Irish Mutton Stew

People prefer lamb over mutton because it's so much more tender. Well, I don't know if it's the recipe or the mutton I used, but this was a delicious dish, full of flavour with tender morsels of mutton. The original, lost in the mists of time (I didn't save the Internet page it was on, all I remember was that it was an extract from a book with a picture of the cook on the cover, a sweet Irish grandma... really, with the cloud of white hair on her head and everything. Very cute), asked for more than three times what I've used, and I'm pretty sure I made a few mistakes in my calculations, but it worked! And it also means that it'll be easy to multiply the quantity. The ratio of meat to veg in my first attempt wasn't quite right, so this is still a work in progress, and the following is what I think the next batch should be.

1½ lb mutton, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces

Grapeseed oil (optional)
1¾ cup stock

2-3 large carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 onion, cut into eigths

1-2 potato(es), sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

sprig of thyme

1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter

1 Tbsp flour

chives and parsley

1. If you're chopping up your own piece of mutton, trim the fat and render it in a saucepan, removing the solid portion once the fats have melted out. You can use this to lightly brown the meat instead of using vegetable oil.
2. If you don't have extra or enough fat to render, use about a tablespoon of grapeseed oil.
3. Note the 'lightly' in lightly brown the meat. Set aside. Use meat stock to deglaze the pot, remove from the heat source, and set the stock aside.
4. The next step is to layer the ingredients in strata. Start with laying the cooked meat (and any juices) at the bottom of the pot, season with salt and pepper, then layer with the chopped carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper and nestle the sprig of thyme on top, followed by the onion, again with some salt and pepper, followed by the sliced potato with, yes, a brief shower of salt and pepper.
5. Using the saucepan's lid as a guide, cut out a round of parchment paper and lay this on top of the veg, then put the saucepan lid on top of that. Bring to a boil and let simmer gently for 1 to 1 1/2 hour.
6. Once cooked nicely with the meat all tender, in a saute pan, melt the butter on high heat, sprinkle in the flour and whisk until it starts to brown; the browning is important for flavour. Whisking constantly, drizzle in all the stock from the stew pot, let it simmer for about 5 minutes, then chop up some chives and parsley, mix these in, then pour it all back over the meat and veg.
7. It's ready to serve.