Stovies?

[FortyFacedFuckers]

For the sake of my marriage (lighthearted) can someone tell me how to make stovies or even what they are, poor DH has been deprived of stovies for 14 years. I have never heard of them and he has no idea how they are made.

Do you think the derivation of the name is the same as the Dutch/Flemish stoofvlees (beef stew)? What is slice? And what is Lorne sausage and link sausage? I'm not Scottish but am fascinated by all these recipes and would like to try one.

I think it's the familiarity that we all crave as I am sure that the taste is probably very similar across the piece and your own version may even be better than what granny made. Or maybe you can't replicate it because granny used ingredients that you'd rather not use now (like half a ton of salt maybe) or a decent ham hock in her soup that was properly smoked and not full of pumped water and artificial flavouring.

Links are "normal" sausgaes such as you would have with breakfast in the UK.

Square sausage, flat sausage, sliced sausage or lorne sausage is all the same thing. It is pink, fairly course sausage meat shaped into a square (rhombus really) and then sliced. For stovies you'd chop it up into smaller squares. I usually chop mine into 8 or 12 pieces.

I think the name probably comes from it being kept on the stove rather than a translation of beef stew. I should imagine that originally it may just have sat on the stove and had extra stuff shoved in it as the week went on.

"Ovenies"...I like it!

A bit like the soup or pottage pot, Wax. You're probably right. By the end of the week, there probably wouldn't be any of the original stuff left. You're right about ham hocks as well, they just aren't the same as they used to be, although I usually use smoked ham ribs in my Lentil soup nowadays. My mother uses ham hock, boiling beef in her potato soup and soup cuts of lamb in her scotch broth. Maybe that's where I'm going wrong, it would never occur to me to put the beef in potato soup, but then I haven't eaten meat for almost forty years.

White stovies for you then Lessstressed :)

I make mine with square sausage onion potato and put a bit of bisto in the water just like my gran did but they just don't taste the same,I think it is the homely memory that makes it taste as good,I only make them for me and dd2 as the rest of the family turn their noses up

Yours sound similar to mine MrsJayy except I 've modernised the bisto to a stock cube. :)

www.stovies.com/

Take this recipe but put in the meat your DH expects

Im Ayrshire too and I'd make them exactly the Ayrshire way given there except I'd also put in turnip.

I lived in Aberdeen and they use left over Sunday roast with potato and onions.

They're delicious everywhere TBH.

After great consideration of this thread he is fairly sure it was square sausage and no turnip (as his Gran knew he didn't like turnip )

My kids don't like turnip, either. That's why I don't use it. I've been veggie since I was fourteen but I still remember the deliciousness that was a huge bowl of stories covered in brown sauce. I sometimes do a small pan for me using linda McCartney sausages, other than that, yes, white stories for me. Yum!

Way back when stovies was a really poor persons dish it was layers of potato and onion with lard and gravy.

I use the leftover dripping from roast beef to fry the onions, then add sliced potates and either chopped up roast beef or link sausages (depends on whether there is leftover meat). Add a bit of water and cook over a low heat until the potatoes are well-cooked and breaking up. Once it's fairly dry I'll stir it a few times to brown some of the mixture on the bottom of pot and serve. The main flavour comes from the dripping. It's delicious.

Really want stovies now.

I do remember asking my much-missed Gran how to make them and she was a bit baffled by the concept that there could be a recipe. Tatties, onions and whatever's left out of the roast after Monday sandwiches, as far as she was concerned.

Tatties, onions and whatever's left out of the roast after Monday sandwiches, as far as she was concerned.

Exactly what I've posted above your post cdtaylor! Stovies is meant to be a way to use the last of the roast meat and fat.

I've made (Ayrshire) stories thanks to this thread.

This is the strangest thing!
I usually do my stovies with corned beef, but have a huge slab of Lorne sausage.

Do I fry the sausage separately? With the onion, in chunks?

Sorry for taking over op!

Beef links chopped up (skin removed) sliced onion sliced potatoes lard gravy - delicious

Dh just whacks everything in big chunks into a huge saucepan, adds a small amount of water and some oxi cubes, and summers the life out of it.

West coast stories are funnier than east, more like Irish stew in texture

West coast stories are funnier than east,

That's a bit harsh

Wow autocorrect!

West coast stovies are runnier. The funniness of the stories is subjective!

Super do you really fry yours? How odd

I'm blown away by how many folk use square sausage, personally

I'm vegetarian so don't make them but my dad makes them like rumbledy thumps in a pan - honest