Purists maintain that the only acceptable and traditional ingredients are neck mutton chops or kid, potatoes, onions, and water.

Others would add such items as carrots, turnips, and pearl barley; but the purists maintain that they spoil the true flavour of the dish.

[7] The root vegetables and meat (originally goat) for the stew were then all in place, save for the potato, which was introduced to Ireland around the 16th century during the Columbian exchange.

The recipe calls for a leg of mutton, garnish a duck, and prepare a peeled head of veal, all ‘à la mode d’Irlande’.

[8][9] A 19th-century American recipe was recorded by Helen Stuart Campbell, a professor of domestic science at Kansas State Agricultural College.

According to Campbell the stew was made with boneless beef or mutton, trimmed of fat and cut into small cubes, less than one inch square.