EXAMINATION
There are many superstitious actors who will tell you about various curses of the theatre. Like how they can’t wish each other good luck, but rather “break a leg”.
The most famous, however, may be to not say the name of The Scottish Play. This is brought most humorously to light on an episode of Blackadder The Third.
To honor the Three Witches, all items in this stew come in threes. We’ll be making this in our magic cauldron (called a pressure cooker).
ANALYSIS
Servings: 9 serving bowls
Ingredients
3 Tbsp of oil
Three meats
1.5 lbs bone-in mutton/lamb shank
1.5 lbs bone-in beef/veal shank
1.5 lbs gammon joint or ham hocks
Three seasonings
1 Tbsp kosher or sea salt
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
Three aromatics
3 leeks (or 1 onion), chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 Tbsp minced garlic, or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
Three herbs
3 bay leaves, fresh or dried
6 sprigs of oregano (or 1/2 tsp of ground oregano)
9 sprigs of thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme, or 3/4 tsp of ground thyme)
Three brews for the stew
9 oz Scottish ale (like Kilt Lifter)
6 oz Oat stout
3 oz Triple Malt Scotch whisky
Three leafy greens
1 bunch of kale
2 scallions, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
Three roots
3 wee neeps (turnips or small rutabagas, or 3 parsnips), chopped
6 carrots, chopped
9 young tatties (waxy or fingerling potatoes)
Three pints of water
Apparatus
- Pressure cooker, 7-quart
Procedure
- Chop all of the veggies first and set aside in the groups listed above.
- Pour 3 Tbsp of oil with a high smoke point (like corn or peanut, or even ghee or clarified butter; canola is the lowest smoke-point oil you should use) into the pressure cooker. Turn heat to high.
- Cut the lamb and beef into large chunks (save the bones) and season with salt, pepper, and paprika.
- When the oil begins to shimmer, brown the lamb and beef on all sides. Remove and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Saute the leeks/onion and garlic for about 1 minute. Add the flour and stir to combine.
- Deglaze with the ale. Then add the stout and scotch.
- Place the bones into the cooker first, then add the meat back, and then the rest of the ingredients. Top with 3 pints of water, or as much as you need to just fill under the Max Fill line.
- Return the heat to high. Close and lock the lid. Cook on high until pressure valve whistles or rattles, then turn heat down to low and cook for about 33 minutes under pressure.
- Remove the bones, bay leaves, and herb sprigs. Meat should be tender and the veggies supple. Ladle into bowls and allow to cool before serving.
DISSECTION
We are using about 1.5 pounds of bone-in meat each because we want the bones for the stock. Once cooked, we’ll have about 3 pounds of meat.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can use a large crock pot and cook on high for 333 minutes, or about 5 1/2 hours. It is much harder to make what is essentially the stock this way, however.
POST-MORTEM
Definitely serve with whisky or ale or stout. Can’t decide? How about a whisky barrel-aged ale? Or a Half and a half?
When people think of Bram Stoker, they invariably think of Dracula. His novel, 
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