It’s St Patrick’s Day on 17th March and I’m celebrating this Irish festival with a Galloway Irish Stew. It’s an Irish stew by any other name, but one that has travelled across the Irish sea to the South-West of Scotland.
Over a period of time, the dialect spoken in the Wigtownshire area took on a distinct Irish influence and became known as Galloway Irish. You can hear the accent on this BBC recording
Irish Stew appears under different guises in many places in the UK. Lob Scouse in Liverpool, Welsh Cawl and Lancashire Hot Pot are all versions of a simple one-pot lamb and vegetable stew. So why not Galloway Irish Stew? Okay, I made that up, but lamb stew is as much a part of Scottish cuisine as it is anywhere else where sheep graze the hills and root vegetables are the staple fare. This stew contains lamb, potatoes and carrots, familiar ingredients for an Irish Stew, the difference is the addition of parsnips and the cut of lamb. I used a lovely leg of lamb rather than the cheaper, middle neck or scrag-end.
A Trifle Rushed says
Mmmm! I love an Irish stew, yours seems particularly luxurious, a whole leg of lamb, fantastic.
Hannah says
This looks delicious – I love your comfort food posts the best!