Coddle

For the method of cooking (generally) eggs, see coddling and coddled eggs. For the literal meaning of the word 'coddle', see coddle on Wiktionary.

Coddle with carrots, which are not used in the traditional recipe.

A cooked rasher. Raw bacon rashers are an essential ingredient of coddle.

Coddle (sometimes Dublin Coddle) is an Irish dish consisting of layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers (thinly sliced, somewhat fatty back bacon) with sliced potatoes, and onions. Traditionally, it can also include barley.

Coddle is traditionally associated with Dublin, Ireland.^[1] It was reputedly a favourite dish of Seán O'Casey and Jonathan Swift,^[2] and it appears in several Dublin literary references including the works of James Joyce.^[3]

The dish is semi-boiled, and semi-steamed in the stock produced by boiling the rashers and sausages. Some traditional recipes favour the addition of a small amount of Guinness to the pot, but this is very rare in modern versions of the recipe.^[2] The dish should be cooked in a pot with a well-fitting lid in order to steam the ingredients left uncovered by water.^[1] The only seasoning is usually salt, pepper, and occasionally parsley. It could be considered a comfort food in Ireland, and is inexpensive, easy to prepare and quick to cook. It is often eaten in the winter months. In the days when Catholics were not supposed to eat meat on Fridays, this was a meal often eaten on Thursdays as it allowed a family to use up any remaining sausages or rashers.

See also

Bacon portal

References

1. ^ ^{a b} A Little Irish Cookbook. Appletree. 1986. ISBN 086281166x. 
2. ^ ^{a b} O'Connor, Derek (September 21, 2008). "Food that Only The Irish Eat (Apparently)". Sunday Tribune (Sunday Tribune). http://www.tribune.ie/article/2008/sep/21/food-that-only-the-irish-eat-apparently/ 
3. ^ Veronica Jane O'Mara & Fionnuala O'Reilly. (1993). "A Trifle, a Coddle, a Fry: An Literary Irish Cookbook" . Wakefield: Moyer Bell. ISBN 1559210818.