I’m still new to this whole crockpot thing, but it seems to me that if I put a bunch of stew beef in and cook it for, say, an afternoon, and then add potatoes and carrots etc. a couple of hours before dinner, then I ought to get a nice Irish stew at the end. Right? Wouldn’t that work just fine, or am I missing something?
Apart from the lack of Guinness and lamb, I guess so!
I thought Irish stew was supposed to be lamb or mutton.
Anyhow, yes, you should be able to get a nice stew that way.
Really? I dunno. My mom always made beef stew and called it Irish, and I believed her. She oughta know and all, being partly Irish herself, I figured.
I make it in a crockpot with lamb and it comes out pretty good, so long as you don’t overcook the potatoes. I notice it doesn’t freeze well as the potatoes turn mushy and grainy.
I lived in Ireland for a decade and my (Irish) wife won’t eat Irish stew because she doesn’t eat lamb. It really should be lamb or mutton to be properly “Irish stew” per definition. But of course you can make it any way you like.
Anyway, I’d say you should dredge the meat in cornstarch and brown it well before adding it to the pot. I’d also add some chopped onion, and use equal parts Guinness and stock as the liquid, with a good dollop of strong mustard (Irish, English or Dijon) to start. You’re right about adding the potatoes at the end, or they just turn into mush. The Irish stew I’ve had in Ireland was really runny; personally I’d thicken it before serving, but I guess a crockpot doesn’t really help with most thickening agents.
Oh, and season with salt and pepper, and maybe a bouquet garni - definitely thyme and rosemary, in whatever form.
ETA: Here is an Irish stew recipe from an actual Irish chef: Richard Corrigan.
Me, too. My guess is that the Irish who came to the US adapted to the local situation, and beef was just easier to get ahold of.
Now, if someone could only tell me how she used to make those dumplings that went into the stew. They were oh so good… light and fluffy and still moist. Great for soaking up all that stew juice! They were kind of like char-siu bao, only more moist.
Lamb seems to have been unfashionable in the US for quite some time, and is only now coming back into culinary fashion among foodies. I’m not at all surprised that some American versions of Irish stew would use beef instead.
Do make sure the potatoes and carrots are not over- or undercooked. Irish stew with still-crunchy carrots in it would be seriously weird.
Dumplings? In an Irish stew? Heaven forbid. You transatlanticists have misappropriated the term, it seems.
(Mind you, I love dumplings in stew, but it’s not very Irish…)
I love dumplings in stew, and your mom’s (?) sound amazing, but it’s not very Irish. It seems you transatlanticists have [del]misappropriated[/del] adapted the term, it seems.
Mind you, for those who’ve had adaptations thereof, I think it’s difficult to imagine how simple (and often bland) genuine Irish stew actually is.
Sorry for duped post. :o
I’ve never had Irish stew with dumplings in it- just potatoes and carrots.
No doubt. My mom made what she called “Irish Stew”, and her family is (at least partly) Irish, and it had dumplings in it. I’m sure she got the recipe from her mom, and so on. And it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it morphed over the years. We don’t speak with Irish accents either. 
I’m sure the recipe comes from a time when everyone was happy to get a bowl of the stuff in the evening, bland or not, as long as they did get a bowl of it.
I’ve never had dumplings in Irish stew, just in chicken and dumplings. They’re pretty yummy, though.
At our house, Irish stew was pretty basic: meat, onions, potatoes, carrots. With biscuits. I do pretty much the same thing–it’s good, but not fancy.
Sunset’s Easy Basics for Good Cooking has a recipe for “Springtime Lamb Stew” with an unusual beginning (came out pretty good when I made it):
Then you add the other ingredients, including wine and chicken broth; the vegetables are laid across the top for cooking. Whipping cream and mustard are added to the “sauce” at the end after removing other ingredients with a slotted spoon. Notice they didn’t call this Irish stew, and whether it is is debatable.
I’m guessing the dumplings were a way of cooking it all in one pot, including the “biscuits”. I never realize that granny was lazy!
Don’t know if this is true, but I’ve read that the Irish used to live almost entirely on potatoes boiled in milk (by some accounts buttermilk, by some accounts skim milk – which would make a big difference in both taste and nutrition).
Hey, my stew turned out great! Thanks everybody.
Irish Stew is ideal for a crock-pot slow cooker because that was the original way it was prepared. All the ingredients would have been put in a cooking pot with a lid and allowed to cook for many hours on a slow-burning peat fire.