Lobby- A Staffordshire dish
When I first came to Stoke , a lot of my mates would talk about “Lobby” , in my Derbyshire ignorance I assumed they were talking about about a waiting area in a public building. Later I learned it was a delicious stew, that was a traditional meal of the Potteries.  My mate showed me how to make it and it’s been a favourite of mine ever since. I’ll share it with you now.
Tideswellmans Lobby
You will need
1 Large saucepan
1 frying pan
A sharp knife
2 chopping boards, 1 for meat one for veg
a hearty appetite
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
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Stewing Steak half a pound
2 Parsnips
2 Carots
6 Taters
2 cubes vegetable stock
1 onion
1 Swede
1 Leek
worcestershire sauce
barley
salt and Pepper
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First off, get a frying pan and brown off your meat.  Some people dont bother with this part, I do.  I also like to add a bit of black pepper to the pan to seal in the flavour. (My mate likes to add brown sauce and Worcestershire sauce at this point) You choose.
Once the meat is brown , add it to a big saucepan, then fry up your onions, then add to the meat. Add 2 inches of water.  Bring to the boil then simmer until you can see the meat chunks peeking out of a meaty gravy should take about 1 hr 30 minutes.
Next add your chopped vegetables. This will fill the pan up considerably. Add water until its to the top of the vegetables. Then put the lid on the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer checking regularly, once your vegetables have softened, add your veg stock cubes. Give it the taste test, if a little bland, add salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce till it tastes just right, simmer 5 more mins and its ready to serve.
Let me know, how you get on with it and tell me your variations on the recipe.
It’s really cold tonight, I could just eat a bowl of that lobby with lots of crusty bread.
Worcestershire Sauce? That is not something I have tried.
What is the traditional dish for Derbyshire?
“1 sued”, should that read ‘swede’ or then again would’nt that be a ‘chonnock’.
Lobby by it’s own definition does not have a set recipe as it’s origins are borne from poorer times when using up what ever was available dictated what went into it, just like ‘Scouse’ (Liverpool) or ‘Tatta hash’ (Manchester) and I would assume lots of other regional variations.
@BAW yes mate, point taken this should be thought of more as a guideline, as opposed to a recipe. There are a great many folk who will have never cooked, or even thought of making this, so hopefully this might get em started. thanks for pointing out the error, will amend.
Tideswellman where did you get the worcester sauce ingredient from, thats not used for Lobby, and BAR is right this was the poor family’s dish.
I grew up on Lobby, and love it, one large pan lasts me a week, as I keep topping it up, and Lobby tastes better and better the more times its recooked, as it taste gets stronger.
Thats the way, lets have them, them non political blogs that you just enjoy reading and brings everyone together for a good ond natter. I tell you what I do somethimes, get some HP brown sauce in there just before you get stuck in. Theres nowt like a pan full of lobby and a loaf of chusty, from Tesco ofcourse. My mate likes to dip oatcakes in his, then again he’s also the one who puts Wrights Meat and Tater pies on Oatcakes to. Anyway, you can bet Nicky well be around later, saying she likes to get ruddy Marmite in there.
Warren. HP brown Sauce? Interesting ingredient. Mixed with Worcestershire sauce, may add a very different taste.
Your mate has some very strange food ideas. Dipping oatcakes in lobby? It has to be crusty bread (from Morrisons’s, ha ha!), anything else is a crime. A good one for your scumbag watch! Locking people up for not eating crusty bread with their lobby!
I bet Nicky would not add marmite, that is where you draw the line!
It’s got to be tatter ‘ash for me. Ideally made by my Grandma three days ago. Home made bread and butter to go with it..
Where are the dumplings its a crime to do lobby without them & times your recipe by about 3 if you want to cook it for 6 (I do), if you want to be really posh slap some mixed herbs in as well
leachy lee. Impressive making your own dumplings!! Never add them, too much trouble, tut tut.
Mixed herbs. Good idea.
Got a good recipe building up now, Worcestershire Sauce, HP Sauce, Dumplings and mixed herbs.
Nita you can by dumplings frozen now (aunt Bessie) & these are actually nice as well if you are in a rush
I speak as a chef on this one!
The best lobby bar none was made by my Nana Walley (luckily her recipe was past on to my dad Ernie – no milk cart jokes please!)
In hers she had shin beef, loads of onions, carrots, swede, parsnips and taters. She didn’t use stock, she used water, she didn’t brown the beef, It had loads of pearl barley, an obscene amount of salt! and loads of white pepper. It used to simmer away on the old style range for hours and was then re-heated many times over days. The pan was bigger than the kitchen! Ah memories!
She also did a mean neck ‘o’ lamb stew and an awesome oxtail stew.
I throw the gauntlet down here and now! lets make this a regular feature and I will publish some of my recipes and then, and only then the city of Stoke will be a well fed place! LOL
Wol, looking forward to a bowl of that one mate! If it’s as good as the pie you did last time, it’ll go down lovely with some crusty bread and a nice bottle of plonk!
Date to be arranged..
Ali, as much £1.99 wine as you can drink!
Sir Findo, you know Tony too well. I have it on good authority that the wine in his garage (now transferred to the kitchen ready for the blizzard conditions rendering him unable to go shopping), is actually Tesco’s finest at £3.99 a bottle. One day perhaps I will be worthy, but I also know that not even Nita’s allowed any of that! Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and a free bowl of lobby sounds good…
Yep! You can get all the stuff you need for a good pan of Lobby from Tesco in Meir Park or Trent Vale or Longton or Kidsgrove or indeed any other fine Tesco store… lol. As for puting the HP Sauce in, it goes in instead of the Worsceter Saurce, its cheeper and the frozzen Dumpling are not that bad at all, saves all that mess and a telling off when the wife gets in, she mones her sack off about the mess, but she eats the bloody food. One more thing before I go and play Wii Sport 10 Pin Bowling again, my mother in law puts Baked Beans in her Lobby, is the something that I sould worry about, cos it dont seem right.
Blody hell Warren are you getting commission from Tesco for all the advertising? LOL
Lobby with HP sauce! Worcester sauce, pearl barley, no wonder you buggers are nutters LOL.
Fresh veg and tattys,with beef chunks, bread and butter, and a brew of tea with sterilised milk, a stokie mans dream tea.
Would fill Jammys pond that would.
Forgot the home made dumplings.
Oh by the way Tideswellman if you aren’t considered a stokie if you dn’t know how to make lobby, so listen to this lot and get the biggest pan you can, and start cooking, LOL
Terry Cope,
I lived by jammy’s pond for a long while! Were you one of the Copes of Bryant Rd?
Mmmmmm…
Edit: ~ especially for breakfast!
Terry, tea, oh! god no mate, I must be the only Brit ever who can not stand the stuff. You need the Coffie, non of the de-caf stuff nither, strong and black, no suger, just how the cowboys drank it.
@ Terry, like I said the Worcester sauce was my mates idea, He’s a mean cook.
I was a bit sceptical myself, but once tried I was pleasantly surprised.
as for being a Stokie…well I don’t really consider myself a Stokie, but my mates reckon I’ am. Been here 15 years now so, as well as having good local knowledge of the area I do have a passion for the people. I do the best I can.
Try the worcester sauce, and feed back to me.