Serving times
The Presbyterian Irish Stew will be served from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Fellowship Hall of Great Bend’s First Presbyterian Church at 24th and Washington. The entrance is on the southwest corner of the church.
The cost is $6; preschool children eat free.
Carry-out may be purchased and picked up at the northeast entry of the church.
The recipe for the annual Irish Stew at First Presbyterian Church is more than 50 years in the making. A carefully guarded secret, it can be found in the “Stew Book,” safely stored in the church office.
What is known is that 130 pounds of Irish potatoes, 130 pounds of “quality stew meat” from Ellinwood Packing and 88 pounds of green cabbage, carrots and white onions, along with other vegetables, will go into the 26 roasting pans needed to serve about 600 people. But after those ingredients begin to simmer, the chefs toss a mixture of the Spice Recipe into each roaster.
The public can taste the stew, served with a slice of homemade pie, once a year, and Thursday is the day. Serving starts at 4:30 p.m. in the church Fellowship Hall at 24th and Washington St.
The Presbyterian Men’s organization started offering an annual fundraising dinner in 1963. Today, women and members of Boy Scout Troop 157 are also involved, said Jim Hiss, head cook. His father, Elward “Eldy” Hiss, was chairman of the event for more than a decade, and is still very much involved, church member Dan Bonine noted.
Jim Hiss started helping when he was in grade school, before the days when plastic foam bowls were purchased for serving the stew.
“I started out as a bowl washer,” he said.
Food preparation began on Monday, when the cooks spent a few hours browning meat. On Tuesday, they spent a few more hours chopping fresh vegetables. As they stood around the work area in the church kitchen, several men (and one woman) concentrated on the task.
“This is all the cooking I do,” said Ernie Melton. He said the men who organize the dinner look forward to it every year.
“It’s great fellowship,” he said. “Everybody pitches in and it’s a lot of fun.”
So much fun, the cooks said, that John Sullivan also helps out each year, even though he attends a different church.
Sullivan is a Scout leader for Troop 157, which is sponsored by the Presbyterian Men, he explained. He is a member of Prince of Peace Parish and attends church at St. Rose, but he said he’s an honorary member of the Presbyterian Men when the time comes for preparing and serving stew.
Sullivan also participates to honor the memory of John Hiss, Jim’s uncle, who worked with him at the Great Bend Co-op for many years.
"He was a nice guy," Sullivan said. "I wanted his old job, but they wouldn't give it to me." The job? Pie cutter.
More than a dozen men offer their “culinary expertise,” as Eldy Hiss once told a Tribune reporter 10 years ago. Then, as now, proceeds go to various charitable church projects.
