A reader, Mary, sent me a note to let me know that Global Scouse Day is on Feb. 28 and wondered if I could offer a recipe to mark the occasion. I thought it was a fine idea and I’m doing that today.
On the event’s website, it says Global Scouse Day is an annual celebration of Liverpool, England, that over the years has grown to encompass music, art and cinema from across that city.
But event organizers say the celebration is primarily based around a type of stew called scouse that is synonymous with Liverpool. On Global Scouse Day, numerous bars, cafes, restaurants and other places serving food in Liverpool and, increasingly, around the world, will serve and laud the tasty qualities of scouse.
According to several sources, scouse is derived from a simple seaman’s stew introduced to Liverpool eons ago by Northern European sailors. It’s still enjoyed in other parts of Europe and goes by names such as lapskaus and lapskojs, depending on where it’s served.
In Liverpool, with a spelling change, the dish became known as lobscouse. And that term made its way to places where people from the area immigrated to, such as Newfoundland, where in cookbooks you’ll see that term, or a variation of it, such as lob scouse, still being used.
In Liverpool, lobscouse was eventually shortened to scouse. Scouse is also the term for the dialect of English spoken in Liverpool, and Liverpudlians are sometimes referred to as “Scousers.” Two ways the dish deeply simmered its way into the city’s culture.
Because scouse has been made for so long, when researching recipes for it, I was not surprised to find variations on how it’s made. And, as a nod to that, in the introduction to a recipe for scouse on the Global Scouse Day website they described it as an inclusive and adaptable dish that anybody can enjoy.
That recipe, and many others I found, uses cubes or pieces of beef, cut from places such as the chuck or shoulder, or lamb, cut from places such as the neck or shoulder. The meat is seared in a pot and onions, stock and potatoes are added. The scouse is cooked awhile, most often on the stovetop, or in the oven, what I did in my recipe, until the potatoes and very tender, falling apart and beginning to help thicken the scouse. At that point more potatoes are added, along with carrots and/or rutabaga, which is called swede in England. The scouse is then cooked more, until those vegetables and the meat are tender.
The seasonings used in most scouse recipes are pretty basic, including salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Beyond stock, beer, such as bitter ale, is also sometimes added. Something that’s done on the Liverpool Football Club website, where they have a recipe for scouse they modestly call “the world’s best.” Scouse is served in the Boot Room Sports Café in Anflield, the stadium where Liverpool FC plays.
My recipe combines the various techniques I found for making scouse. It yields five to six servings. If that’s too many for you, any leftovers will freeze well.
Note: If you don’t eat meat, but still want to make scouse, on the Global Scouse Day website you’ll find a recipe for a vegetarian version of it called “blind scouse.”
Scouse
Scouse is a hearty Liverpool-style meat and vegetable stew often served with slices of crusty white bread and pickled beets and/or pickled red cabbage.
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 120 to 135 minutes
Makes: five to six servings
1 (about 900 gram) boneless beef chuck, blade or top round roast (see Eric’s options)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium onions, halved and sliced
4 1/2 cups beef stock, plus more if needed (see Eric options)
1 3/4 cups very thinly sliced, peeled russet (baking) potatoes (see Note 1)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 cups cubed, peeled russet (baking) potatoes (see Note 2)
2 cups cubed, peeled carrots
2 cups cubed, peeled rutabaga
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, plus more, if needed
• chopped fresh parsley, to taste
Cut the roast into one-inch cubes, pat them dry with paper towel, and then season with salt and pepper. Pour oil into a Dutch oven and set over medium-high heat (my oven was 13-inches long, and 10-inches wide). When oil is hot, sear the cubes of beef, in three batches, until richly browned on all sides. Lift the seared beef out of the Dutch oven and set on a plate as you go along.
When all the beef is seared, preheat oven to 325 F. Set the Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onions and cook and stir until softened, about three minutes. Return the beef to the Dutch oven. Now add the stock, sliced potatoes, thyme and bay leaves and mix to combine. Bring the scouse to a simmer, and then cover, set in the oven and cook 60 minutes.
Take the scouse out of the oven and uncover. Use a heavy spoon to stir and break up the sliced potatoes, a step that will help to thicken the scouse. Mix in the cubed potatoes, carrots, rutabaga and 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Cover scouse, set back in the oven and cook 60 to 75 minutes more, or until the meat and vegetables are tender. Thin scouse with a bit more stock, if you find it too thick.
Taste scouse and season with salt, pepper and a splash more Worcestershire sauce, if needed. Sprinkle each serving of scouse, if desired, with chopped fresh parley.
Note 1: You can use a hand-held slicer, mandolin or the slicing implement that came with your food processor to thinly slice the potatoes. If you don’t have any of those, you could also simply use a knife to slice the potatoes, as thinly as you can.
Note 2: Cubed in this recipe means to cut the potatoes, carrots and rutabaga into 3/4-inch cubes.
Eric’s options: Instead of beef, make the scouse with an equally weight of cubed lamb stewing meat. If desired, you could replace 1 1/2 cups of the stock with beer, such as bitter ale.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
