Welsh Lamb Cawl recipe

 

Welsh Lamb Cawl is the national dish of Wales, 'Cawl' is Welsh for any soup or broth comprising root vegetables and must include leeks, it is not a fixed recipe, it's what you have at the time. Cawl is best made with neck end of lamb and is traditionally served with  bread and Caerphilly cheese.

Recipe

Chop and gently fry an onion and at the same time brown your lamb, then add some herbs such as thyme and add a couple of lamb stock cubes and cover with water then bring to a simmer. After half an hour add your veg, swede, carrot and parsnip all cut into smallish pieces, add the white parts of a couple of leeks and reserve the top parts of the leeks, at an hour add your potatoes, simmer until the potatoes are almost done and then add the tops of the leeks.

Switch off the pan and leave till the next day. Then reheat the broth and serve in a bowl alongside some bread and cheese.

Cawl and why scouse, lobscouse and Labskaus are pretty much the same.

Scouse is the celebrated dish from Liverpool and earns the inhabitants their nick name, scouse which is similar to cawl can be made with fresh meat but is usually made with left over meat, if anything scouse is more similar to Scottish stovies. Lapskaus is possibly linked (historically and etymologically) to lobscouse, a European sailors' stew or hash strongly associated with major ports such as Liverpool. Similar dishes include the Danish labskovs, Swedish lapskojs, Finnish lapskoussi or the German Labskaus. It's even similar to an Icelandic lamb soup apparently.

So the reality is that most countries (or even a city) have a beef or lamb stew and call it their own.