Scouse (food)

Scouseis a type of stew typically made from chunks of meat (usually beef or lamb) with potatoes, carrots, and onion. It is particularly associated with the port ofLiverpool; hence, the inhabitants of that city are often referred to as "scousers".
The word "scouse" comes fromlobscouse, a stew commonly eaten by sailors throughout northern Europe in the past, and surviving in different forms there today.
Scouse is particularly associated with the port ofLiverpool. The recipe for scouse is fairly broad; it was traditionally made from leftovers and whatever was in season.Guardianfood writerFelicity Cloakedescribes scouse as being similar toIrish steworLancashire hotpot, though generally using beef rather than lamb as the meat.While ingredients can vary, those essentials are potatoes, carrots, onions, and chunks of meat, with beef favoured over lamb. These are simmered together for several hours. The meat may be seared first, then reserved while some of the potatoes are boiled; as they break up, thickening the mix, the meat and the rest of the potatoes are added, and the stew finished off.
A survey byThe Liverpool Echoin 2018 confirmed that for the majority of cooks the basic ingredients are potatoes, carrots, onion and chunks of meat, though many advocated the addition of astock cube, and a few also added other ingredients, such as peas, lentils or sweet potato, and herbs including rosemary, parsley and basil.The choice of meat varied: some cooks did not stipulate a particular meat; among those who did, beef was chosen rather than lamb by a majority of nearly two to one.
Although some argue that anything other than beef, potatoes, carrots, onion is not scouse, others point out that, as a thrift dish, it will contain "whatever veg you had... and...the cheapest cuts of meat".Some recipes suggest including marrowbones to thicken the stew.Proportions vary from equal amounts of meat and vegetables to a 1:5 proportion between meat and potato.A meatless version, known as "blind scouse", is also recorded, for vegetarians, or when people were too poor to afford meat.Scouse is generally served withpickled red cabbage or beetrootand crusty bread.
Scouse is strongly associated with the port of Liverpool and its hinterland in the northwest of England. Other parts of the country were slower to begin growing potatoes, but they were cultivated inLancashirefrom the late 17th century onwards. By the late 18th century the potato-based lobscouse – by then also known simply as scouse – had become a traditional dish of the region.A 1797 description records that potatoes were "peeled, or rather scraped, raw; chopped, and boiled together with a small quantity of meat cut into very small pieces. The whole of this mixture is then formed into a hash, with pepper, salt, onions, etc., and forms a cheap and nutritive dish".An earlier reference from 1785 refers to"LOBS-COUSE, a dish much eaten at sea, composed of salt beef,[ship's]biscuit, and onions, well peppered and stewed together."The same recipe was used by nineteenth-century sailors.In the poorest areas of Liverpool, when funds ran too low for the purchase of even the cheapest cuts of meat, "blind scouse" would be made, using only vegetables.
Similar dishes are traditional in countries around theNorth Sea, such as Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs), Finland (lapskoussi), Denmark, (skipperlabskovs), and northern Germany (Labskaus),though these differ from the original lobscouse and from each other. SwedishLapskojsand NorwegianLapskausis a stew, like scouse, while GermanLabskausis a form ofhash. However, lobscouse is also different from scouse, being a type ofgruel.
TheOxford English Dictionary(OED) states that "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse"a sailors dish from the 18th century, and has also been written as "lopscourse", "lobscourse", "lobskous", "lobscouce", and "lap's course".
Its oldest reference in the OED is from 1707, by the satiristEdward Ward: "He has sent the Fellow ... to the Devil, that first invented Lobscouse."
The first known use of the term "lobscouse" is dated 1706, according toWebster's Dictionary.Tobias Smollettrefers to "lob's course" in 1750.The roots of the word are unknown.TheOEDstates that the origin is unknown, and goes on to compare the word toloblolly, which means a "thick gruel or spoon-meat, frequently referred to as a rustic or nautical dish or simple medicinal remedy; burgoo" and "perhaps [is] onomatopoeic: compare the dialectal lob 'to bubble while in process of boiling, said esp. of porridge', also 'to eat or drink up noisily'".
According toThe Oxford Companion to Food, lobscouse "almost certainly has its origins in the Baltic ports, especially those of Germany",although it offers no evidence to support this assertion. The claim is repeated in a number of sources, though again, no reason given for this belief. Contrariwise, Crowley points out that lobscouse (as "lobs course") is mentioned by Smollett in 1750, whileFriedrich Klugedates its first appearance in German in 1878, and concludes the usage spread from Britain to northern Europe rather than vice versa.
Kluge also states that the origin of lobscouse is unknown, and that it was loaned to German in the 19th century, where it was calledlabskaus.Hjalmar FalkandAlf Torpstates thatlobscousoriginally waslob's coursefrom a lob (a lump) and course (a dish) and that the word has travelled to Norwegian aslapskausand Danish aslobskous.
The similarities withlabs kaussinLatvianandlabas kaušasinLithuanianis calledgobbledygook(Kauderwelsch) of the mind inDer Spiegelby Petra Foede.Foede translatesLabs kausisto means a "good plate" in Latvian, and says that in Lithuanian they uselabas káuszasfor a "good plate".According to Gerhard Bauerkáuszasin Lithuanian means a wooden ladle or dipper or a wooden drinking bowl and is the same word asLettishkauśisand this Baltic word has been adopted in German asKauscheorKauszelwhich means wooden jug, pitcher or drinking bowl.
Konrad Reich[de]claims that Labskaus stems from a combination ofLappen, LappenstückeorBauchlappen[de]from the pig and aLow GermanwordKauswhich he explains as a plate or platter and concludes that Labskaus is aparaphrasefor a plate of minced pork.Reich does not cite any sources to his claim.
Since 2000 there has been an annual International orGlobal Scouse Dayheld, where bars, cafes and restaurants in Liverpool and around the world put scouse on the menu for the day, raising funds for charities.
Lobscouse is also remembered in other parts of the northwest. Inthe Potteries, a similar stew is known as "lobby",and people fromLeigh, Greater Manchester, are known as "lobby-gobblers".In North Wales the full form is retained as "lobsgows" (Welsh:lapsgóws)
A version of scouse has been known on the Atlantic coast of Canada inNewfoundland and Labrador, from at least 1792. It is described as a sea dish of minced and salted beef, crumbled sea biscuit, potatoes and onions.