Scouse

This food is so popular it literally became an identity for some people. Originally known as lapskaus or lobscouse, sailors brought it to Liverpool from the Nordic countries. It became so popular that people from Liverpool are now known as “Scousers”, their dialect/language is called “Scouse”, and there’s even an official en-scouse language code in ISO-639.

And a picture of what is apparently the best Scouse in Liverpool (although everyone knows that their mother’s Scouse is actually the best.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to make it this week, but here’s a great video on how to make lobscouse which should give you an idea of what it’s like:

Video

Ingredients

• 1 carrot
• 2 onions (average sized)
• 5 medium potatoes (any ‘fluffy’ or all rounder variety), or ‘as many potatoes as possible’
• 300g lamb (traditionally neck end, but you can use any cut really)
• water
• generous amount freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch salt
• a couple of splashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 stock cube (OXO® is acceptable, don’t listen to some people who say it isn’t) (Beef or Lamb)

My Grandad, who grew up in a bombed out Liverpool after WWII used to joke that Scouse only had one ingredient back then - “anything you can find! Potatoes, bread, rats, just throw it in the pot!”

Nowadays Scouse is slightly different to Lobscouse, usually a stew made with minced lamb or beef, potatoes, carrots and onions (even with lamb, beef stock is usually used). If you're feeling fancy you can use diced lamb or beef (usually neck meat). Some of the potatoes are purposefully cut really small so that they disintegrate when cooking and thicken the soup. It's usually served with bread and either pickled cabbage or pickled beetroot (or both). Some people will add brown sauce to it and mix it in.

To make it properly can take 3-6 hours, but you can usually live off of it for a few days. Some people even prefer it reheated and won’t even eat it the same day they make it.