Tom Lefroy’s Irish Stew
Reprinted with permission from Cooking with Jane Austen & Friends by Laura Boyle
Tom Lefroy was an early admirer of Jane Austen. The extent of their relationship, conducted over a few weeks' time in 1796, is unknown. Lefroy later married a young woman from his native Ireland and rose to become the Chief Justice of the Queen’s Court Bench.
Irish stew is a traditional Irish dish made from lamb or mutton. I’ve adapted this recipe from Martha Lloyd’s Harrico of Mutton. The French term haricot, which means “a stew of lamb or with turnips and potatoes,” no doubt sounded more sophisticated to cooks of the time.
Photo by Paul Savidge, Food styling by Dan Macey
During the Regency, “catchup,” was a catch-all word meaning any type of sauce with vinegar as the main ingredient. Since there is no suggestion of what type of “catchup” was intended for this recipe, I’ve taken my cue from Frederick Accum’s recipe for “Tomata Catsup” (Culinary Chemistry; Ackerman, 1821) and used good old-fashioned tomato ketchup to season the sauce, though Worcestershire sauce would also work well.
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Ingredients
2 lbs Lamb Stew Meat
3 tbsp Butter, divided
½ cup Flour
3 Cups Beef Broth
3 Medium Carrots, peeled, cut in pieces
1 Large Turnip or four potatoes peeled, cut in pieces
2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
- Cut your meat into pieces and coat with flour. A sealed bag or covered dish works well for this. Melt 1 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan. Add the lamb to the pan and brown the meat on all sides. Remove meat from pan and set aside.
- In the same pot, add the remaining butter. Melt over low heat and at once add your remaining flour, stirring constantly to create a roux. Add the broth, carrots, turnips and lamb to this mixture.
- Simmer for 1 hour at a medium to low heat. Just before serving, stir in the ketchup or Worcestershire sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4
