Maggie Might’s well-known scouse. Seconds, anybody?
Angus Murray
Right here within the U.S., regional nicknames are commonplace. Should you hear the phrases Hoosier, Buckeye or Tar Heel, you doubtless know precisely the place that particular person is from — and possibly which sports activities workforce they root for too.
Regional nicknames are much more prolific within the UK, the place a single city might have half a dozen totally different monikers. Liverpool, the northwest England residence of this yr’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, has a nickname with an origin that’s arguably extra distinctive. Liverpool locals proudly establish as “Scouse” or “Scousers.” The place on the planet did that title come from? Meals, naturally.
The hearty, stew-like dish, “lobscouse,” was a favourite throughout Liverpool’s heyday as a premier port metropolis, and it stays an area staple to today. Iterations fluctuate, however foundational elements usually embody potatoes, carrots, onions, a root vegetable like rutabaga and a protein like lamb or beef. Some describe the dish as a mix of conventional Irish stew and lapskaus, a meat-and-potato-based Scandinavian stew, which additional helps scouse’s historic maritime connection.
It’s a dish that may be each tough to explain and maybe a bit polarizing. Tour participant Tommy Fleetwood, who was born about 20 miles north of Liverpool, in Southport, is considerably ambivalent concerning the dish.
“I’ll eat scouse, yeah,” he stated at this yr’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill. “Scouse is all the good things of the leftover dinners, and you set all that collectively in a pan. It’s sort of a stew.”
As as to whether he’ll search it out when he’s at residence, Fleetwood demurred.
“It’s not one thing I essentially have, however lots of people do.”
Angus Murray
For Liverpool locals and guests searching for out a meal of conventional scouse, there’s one institution that stands out among the many relaxation: Maggie Might’s, a café within the coronary heart of Liverpool that’s been a mainstay on the town for practically 30 years.
The recipe supervisor Andrew Lea’s employees makes use of at Maggie Might’s is courtesy of his grandmother, and is thus stored near the vest, however Lea describes the key as extra concerning the course of than the elements. For residence cooks trying to replicate the scouse at Maggie Might’s, Lea did supply one tidbit of knowledge: Correct scouse takes time.
“After you’ve made it, depart it in a single day,” Lea says. “The second day is what makes it. You need it to thicken up, the place the potatoes type of break down, the meat breaks down. It brings you again to if you had been a child and evokes these recollections. It’s about ardour. The love on your metropolis and the folks. The connection that folks have for one another. It’s distinctive.”
With further reporting by Angus Murray and Jack Hirsh.
