DID YOU KNOW that Ireland has a stew champion?

For the past four years, Sligo has hosted the World Irish Stew Championship – and it is no laughing matter.

Last year’s winner, professional chef Gabriel McSharry took home the prize for his traditional Irish stew made with a shoulder of local lamb cooked in stock made from the bone. He also included sliced potato trimmings, onion and leek, garnished the dish with turned root vegetables and topped it off with buttered Irish cabbage.

All the ingredients were locally produced.

Hungry? Read on…

For its fifth year, the organisers of the SóSligo food festival decided to open up the Championships to amateurs. So you’ll need to get cooking yourself.

They have asked members of the public to bring along their own stew for the event next Sunday, 15 June.

Bríd Torrades told TheJournal.ie that entries can be brought either “hot in a flask or cold so it can be heated up and served to the judges”.

Participants will need to bring two portions of the good stuff for this year’s judges, comprising GMIT chefs and members of the German band The Drunken Sailor.

“The criteria the judges will be looking at will be taste, presentation and imagination. That all comes into play.”

According to Torrades, some people are getting serious about the competition.

“They have looked up ancient Irish stew recipes,” she explains.

The event at Stephen’s Street Car Park is run in aid of Sligo Social Servies and entry costs €5.

The idea of a stew for dinner split this office. What do you think of the Irish dish?

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