A Proper Stew for St. Patrick’s Day

[elleng]

The epitome of comfort food, traditional Irish stew needs only a few ingredients: meat, onions and potatoes, with salt and pepper. In southern Ireland, carrots are added, and some cooks venture so far as to add turnips, parsnips or rutabaga. Parsley or a sprig of thyme may go into the pot, too.

For a true Irish stew, sticklers say, you must use mutton. But it’s not so easy to find mutton in North America. Mutton is meat from a grown-up sheep, at least 2 years old. It has a somewhat pronounced flavor and requires a fair amount of cooking time. . .

Thankfully, a fine stew can also be made with lamb, which is a year old or less, and there is lots of lamb available here. Lamb used to be strictly a springtime treat, but modern husbandry has made it possible to have it in every season. It is mild tasting and tender, good for roasting and grilling, as well as braising.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/dining/a-proper-stew-for-st-patricks-day.html?hpw&rref&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017275-irish-stew

[Warpy]

1. Lamb goes through me like a wildcat, backwards

so my Irish stews are made with tough grass fed beef. The best stews are the ones that are cooked the longest, and lamb just doesn't stand up to that kind of cooking.

My granny was from Wexford, so my stew has carrots.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. It's damn near impossible to get mutton in the US

There is a Mexican carniceria near me that sometimes has it.

[hedgehog]

3. Blessings on you for not calling it "St. Patty's Day"!

[elleng]

4. Well thanks for the blessings, hedgehog,

but they should be directed towards the NYTimes!