Irish “Strong Farmer’s” Soup

The name’s one of those that can be read two ways.

Is the soup strong, or is the farmer strong, and if it’s the farmer, is he strong in the way that straightens out horseshoes with his bare hands?

I can’t find the original Irish for it, but I have a feeling that “strong” means something more like like “sturdy” or “well-set-up” or “prosperous” – not rich in the sense of an expat British landlord, but a local farmer with enough land to raise livestock, grain and vegetables. Maybe a better word – and it works for the soup as well – might be “substantial”. Certainly if you eat enough of this without working it off you’ll become pretty substantial yourself…

We first made it nine years ago for the Irish section of the (now-sunsetting) European Cuisines website, and several times since then, without reaching for a camera before a spoon.

It’s evidently travelled a bit since then; we’re both sure that at least one pub in Moscow (!) is using the recipe. Their menu has ‘Traditional Irish Farmer’s Nourishing Meat Soup with Barley and Vegetables’ and also ‘Irish traditional country soup “Strong farmer” ‘, which is the only other place besides us that Google finds the name.

(Традиционный ирландский фермерский наваристый мясной суп с ячменем и овощами  /  Ирландский традиционный сельский суп  «Сильный фермер») 

We hope it’s popular, because this is the time of year for it! Today the grey, wet, cold and windy November weather called for something substantial and warming.

I think the picture turned out well; I know the soup did… 😀

Recipe (with vegetarian suggestion) under the “recipe” tab above.

This can be made with lamb instead of beef, as we suspect it often was.

Ingredients:

• 450 g / 1 pound  stewing beef
• 110 g / ¼ pound smoked bacon / belly pork
• 110 g / 4 oz / ½ cup pearl barley
• 110 g / 4 oz / ¼ cup dried split peas, yellow or green
• 3 tablespoons beef dripping or other solid frying fat (Crisco, lard, etc.)
• 2 onions
• ½ leek
• 6-8 baby carrots, or a couple of big ones
• 1 ½ liters / 1 ½ quarts boiling water
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 fresh sage leaves or ½ tsp ground sage
• Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

Chop the stewing beef into pieces that will comfortably fit into the bowl of a soup-spoon, about 2 cm / ½ inch square.

Chop the bacon into chunks of equal size.

In a large heavy soup pot, melt half the beef dripping or other solid fat. Add the bacon and sauté it until its fat runs.

Add the barley and split peas…

…and stir well over medium heat until the barley starts to toast slightly.

Boil the water separately and add it to the barley and bacon. Add the sage and bay leaf and cover the pot.

In a deep frying pan, melt the other half of the solid fat or beef dripping and sauté the beef in it until lightly browned.

Add the beef to the soup pot and stir.

Peel and chop the onions very small; wash the leek well and slice it very thin. Sauté the onions and leek in the fat, and when softened, add to the soup and stir.

(DD says here: As I can’t have onions or leeks, I’ve omitted them from the process shots. But I’m sure you know what to do if you’re using them…)

Cut the carrots into soup-spoon chunks, add and stir again.

Now simmer the soup over medium-low heat for at least 1 ½ hours, until the barley is completely cooked. Add more boiling water as necessary as the barley swells and the soup thickens. Before serving, check the seasoning and add salt or pepper as desired.

(Also, at this point: if you have concerns about the soup’s fat content, you can always take it off the stove and let it cool—then put it in the fridge and let the fat solidify on top, at which point you can remove it with a spoon.)

Serve sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley to garnish, and crusty bread on the side. Serves 4-6.

Note 1 – For a vegetarian alternative, substitute a preferred cooking fat and two kinds of pre-soaked or canned pulses – kidney and pinto beans, or chickpeas and cannellini beans – for the two kinds of meat. Also add a dollop of Marmite or other yeast extract, but remember to reduce any other salt accordingly.

Note 2 – Using a solid fat means the finished soup can be put in the fridge and (as above) excess fat easily removed when it hardens. Obviously, overnight is best, and the soup, like so many other things, does taste better after the flavours have had time to get friendly. Don’t remove all the fat unless you must; that’s where a lot of the flavours are caught. (This is how scents are captured for perfumery – a process called “enfleurage” – but that’s a different post.)

Note 3 – A couple or three finely chopped cloves of garlic will do no harm at all, and is correct for Irish cooking. Wild garlic is more authentic, but not vital.

Note 4 – The half-teaspoon of dried chilli flakes I threw in is definitely not authentic, but with a chilly wind-driven rain pattering against the windows, its warming effect worked very well.

Note 5 – After we’d each had a bowl of the original soup, Diane made dumplings. Instead of suet (vegetable suet is available, BTW) she used some of the oniony-garlicky-herby-flavoured saved fat, which she’d put in the freezer so it was hard enough to grate. These were a splendid and tasty addition which also helped thicken the liquid part of the soup.

And there’s enough left for Sunday lunch… 😀