Scouse › Lobscouse: the history of the sailors' stew
Lobscouse: the history of the sailors' stew
Lobscouse was a ship's dish before it was a Liverpool dish. Its exact origin is unknown, but the written record goes back more than 300 years.
A stew for sailors
Lobscouse was a sailors' dish. Wikipedia describes it as made from salt beef and ship's biscuit, and says that by the late 18th century a potato-based version was traditional around Liverpool. That fits what we know of the time: salt meat and hard biscuit were what sailors had on long voyages, and potatoes became a cheap food for the poor in northern England as the 1700s went on.
The written record
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, as reported on Wikipedia, the earliest citation for lobscouse is from 1706, and the earliest for scouse is from 1840. The OED treats the second word as a shortening of the first. The English Dialect Dictionary of 1905 defines lobscouse as "a dish of hashed meat stewed with potatoes and onions", which is quite close to scouse as it is cooked today.
Where did the word come from?
Nobody knows. The OED says the roots are unknown. Two ideas are often put forward:
- Baltic origin. The Oxford Companion to Food suggests that lobscouse probably started in Baltic ports, especially German ones. That would explain the similar dishes in Scandinavia and northern Germany.
- British origin. The linguist Friedrich Kluge dated the German word labskaus to 1878 and argued that the term spread from Britain to northern Europe, not the other way round.
Both views are on record, and neither has settled the question. If you read a confident one-line answer on a menu, treat it with caution.
From lobscouse to scouse
By the mid-19th century lobscouse had been shortened to "scouse" in Liverpool. The city was one of the world's great ports, and sailors, dockers and migrants all needed cheap, filling food that could be cooked in one pot. In the 19th century, as Wikipedia's entry on the Scouse accent notes, people in Liverpool and Bootle ate it as a cheap dish, and the press began calling them "scousers". We cover the word itself in What "Scouse" means.
A dish across the sea
Lobscouse is not only a Liverpool story. Wikipedia records versions in Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs), Finland (lapskoussi), Denmark (skipperlabskovs) and northern Germany (labskaus), plus a sea dish in Newfoundland and Labrador recorded from at least 1792. Back in Britain there is the Potteries' "lobby" and North Wales's "lobsgows". These are covered in Scouse variations.
Scouse becomes a point of pride
In the 20th century the dish became a symbol of the city. Today Global Scouse Day, held annually since 2000, sees bars, cafés and restaurants in Liverpool and around the world put scouse on the menu to raise money for charities.
Why potatoes changed the dish
The older sea version relied on salt beef and biscuit because those kept on a voyage. Ashore, with potatoes cheap and fresh meat available in small amounts, the biscuit disappeared and potato took its place. That change is why the Liverpool stew thickens on its own: the potato breaks down into the gravy as it cooks. Cooks who want the old flavour sometimes use salt beef instead of fresh, but this is a choice, not a rule.
How to read old references
When you meet the word in older books, check which meaning the author intends. Lobscouse may refer to the sailors' version with biscuit, or to the potato stew. Dictionary entries also vary in how they spell it, and you may see "lobscows" or "lobscouse" in different texts. The word-history sites and dictionaries listed below give the dates in more detail.
Try it yourself
If you want to taste history, our traditional scouse recipe uses ingredients available long before supermarkets.
Frequently asked questions
When was lobscouse first written about?
The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation for lobscouse is from 1706. Its earliest citation for scouse is from 1840.
Where does the word lobscouse come from?
The origin is unknown. Some sources suggest Baltic ports, especially German ones. Others argue the word spread from Britain to northern Europe.
What was original lobscouse made of?
Wikipedia describes it as a sailors' dish of salt beef and ship's biscuit. The potato version became traditional around Liverpool by the late 18th century.