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Ireland Traditional / Modern dinner medium

Irish Stew & Brown Soda Bread

Ireland's national dish — a modern Mark Moriarty-style Irish stew with browned lamb neck, root vegetables, and pearl barley, served alongside a classic yeast-free brown soda bread.

Irish Stew & Brown Soda Bread
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 180 min
Serves: 4
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Irish Stew

The modern build — browned lamb, root vegetables, pearl barley. More depth than the purist boil. The key is the lamb bones: the boneless neck is convenient, but bones are where the body and gelatine come from. Worth asking a butcher for a few to drop in during the long simmer.

On pearl barley: the modern standard, but purists reject it — in Ireland the starch always came from the potato. Leave it out for the traditional version and add a little extra potato instead.

Method

  1. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dust the lamb chunks lightly in the seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over high heat and brown the meat well in batches — don’t crowd the pan. Set aside.

  2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions to the same pot and soften for 5 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom.

  3. Return the lamb to the pot. Add the bones, thyme, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, and stock. Bring to a gentle simmer.

  4. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours. Boneless neck is leaner than bone-in shoulder — check at 2 hours, give it up to 2.5 if not yet fork-tender.

  5. Add the carrots and leeks. Cook for 20 minutes.

  6. Add the potatoes and pearl barley. Cook for a final 30–35 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the barley is plump and the broth has thickened. Top up with a little hot stock if it gets too dry.

  7. Fish out the bones, thyme stalks, and bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt. Stir through most of the parsley, rest for 10 minutes, then serve scattered with the rest.

Brown Soda Bread

No yeast, no kneading, no proving. The buttermilk activates the bicarb and it rises in the oven. The whole thing is mixed and in the oven in under 15 minutes. Best the day it’s made, with butter.

No buttermilk? Stir 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar into 420ml whole milk, leave 10 minutes to curdle. Works fine — slightly less tang.

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan / 220°C / 425°F. Dust a baking tray with flour.

  2. Whisk together both flours, the bicarbonate of soda, and the salt until the bicarb is evenly distributed with no lumps.

  3. Make a well in the centre, pour in the buttermilk, and mix with one hand in large sweeps just until it comes together as a soft, sticky dough. Do not knead — overworking kills the rise.

  4. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a round about 4cm thick. Cut a deep cross across the top with a floured knife — this lets the heat into the centre (and, according to tradition, lets the fairies out).

  5. Scatter with rolled oats if using. Bake for 40–45 minutes until golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom.

  6. Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting.