Scouse

[Plocket]

SCOUSE - OH's way! He's had to guesstimate a bit

For four people:

1 onion, finely sliced
3 medium carrots, finely sliced
3 medium potatoes, cubed
400g shin beef, off the bone
a large handful of pearl barley
water or vegetable stock

Fry off the onion and carrots in olive oil and butter (originally this would have been done in dripping) then add the beef and brown. Add the potatoes then water to cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of hours.

You can just add pearl barley and cook it long enough (according to the packet) but OH pre-cooks the pearl barley, drains it and adds it to the scouse when it's thickened. You still need to cook it for a further hour, but it's actually a bit quicker to do this way. Don't add anything to thicken the scouse because this will happen naturally.

Traditionally pickled cabbage is served with scouse (yuck!!!) and OH also says it's nice to add a blob of tomato ketchup.

Leftover scouse can be re-heated the next day with curry powder added (yuck again!) or add a pie crust.

;D

[Plocket]

Oh and OH recommends Argento Malbec as a good wine to go with Scouse!!! ;D

[Deleted]

sounds nice! May try this never used shin beef before!

[andy]

Any idea why it's called "scouse" instead of "stew" ;D

[Deleted]

The salt beef, onion and potato stew, Scouse, is said to derive from the name of a dish introduced by Viking invaders. Various forms of this have been eaten by sailors over the centuries.

It is claimed that the most authentic version can be tasted at the restaurant next to the well known Liverpool city centre holiday cottages known colloquially as the “Scouse Gites” ;D

[Plocket]

andy said:

Any idea why it's called "scouse" instead of "stew" ;D

Coz Scousers make it? I've no idea Andy ;D

I found this on Wikipedia though:

The word Scouse was originally a variation of lobscouse (probably from the north German sailor's dish Labskaus), the name of a traditional dish of Scouse made with lamb stew mixed with hardtack eaten by sailors.[citation needed] Alternative recipes have included beef and thickened with the gelatin source found in cowheel or pig trotter in addition to various root vegetables. Other sources suggest that "labskaus" is a Norwegian term ("lapskaus" in Norwegian), and considering the number of Merseyside place-names ending in "-by" (Formby, Crosby, Kirkby, Greasby, Pensby, Roby), a Viking rather than German source must be considered. Various spellings can still be traced, including "lobscows" from Wales, and some families refer to this stew as "lobby" rather than scouse.[citation needed] In Leigh, between Liverpool and Manchester, there is even a "Lobby shop". The dish was traditionally the fare of the poor people, using the cheapest cuts of meat available, and indeed when no meat at all was available scouse was still made, but this "vegetarian" version was known as "blind scouse".[citation needed] The term remained a purely local word until its popularisation in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, which some also believe to have introduced stereotypes about Liverpudlians.