| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 medium-sized onions, chopped
- Oil, for frying
- 1-ounce butter
- 1 sprig dried thyme
- 2 1/2 pounds best end of lamb neck, cut into large pieces
- 7 carrots, chopped lengthways into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons pearl barley
- 5 cups Chicken Stock, recipe follows
- Salt (recommended: Fleur du Sel)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, and bay leaf)
- 12 medium potatoes
- 1 bunch parsley, leaves finely chopped
- 1 bunch chives
- Serving suggestion: Herb Butter, recipe follows
- Chicken carcass
- 1 onion
- 4 cups water
- 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- Bay leaf
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 stick butter
- 1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
- 1 small bunch chives, finely chopped
- 1 sprig thyme
Instructions
- In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook the onions in oil and butter, on medium-high heat until they are translucent. Add the dried thyme and stir. Add the lamb and brown on a high heat to seal in juices. Add carrots, and pearl barley. Pour in the Chicken Stock so that it almost covers the meat and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, and add Bouquet garni. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, being careful not to boil. Place potatoes on top of the stew, cover and cook for 30 minutes until the meat is falling beautifully off the bones and the potatoes are fork tender.
- Serve the stew in large flat soup bowls, and drizzle Herb Butter over the potatoes or garnish with parsley and chives.
- Preheat the stockpot. Combine ingredients in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. Then let it cool down and skim off the fat.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add parsley, chives and thyme.
Reviews
I made this last night and was impressed with the flavors! I used a leg of lamb, homemade beef stock and twice the amount of barley. It did need a touch of flour to thicken. The bouquet garni was key.
Prefect
Ok, so we’re using thyme, parsley and chives AND 1 BOUQUET GARNI (I’ve never even heard of this) which is Parsley, Thyme and Bay leaf? Can’t I just add more parsley and thyme and throw in a bay leaf? I guess I was mistaken when I thought that Irish Stew contained cabbage. Also, I know lamb is plentiful in Ireland, but it’s not plentiful in SE Louisiana. Can I just use a meat that is plentiful down here to make this with instead? (like pork) We don’t use a lot of barley down here, either. Can I just serve this over rice? We have LOTS of rice in Louisiana!
This was delicious! I did need to change 4 things, but other than that, I stayed true to the recipe.
1. I didn’t have lamb necks, I had a variety of lamb pieces with bones, a couple lamb chops and lamb shoulder pieces I used instead and kept the bones in.
2. I didn’t have any homemade chicken stock or time to make it, so I used some pre-made all natural low sodium stock I had.
3. I didn’t have barley so I used 3 TBSP. Flour and put it in after browning the lamb.
4. I live at a high altitude so I cooked the potatoes on top of the stew for an hour instead of half an hour.
It was so delicious! It was tender, fall apart, flavorful, melt in your mouth. I can’t wait to try the leftovers tomorrow, next day stew is always even better. I highly recommend this recipe.
This was nothing like Irish Stew. The flavor was way too sweet. And suggesting an expensive salt like Fleur de sel for a stew??? Why would anyone do that?
Am I the only one who felt this recipe was a bit off? I thought the lamb should be browned first, set aside, then sweat the veg in the pan, and then add the lamb back. Adding raw, whole potatoes to a simmering pot and cook for only 30 mins? Also, who buys dried thyme in sprigs? Was the thyme in the bouquet garni dried or fresh, and how much? There was no seasoning in stages, only just before simmering. I found it very sweet, my hubs thinks it is too lamby. We added some red wine to take away the sweetness that I don’t know where that came from. And no degreasing? We have eaten yet, but I am not optimistic.
Okay, should be done ny now, still tough as old boots. I removed the potatoes and carrots, and am going in cook in a 200 oven for as long as it takes, cool, and put in the fridge to degrease. Let you know tomorrow what the final verdict is.
Just to clarify, there are two very close recipes for Irish lamb Stew, the more recent one featured Lamb Shanks….. Titled “Lamb Shank Stew with Russet Potatos on Top.” Check it out under that heading where a whole show was dedicated to it…….
Just a note on Traditional Irish Lamb Stew. It is never made with any vegetables included. It consists of a Layer of sliced Russet Potatoes at the bottom of a dutch oven followed by a layer of sliced onion, followed by a lamb layer, season with 2 tsps of kosher salt and 2 tsps of “White Pepper” and an final upper layer of potatoes again. Add either chicken stock or water to just below the top layer of potatoes , Cover top layer with foil, bring to the boil then reduce to a slow simmer on the stove top for up to 90 mins, Then in the final 30 mins take 2 Tbs of corn starch mixed in water and add to stew,,,,,,, and allow to thicken for 30 mins……..
Serve with your preferred veggies on a bowl,,,,,,,,,
John from Conroe, TX, or anyone else looking for the “Lamb Shank Stew with Russett Potato Top” from the “Ultimate Lamb Shanks” episode — Tyler kept calling it “Irish Stew,” so I, too, ended up with the wrong recipe. This “Ultimate Irish Stew” is NOT the one where he also made the Guinness float. Hope this helps.
T Crowley
T Crowley
This is NOT the recipe from the show. If you watch the show, Tyler adds red wine to the pot…which is not on the recipe. He also uses lamb shanks, not lamb neck.
What is with Food Network not being able to either post the correct recipes, especially for Tyler’s stuff. They did the same thing with his Lasagna recipe.
They need to get their act together.
I made this exactly as the recipe requires and it turns out really good; however, the potatoes took longer than 30 minutes. The finished liquid isn’t as thick as I wanted it and I guess I’d dredge my lamb in flour prior to browning the next time I make it. The flour would make a thicker finished liquid. I added parsley at the end — to brighten it up — but skipped the butter/parsley/clive thing — I just didn’t need the calories.