Scouse

Origin of the dish

The Oxford Companion to Food says that lobscouse "almost certainly has its origins in the Baltic ports, especially those of Germany". Similar dishes are traditional in countries around the North Sea, such as Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs), Denmark (skipperlabskovs), and northern Germany (Labskaus). Another theory posits a Low German origin from lappen (dewlap) and kaus (bowl).

Origin of the word

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse" and has also been written as "lopscourse", "lobscourse", "lobskous", "lobscouce", and "lap's course". Its oldest quote is from 1707, by the satirist Edward Ward: "He has sent the Fellow.. to the Devil, that first invented Lobscouse."

The first known use of the term "lobscouse" is dated 1706, according to Webster's Dictionary. Tobias Smollett refers to "lob's course" in 1750. The roots of the word are unknown. The OED states that the origin is unknown, and goes on to compare the word to loblolly, which means a "thick gruel or spoon-meat, frequently referred to as a rustic or nautical dish or simple medicinal remedy; burgoo" and "perhaps onomatopoeic: compare the dialectal lob 'to bubble while in process of boiling, said esp. of porridge', also 'to eat or drink up noisily'".

Friedrich Kluge also states that the origin of lobscouse is unknown, and that it was loaned to German in the 19th century where it was called labskaus. Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp states that lobscous originally was lob's course from a lob (a lump) and course (a dish) and that the word has travelled to Norwegian as labskaus and Danish as lobskous.

The similarities with labs kauss in Latvian and labas kaušas is called gobbledygook (Kauderwelsch) of the mind in Der Spiegel by Petra Foede. Foede translates Labs kausis to means a "good plate" in Latvian, and says that in Lithuanian they use labas káuszas for a "good plate". According to Gerhard Bauer káuszas in Lithuanian means a wooden ladle or dipper or a wooden drinking bowl and is the same word as Lettish kauśis and this Baltic word have been adopted in German as Kausche or Kauszel which means wooden jug, pitcher or drinking bowl.

Konrad Reich claims that Labskaus stems from a combination of Lappen, Lappenstücke or Bauchlappen from the pig and a Low German word Kaus which he explains as a plate or platter and concludes that Labskaus is a paraphrase for a plate of minced pork. Reich does not cite any sources to his claim.

Recipe and variants

19th century sailors made lobscouse by boiling salted meat, onions, and pepper, with ship's biscuit used to thicken the dish. Modern English scouse resembles the Norwegian stew lapskaus, although it differs from the German labskaus, which is similar to hash. Scouse is a stew, similar to Lancashire hotpot, usually of mutton, lamb (often neck), or beef with vegetables, typically potatoes, carrots, and onions. It is commonly served with pickled beetroot or pickled red cabbage and bread.

Scouse is heavily associated with Liverpool, where it remains popular and is a staple of the local menu—its impact on the city's identity is so strong that the Liverpool accent and dialect is usually referred to as Scouse, while a native of the city and its surrounding areas is more likely to be known as a Scouser than the older designation of "Liverpudlian". Modern Scouse recipes vary greatly throughout the city, and can include luxury ingredients which are inconsistent with the frugal roots of the dish.

In St. Helens, the dish is often called "lobbies" and uses corned beef as the meat. In Wigan, "lobbies" is often made using tinned stewing steak as the meat. A vegetarian variety of the dish is "blind Scouse", although it would likely have used cheap "soup bones" for flavouring the broth (prior to World War II, such meat bones could be sold to bone dealers after being used and for the same price as originally purchased from the butcher). In the latter half of the 2010s, a vegan variant of Scouse quickly became more widely available.

The dish is also popular in Leigh with local residents sometimes being referred to as 'Lobbygobblers'. A variant, lobscaws or lobsgaws, is a traditional dish in North Wales, normally made with braising or stewing steak, potatoes, and any other vegetable available; when made with mutton, it is known as cawl. The food was traditionally regarded as food for farmers and the working-class people of North Wales, but is now popular as a dish throughout Wales. The recipe was brought by the narrowboats to Stoke-on-Trent, where it is called "lobby", a shortened version of "lobscouse".

Another version of lobscouse exists on the Atlantic coast of Canada in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As early as 1792 lobscouse is described as a sea dish of minced and salted beef, crumbled sea biscuit, potatoes and onions. Other variants may use corned beef instead of salted beef or minced beef Further variations in Canada may include root vegetables such as turnip and parsnip, or further additions such as cabbage.