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Warming Mutton Lobsgows

  • Time preparation 10 minutes
  • cook time 1 hour 20 minutes
  • Serve Serves 4

Lobsgows (also known as 'cawl') is a traditional Welsh dish and a staple for farmers. It's a slow-cooked stew of meat, vegetables and potatoes, simmered in stock until flavourful. Serve with homemade bread slathered in butter!

Recipe provided by Gareth Wyn Jones (the Tweeting Farmer) and taken from For the Love of the Land: A Cookbook to Celebrate British Farmers & Their Food, compiled by Jenny Jefferies (Meze Publishing, £22)
  • 900g lamb neck or 450-675g mutton, cut into good chunks
  • Splash of olive oil 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 1.1 litres chicken stock for lamb or beef stock for mutton and beef
  • Splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 medium potatoes, cubed
  • 6 long carrots, roughly chopped
  • ½ a turnip 1 or 2 leeks, thinly sliced
  • To serve:
  • Bread (preferably homemade)
  • Butter

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan, then seal the lamb or mutton in olive oil. Add the onion and cook until soft. Pour in about half of the stock, enough to cover the meat, and bring it to the boil. If you are using mutton, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce to taste. Cover the pan with a lid and leave the meat to simmer for 1 hour.

At this point, add salt and pepper. If you have used neck of lamb, let the mixture cool, skim off the fat, take all the meat off the bone and stir it back into the pan. Place it back on the heat.

Add the chopped potatoes, cook for 5 minutes, and then add the carrots, turnip and the remaining stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste the stew to check the seasoning, then make sure the vegetables are covered with the liquid. Stir in the sliced leek and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until everything is cooked.

Lobsgows is best eaten the next day when the stew has thickened and flavours have intensified. Serve with homemade buttered bread.

SERVE THIS WITH...

Wholemeal Soda Bread

Time 30 minutes

Time Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 900g lamb neck or 450-675g mutton, cut into good chunks
  • Splash of olive oil 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 1.1 litres chicken stock for lamb or beef stock for mutton and beef
  • Splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 medium potatoes, cubed
  • 6 long carrots, roughly chopped
  • ½ a turnip 1 or 2 leeks, thinly sliced
  • To serve:
  • Bread (preferably homemade)
  • Butter

Method

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan, then seal the lamb or mutton in olive oil. Add the onion and cook until soft. Pour in about half of the stock, enough to cover the meat, and bring it to the boil. If you are using mutton, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce to taste. Cover the pan with a lid and leave the meat to simmer for 1 hour.

At this point, add salt and pepper. If you have used neck of lamb, let the mixture cool, skim off the fat, take all the meat off the bone and stir it back into the pan. Place it back on the heat.

Add the chopped potatoes, cook for 5 minutes, and then add the carrots, turnip and the remaining stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste the stew to check the seasoning, then make sure the vegetables are covered with the liquid. Stir in the sliced leek and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until everything is cooked.

Lobsgows is best eaten the next day when the stew has thickened and flavours have intensified. Serve with homemade buttered bread.

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