Talk:Irish stew

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Thick or thin?

The statement claiming that when prepared in the traditional manner Irish Stew is thick not thin like soup is incorrect. Every shtew I've had since childhood has had a thin to medium broth. Since emigrating to the US I've found "Irish Stew" to have a much thicker and browner broth. Thus, I suspect that the statement at issue here was added by a Yank. I'm deleting it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.37.61.2 (talk) 22:54, December 4, 2006 (UTC)

The browner stew results from browning the lamb, dredged in flour, in fat before adding water. The result is perhaps preferable— at least to me— but it is not Irish stew. The old edition of Joy of Cooking in my kitchen begins "This famous stew is not browned." The illustration to the article misleadingly shows such a stew. Questions of meats other than lamb are beside the point, if the subject is Irish stew. --Wetman (talk) 22:24, 17 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If in Ireland this stew would certainly be thin. It was a poor families staple (including mine). My Cork grandmother made it with lamb/mutton bones (cutlets, chops etc) with the bone marrow, potatoes, onions and barley. Cover with unsalted water and cook on a low heat for about an hour. The salt and pepper (if available) was added after the cooking. Our wonderful American cousins thickened the stew by dredging the meat in flour which is fine but this Irishman would say that it's not then authentic Irish Stew. I think the article should reflect better the old world and new world versions of this stew.--Dorkinglad (talk) 15:08, 28 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Beef or mutton?

In a somewhat heated debate, I've been told by people from the North of Ireland that this is made with beef. Is there some kind of north/south divide over beef/mutton? Markb 09:45, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Its traditionally made with mutton/lamb no matter where you are, or where you are from. However, recipies change over time. Irish stew was originally just a method of cooking leftovers and creating quick, cheap and filling meals. Many people these days make it with beef - probably because ground beef is relatively cheap. I'm not aware of any difference in the traditional recipe between Northern Ireland and the Republic. --Mal 12:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, although I've never eaten it made with ground (minced) beef, be more like a shepherd's pie. For what it's worth I've always made it with lamb, as did my mum who came from the south. My wife's family comes from the north, hence the debate!Markb 12:28, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Shephard's Pie? Heh! Nononono! That's kinda runny, because of the gravy. Stew is of course much thicker. If the ingredients you use are making it like the mince in shepherd's pie, you need to add something to thicken it up. I'm from Northern Ireland by the way. One of my grandparents is from County Tipperary, and another is from County Monaghan. I make a variation on Irish Stew quite often, with minced beef, carrots, parsnips etc. Sometimes I add spuds and sometimes I don't. --Mal 13:38, 6 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Plus ca change - I make a 'thick' shepherds pie (my mum from Ross Common), my wife's is runny, her mum from Monaghan! Markb 13:09, 7 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the reference to beef in the first paragraph. I'm sure many people do make beef stew to a similar method, but it can't really be said to be Irish Stew. There is already enough controversy over whether root vegetables, barley etc. can be included in a recipe for Irish Stew. --Ryano 12:28, 1 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Beef or mutton? No! Irish stew is a pork dish, and always has been. Queryit (talk) 23:00, 9 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"ballymaloe"

I also removed the reference to Irish Stew being called "ballymaloe". I have never heard this and am not aware of a source. --Ryano 12:30, 1 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, looking again at the about.com article linked, I note that this also refers to "ballymaloe". However I must say I don't trust this source, it seems to be based on the fact that there is an Irish Stew recipe from the Ballymaloe cooking school. --Ryano 12:36, 1 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

yeah - i've never heard of that reference before either. But ballymalow is back - i;m going to delelete it again. 89.100.222.68 (talk)kevin89.100.222.68 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 11:58, 8 October 2009 (UTC).[reply]

curry

I've recently had a variant that uses the same yellow curry as in the sauce for chips. Chris 01:19, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bloody hell! I don't think such a thing could usefully be described as Irish Stew. --Ryano 09:20, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

and i just picked my nose. who the fuck cares?

Copyvio

About 90% of the article as written is a copyvio from the about.com page linked at the bottom. Needs work. Haikupoet 19:40, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:05, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Weasel word tag

Honestly, there's no scientific studies (actually, there's probably some around) about why mutton is tougher and more fattier and flavorful than lamb. But is it worthy of a weasel word tag? Seriously? Take a bite off some lamb and take a bite off some mutton. "Says who?" Answer: "Everyone with tastebuds." 84.99.25.43 (talk) 16:10, 28 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

you don't need a study to figure out that an older animal's meat will have a different, usually stronger taste to it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.8.250.92 (talk) 13:03, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

browned?

the article quotes someone saying that it is not browned, the caption for the image says the meat has been browned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.8.250.92 (talk) 13:01, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Human meat?

Irish stew can also be made with human meat - according to humorist Tom Lehrer!Royalcourtier (talk) 08:58, 31 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Irish stew/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Good article start, nice pic, needs refs and some more work -- Warfreak 09:46, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 09:46, 11 June 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 19:07, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Chronology

>However, the Celts did not possess their first bronze cauldrons, copied from Greek models, until the seventh century AD.

This doesn't look right. Should it be BC? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1:9249:7BC3:3350:4BD2:C7EA:724B (talk) 23:13, 2 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Category:American stews

@Spudlace: first off, please don't edit war. I reverted your edit because I thought it was incorrect, with an Edit summary explaining why. At that point, the best approach is to discuss. Though WP:BRD is not mandatory, I think it's a good approach. On the substantive issue, it's not clear to me in what sense Irish stew is "American cuisine" any more than any other immigrant dish. If we were to include all immigrant dishes as American cuisine, we'd end up with pretty much all the world's cuisine classified as American cuisine, as I mentioned in my edit summary. Should we include shish kebab and sushi as American cuisine? If so, what's the limit? The fact that a recipe is included in an American cookbook does not make it American cuisine. Most French and English dishes, in particular, have made their way into American cookbooks. --Macrakis (talk) 02:28, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The policies on Wikipedia are to follow reliable sources. I've never seen reliable sources list describe shish kebab and sushi as American cuisine, but if they did we would include those. Irish stew is described that way by multiple encyclopedias. (From The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink "In America Irish stew evolved".) Spudlace (talk) 02:37, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There are lots of American cookbooks that mention shish kebab and other immigrant dishes. For example, Marion Brown's Southern Cookbook and James Beard's American Cookery, which says "it has found its way on to the menus of every steak and chop house across the country, a sure token of cultural acceptance". The point is that lots of formerly foreign foods are eaten in the US, including almost all English and French dishes. Is Mexican/Spanish flan now American cuisine? How about French omelettes and quiche?

If everything is classified as American cuisine, the category becomes meaningless and useless, a bit like Borges's library.... --Macrakis (talk) 03:14, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the addition to a category should ever be based solely on cookbooks. That's why there are secondary (mostly encyclopedic) sources available for all of these. I looked them up before so I know they're out there. Even though I haven't added all of them to the article yet I will probably add more about it later too. Spudlace (talk) 03:47, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Illusive"?

"Tracking down old Irish recipes remains an illusive task...."

What is an "illusive task"? A task you only think you're doing? Or a task you're just looking busy at?

Or did the writer mean "elusive"? That wouldn't apply to the task of finding recipes, but might easily apply to the recipes themselves. 2601:603:5381:2030:85D8:857E:2834:E9B6 (talk) 20:11, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good catch, certainly not "illusive". I've changed the wording to "scarce", better for an encyclopedia. Declangi (talk) 21:50, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]