layer with salt and white pepper.
3. Water and the herb bundle in, to just cover. Bring up slowly and skim.
4. Lid on, barest simmer, 2 hours. The thin potatoes will have dissolved and thickened the liquor — that is the only thickening it gets.
5. The chunked potatoes in for the last 35 minutes, so there is something whole to eat.
6. Herb bundle out. Rest 15 minutes. Parsley and chives over. Soda bread and cold butter.

Cook's note. Two potato cuts, again. The same trick as the hotpot: some to disappear into the sauce, some to stay whole on the spoon.

← Back to The Lamb Book