Welsh Stew: Tatws Pum Munud

While the Welsh name of this dish, "Tatws Pum Munud," means "five minute potatoes," the dish takes longer than that to prepare. Original recipes for the dish call for long thin flat slices of potato, carrot, onion and bacon, so with the preparation of the ingredients this way, likely the dish cooked quickly in a hot pan over a fire, earning it the name it still bears, but this is just a guess on my part. Understand, in more modern times, not everyone cuts the ingredients this way, but rather they cut the ingredients into various shapes and sizes, according to their own preferences. Some prefer to cook the stew in the oven. In researching this dish, I found that some people sprinkle a little flour into the skillet early on, which then helps to thicken the broth into a gravy, and this type of Welsh Stew is often served on a plate, while others keep the broth to a minimum, or some others serve a small amount of broth over the meat and vegetables in shallow bowls (see photos, below).

 

Serve with crusty bread with butter and baked beans as a side dish; plus, Worcestershire sauce to sprinkle on for those who desire to do so (it's my understanding that this is pretty common ... I didn't say EVERYBODY does so).

 

 Ingredients:

 

1 large potato, sliced into long slices about 1/3 inch thick

1 carrot, sliced into long slices about 1/3 inch thick

4 to 6 thick slices of smoked bacon, cut into 2 inch long pieces

1 large onion, peeled, halved, and cut into half rings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil

2 1/2 cups beef stock

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt (remember, the beef stock has salt, so you may not even need this)

(optional for thickening) 1 1/2 tablespoons flour mixed with 3 tablespoons water

Worcestershire sauce for serving 

 

In a large skillet, add the tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Fry the bacon pieces for about 2 minutes, then turn the bacon pieces over. Now add the onion and let the bacon and onion cook for about 2 more minutes, then add the carrot and potato pieces and sprinkle on the pepper and salt. Add the broth and let the broth come to a boil, then adjust the heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender ("about" 25 minutes), and optionally you can thicken the broth with flour and water.

 

  

 

WORD HISTORY:

Vassal-"Vassal" is closely related to "valet," a word with much the same history of "vassal," and it is distantly related to "up," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it is related to the prefix "sub" and to the "supp" part of words like "supply" and "supple" ("supp" is from "sub"), forms of Latin derivation, and English words with "sub" or "supp" are borrowings from Latin or Latin-based languages, commonly from French. "Vassal" goes back to the Indo European root "upo," with the notion of "from under" or "from below;" thus in terms of direction, "to go over/above." This gave Old Celtic "wasso" (perhaps actually 'wassos'?) meaning, "young male servant, squire"^ (thus, "one who is 'subservient' to another"), from the notion of "man who stands below another." This was borrowed by Latin as "vassus," meaning "a servant," which later produced the more extended form of Latin "vassallus," meaning "male servant, domestic servant," and this passed to Latin-based Old French as "vassal," meaning "subordinate, servant, subject (person under the authority of another)." This was borrowed by English in the early part of the 1300s, with the more specific meaning "tenant of a feudal lord to whom he has pledged fealty;" thus, "a subject of the feudal lord." The more general meaning, "servant, one under the control of another," has continued into modern times.

^ "Squire" once simply meant "young man who is an attendant/servant to a knight," and it wasn't until later that it acquired the meaning "landowning country gentleman."