Workhouse Scouse with Suet Dumplings

Thickened vegetable and meat stew with suet dumplings with parsley

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1901

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The food served in Victorian workhouses could vary widely depending on the time, place, and management of a particular establishment. Operating under the notion that if the food served to the inmates (yes, that’s what they were called) of a workhouse was worse than the average, it would encourage them to choose to not be poor (yes, those in power believed that being poor was a choice), workhouse food tended to be…not great.

The recipes for this stew and dumplings come from actual workhouse cookbooks, and they’re actually quite tasty, though the Victorian reality was often far from what you might make today with fresh ingredients. Meat could be too tough to eat, bugs and rat droppings were not uncommon, vegetables could be rotten, and the stew watered down. 

As written, it makes a simple, hearty, thick meat and vegetable stew with dumplings that are rather dense, though they have a bit of fluffiness. It’s quite good, though I’m under no impression that it’s close to what the poor were actually being served.

“Meat Stew (or Scouse).
Ingredients.
5 ozs. Raw Beef free from bone (Stickings or similar quality).
1 oz. Flour.
½ oz. Dripping or Fat.
4 ozs. Potatoes.
4 ozs. Carrots and Turnips.
½ oz. Onions
Pepper and Salt to taste.
Water to make 1 pint.
Method.—Cut up the meat and vegetables. Fry the flour in the fat till brown, stir in the water, add pepper and salt; then put in the meat and vegetables. Simmer gently for two hours. To make 1 pint of stew. ”

— - Manual of Workhouse Cookery (1901)

“Suet Dumplings. 6 oz. flour, 2 oz. chopped suet, 1/16 oz. baking powder, ¾ oz. chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Mix all the dry things, rubbing the suet through the flour; make into a firm paste with the cold water; divide into ten or twelve small pieces, which roll up into balls, having the outsides well floured. Drop the balls into the stew, and cook for half an hour longer; then serve.”

— Miss F. A. Merchant in Management and Construction of Poorhouses and Almshouses by George A. Mackay

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Ingredients:

Scouse

• 3 tablespoons (42 g) butter or other fat
• 3/4 cup (90 g) flour
• 7 1/4 cups (1.7 L) water
• 1 lb (450 g) beef, stew meat works well
• 4 small (340 g) potatoes, I used yellow potatoes
• 2 large (255 g) carrots
• 1/2 small (85 g) turnip
• 1/2 cup (45 g) chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Suet Dumplings

• Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 g) flour, plus more for coating the dumplings
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Heaping 1/3 cup (55 g) beef suet*
• 1 cup (21 g) finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup (60 g) cold water, more as needed

*You can order suet online, but if you can’t get it, you can substitute with really cold butter.

Instructions:

1. For the scouse: Prepare the meat, potatoes, carrots, and turnip by chopping them into bite-sized pieces. Leave the vegetables unpeeled.
2. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the flour and keep stirring it as it cooks for about 5 minutes, or until it browns. The mixture will be quite dry.
3. Stir in the water and bring the pot to a simmer. The flour mixture should dissolve into the water.
4. Stir in the meat, vegetables, salt, and pepper. Bring it to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 2 hours. Every once in a while, give it a good stir and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is burning to the bottom.
5. For the suet dumplings: In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Make sure the parsley is nice and dry, then mix it in.
6. Rub the suet into the flour mixture with your fingers. When the suet is well incorporated, mix in the cold water. Add more cold water a little at a time if needed to make a dough that comes together and can be formed into balls. Form the dough into 10 to 12 balls.
7. Place some flour in a bowl and roll the dumplings in the flour to coat them.
8. 30 minutes before the scouse is done, carefully put the dumplings into the pot and gently stir them so they don’t break up, but do get coated in the scouse.
9. Return the lid to the pot and cook for another 30 minutes.
10. Dish the scouse and suet dumplings up, and serve it forth.

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