 This week I’m celebrating Irish cookery. I know to some sceptics that might mean little as Irish cuisine hasn’t, as yet, really made an impact on the world culinary scene apart however, from good ole ‘Boxy’ and our infamous ‘Irish Stew’! I recall once turning up to a Saint Patrick’s party in Boston only to be served Irish stew with green coloured gravy and suffice to say, it wasn’t the most appetising of stews! I also remember being served Irish stew in Paris that was made with fine-trimmed lamb cutlet, new potatoes and cabbage! I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy their culinary offerings nor did I make adverse comments regarding the authenticity of the food, however, I am fully aware of how the French feel when we misinterpret their dishes! So it’s for this reason alone that I’ll set the record straight and shed some light on traditional Irish grub and its true origins.
Originally Irish stew was made with the neck or scrag-end of lamb that was cut through the bone - it was a job to remove all the meat from the bone crevices! Lamb, however, is so flavoursome so even if the meat was scarce the flavour would infuse the vegetables and, you would be lulled into thinking you were eating a really tasty meaty dish. My Nana Aggie used to tell me about the ‘Saturday Night Stew’ her mammy used to make for her father, who, full of the Guinness, would arrive home late on a Saturday night after a night out at the pub starving and looking to be fed. With so little money to go around she would make him up a special stew made with vegetables, bones and gravy colouring, he would be so far gone he never noticed it was ‘meatless’!
Provincial food is my passion, be it Spanish, French, German or Irish. It’s the real authentic taste of the food, usually made with the less inexpensive value cuts of meat that is where the most flavour is. The French have fabulous mouth-watering ‘Cassoulet’ that is made with a selection of sausages, beans and garlic and the Spanish a delicious ‘Fababa’ with white beans, chirizo and ham and a great German dish ‘Bohnen Eintopf’ made with smoked loin of pork (kassler), green beans and potatoes. Then there’s my all time favourite a ‘Dublin Coddle’ with sausage, smoked bacon, potato and onion. All the dishes were born out of poverty, however, they have a hearty taste are fulfilling and flavoursome.
Coddle is a truly original Dublin dish. In days’ gone by, most inner city people couldn’t afford the more expensive cuts of mutton or lamb and for some, not even the scraggy end pieces of lamb so they used bacon as a substitute as it was in plentiful supply and relatively cheap! Everyone had their own family recipe that was probably passed down the generations and for some that included adding carrots and white turnip and for others with a little extra money to spend, they would add pork belly pieces. I know that my Nana would add pork kidney to hers and serve it up to my grandfather Leo as it was a firm favourite with him.
Dublin Coddle
Ingredients
4 portions
400g Bacon pieces
500g Long pork sausages
2 sprig Thyme
50g Potatoes, roughly chopped
100g Pork kidney (optional)
300g Onions, roughly chopped
200g Carrots, roughly chopped (optional)
100g White turnip roughly chopped (optional)
150mls Full fat milk
To taste Salt and pepper
Method
Soak the bacon overnight in water to remove excess salt. Rinse and place in fresh cold water, add half the thyme. Bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes.
Add the sausages and kidney, add the last of the thyme and parsley. Add the potatoes, onion and optional ingredients.
Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Check the seasoning, turn the heat up and boil rapidly to burst the potatoes and thicken the sauce (10 minutes).
Add the milk and simmer and serve.
Serve with crusty bread and lashings of butter.
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