 | |
| Type | Stew |
|---|---|
| Region or state | Liverpool, England |
| Main ingredients | Meat (beef or lamb), potatoes, carrots, onions |
Scouse is a type ofstew typically made from meat (usually beef or lamb) with potatoes, carrots, and onions. It is particularly associated with the city ofLiverpool, to the extent that the Liverpool accent is also widely referred to as "Scouse" and locals as "Scousers". The word "scouse" comes fromlobscouse, a stew commonly eaten by Northern European sailors who often visitedLiverpool's port, and the original stew survives in different forms there today.
The food writerFelicity Cloake describes scouse as being similar toIrish stew orLancashire hotpot, though generally using beef rather than lamb.[1] Although ingredients can vary, the essentials are potatoes, carrots, onions and diced meat, gently simmered together.[1]
A survey byThe Liverpool Echo in 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.[2] 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.[2][n 1]
Although some argue that anything other than beef, potatoes, carrots, and onion is not scouse, others observe that, as a thrift dish, scouse will contain "whatever veg you had [and] the cheapest cuts of meat".[2] Some recipes suggest including marrowbones to thicken the stew.[3] Proportions of ingredients vary, from equal amounts of meat and vegetables to a 1:5 proportion between meat and potato.[4] A meatless version, known as "blind scouse", is also recorded, for people who could not afford meat – and latterly for vegetarians.[5] Scouse is often served withpickledred cabbage orbeetroot and crusty bread.[4]
Scouse is strongly associated with the city ofLiverpool and its hinterland in the north-west of England. Other parts of the country were slower to begin growing potatoes, but they were cultivated inLancashire from the late 17th century onwards.[6] By the late 18th century the potato-basedlobscouse had become a traditional dish of the region.[7] A 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".[8] A 1797 description records that potatoes were:
A similar recipe was used by nineteenth-century sailors,[10] and such dishes are traditional in countries around theNorth Sea, such as Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs), Finland (lapskoussi), Denmark, (skipperlabskovs), and northern Germany (Labskaus).[11]
TheOxford English Dictionary (OED) states that "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse",[12] the oldest citation for which in theOED is by the satiristEdward Ward (1706).[13]Tobias Smollett refers to "lob's course" in 1750.[13] The roots of the word are unknown.[12] TheOED's earliest citation for the shortened form "scouse" dates from 1840.[12] In the twentieth century the terms "scouse" and "scouser" began to be applied to Liverpudlians.[12]
According toThe Oxford Companion to Food, lobscouse "almost certainly has its origins in the Baltic ports, especially those of Germany".[11] The GermanphilologistFriedrich Kluge dates its first appearance in German in 1878, and concludes that the usage spread from Britain to northern Europe rather than vice versa.[14] Kluge asserts that the origin of the word is unknown, and that it was loaned to German in the 19th century, where it was calledlabskaus.[15] There are similar terms inNorwegian,Danish,Latvian andLithuanian.[n 2]
By the mid-19th century the term "lobscouse" had been shortened to "scouse" in Liverpudlian usage. In his bookThe State of the Poor: or a History of the Labouring Classes in England (1797),Sir Frederick Eden cites a report from the early 1790s listing expenditure on food in the Liverpoolpoorhouse. It included "Beef, 101 lbs. [46 kg] for scouse … 14 Measures potatoes for scouse [420 lb or 190 kg]; and Onions for ditto [28 lb or 13 kg]".[20]
Lobscouse is also remembered in other parts of the country. Inthe Potteries, a similar stew is known as "lobby",[21] and people fromLeigh, Greater Manchester, are known as "lobby-gobblers".[22] In North Wales the full form is retained as "lobsgows" (Welsh:lapsgóws).[23][24] 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.[25]
Since 2000 there has been an annual International orGlobal Scouse Day held, where bars, cafés and restaurants in Liverpool and around the world put scouse on the menu for the day, raising funds for charities.[26][27]
Labskaus n. (= Seemannsgericht),nordd. Im 19. Jh. entlehnt aus ne.lobscouse, dessen Herkunft unklar ist. [The first edition of the dictionary was published in 1883.]
Lit. káuszas hölzerner Schöpflöffel, hölzerne Trinkschale, lett. kauśis, kausts, kausinsch Napf, Schale, Becher, estn. Kause Schale, Napf, Schüssel, sanskr. koshas Behältnis zum Auf- bewahren, Tresor. Nsslm. Th., 68. Hupel, 107. Sallmann, 19a. Grimm, Wb. V, 362. Im Brem. Kausse hölzerner Schöpflöffel, in Pommern Kowse Schale.
Und so «erfand» ein ideenreicher und mitfühlender Koch dies pürierte Pökelfleisch. Lappen, Lappenstücke und Bauchlappen des Rindes wirden dazu verwendet. Die erste Silbe weist darauf hin: Das niederdeutsche ‹Kaus› ist eine Schüssel, eine Schale, so daß ‹Labskaus› eine Umschreibung fur «eine Schüssel Gehacktes» ist.
