Writer Neil Davey explores our age-old love for the best type of comforting sustenance
RECIPES ESTHER CLARK
BEST OF BRITISH
The British relationship with stew dates back centuries. And, as far as we can tell, it all starts with pottage.
Pottage – or sometimes ‘potage’, to echo its French origin – was a dish eaten across Europe from around the 9th century. It’s a thick soup or thin stew, made by boiling vegetables, protein, usually meat (if available), and grains – such as wheat, barley, rye or oats – to thicken. If that sounds basic, well, yes, it was. It was a way for the peasants to feed themselves economically across a few days, with more ingredients added to the pot as the week progressed. The results were filling, nutritious and high carbohydrate meals to fuel days in the fields or whatever underpaid, physically demanding job they did. (Pottage even gets a mention in the King James translation of the Bible and the Book of Genesis, when the starving Esau sold his birthright to his twin Jacob in exchange for ‘bread and pottage of lentils’.)
STEW STARTERS
From this basic recipe sprang… well, just about everything we know as stew today. It is, essentially, a very economical way of getting nutrition and flavour out of cheaper cuts of meat, bones and leftovers. It is the perfect meal for tough times, be that medieval or, well, our current 2022 situation…
Perhaps the most important British stew was – and is – lobscouse. The origins of this dish are somewhat blurred. The first mention dates from the early part of the 18th century, and the Oxford English Dictionary suggests lobscouse came here via sailors from Germany and the Baltic ports. Other sources suggest it spread the other way.
The main ingredient of lobscouse is beef, although some recipes will say lamb or mutton. Whatever the protein, it’s always cheaper cuts that are traditionally used. As for vegetables, think the classics – onions, carrots, potatoes – although, again, value, availability and seasonality play their part, so parsnips, swedes and turnips may not be out of place. Everything goes in the pot, and it’s cooked for a long time at low heat.
GOING LOCAL
That, however, is just the starting point, and the dish spread rapidly through working class communities, ports and industrial areas. Lobscouse’s popularity in Liverpool gave the city’s inhabitants their nickname, while the other half of the name caught on elsewhere. People in Leigh, Greater Manchester are, apparently, referred to as Lobby Gobblers, and not so far away in St
