Coddle (sometimes Dublin coddle; ) is an
Irish dish which is often made to use up leftovers, and therefore without a specific recipe. However, it most commonly consists of layers of roughly sliced sausages (
pork sausages) and
rashers (thinly sliced, somewhat-fatty
back bacon) with chunky
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es, sliced
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
, salt, pepper, and herbs (parsley or chives). Traditionally, it can also include
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
.
Coddle is particularly associated with the capital of Ireland,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
.
It was reputedly a favourite dish of the writers
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
and
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
,
and it appears in several references to Dublin, including the works of
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
.
The dish is
braised
Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coco ...
in the
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
produced by boiling the pieces of bacon and sausages. The dish is cooked in a pot with a well-fitting lid in order to steam the ingredients left uncovered by the broth.
Sometimes raw sliced potato is added, but traditionally it was eaten with bread.
The only
seasonings
Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour.
General meaning
Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Ho ...
are usually
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
,
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
, and occasionally
parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...
. Coddle could be considered Irish
comfort food
Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may app ...
, and it is inexpensive, easy to prepare and quick to cook. It is often eaten in the
winter months. In the days when
Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays, this meal was often eaten on Thursdays, and it allowed a family to use up any remaining sausages or rashers.
Etymology
The name comes from the verb ''coddle'', meaning to cook food in water below boiling (see
coddled egg
In cooking, coddled eggs are eggs that have been cracked into a ramekin or other small container, placed in a water bath or bain-marie and gently or lightly cooked just below boiling temperature. They can be partially cooked, mostly cooked, or h ...
), which in turn derives from ''caudle'', which comes from the French term meaning ‘to boil gently, parboil or stew’.
See also
*
Colcannon
Colcannon () is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes with cabbage or kale.
Description
Colcannon is most commonly made with only four ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and cabbage (or kale). Irish historian Patrick Weston Joyce defined ...
*
List of Irish dishes This is a list of dishes found in Ireland. Irish cuisine is a style of cooking originating from Ireland, developed or adapted by Irish people. It evolved from centuries of social and political change, and in the 20th and 21st century has more intern ...
*
List of potato dishes
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop. It is the world's fourth-largest food crop, following rice, wheat and corn. The annual diet of an average global citizen in the first decade of the 21st century included about of potato. The potato was fir ...
*
List of sausage dishes
This is a list of notable sausage dishes, in which sausage is used as a primary ingredient or as a significant component of a dish.
Sausage dishes
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References
External links
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{{Potato dishes
Bacon dishes
Culture in Dublin (city)
Irish cuisine
Meat and potatoes dishes
Potato dishes
Sausage dishes