Irish Farmhouse Broth Brat Traidisiunta

Broth to the Irish means a substantial soup, flavored with meat, enriched with legumes and root vegetables, and thickened with grains. The earliest broth was thickened with oats giving a porridge-like texture, but nowadays barley is more popular. The meat is generally beef, mutton, boiling fowl or turkey and is either boiled and served with the vegetables or used to make a well-flavored stock to which the vegatables and grains are then added, the meat being reserved for a separate meal, or cut into pieces and used to enrich the soup.
In many poor farmhouses meat broth was the Sunday dinner, and often the only fresh meat dish of the week, bacon being used the rest of the time. For a more substantial meal, cooked boiled potatoes were served in the middle of the soup, broken up and eaten with a spoon.
Today, broth is created out of whatever is to hand, often with either meat bones, brisket or shin used to flavor the basic stock.
Generally this soup is so popular in Irish households that it is made in large quantities, providing enough for the next day.

3/4 - 1 pound shank or flank of beef on the bone
2 quarts cold water
1/3 cup split green peas
1/3 cup red lentils
1/3 cup pearl barley
1/2 pound leeks, white and green part, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Put the meat and water into a large pot and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam from the surface, then add the vegetables along with the peas, lentils and barley. Return to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender and the soup thick. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the meat from the pot, cut into thin fingers or pieces, then return to the hot broth. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Reprinted In An Irish Country Kitchen, Clare Connery