Place onions, carrots, turnip and celery into heavy casserole pot and then place meat on top. Add thyme, salt and pepper and cover with cold water and then bring to boil. Skim off any access fat that may rise to surface and then lower heat and with lid on, simmer for 2 hours.Remove lid for last 1/2 hour -it’s important that the meat does not boil. (As the old saying goes “a stew boiled is a stew spoiled”).
Serve into deep plates and scatter freshly chopped parsley over with steamed jacket potatoes – (the potatoes IN the stew are just for thickening purposes).