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
potatoes, sliced
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 ...
.
Coddle is particularly associated with the capital of Ireland,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
.
It was reputedly a favourite dish of the writers
Seán O'Casey and
Jonathan Swift,
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 Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
.
The dish is
braised 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 are usually
salt,
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. Coddle could be considered Irish
comfort food, 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), which in turn derives from ''caudle'', which comes from the French term meaning ‘to boil gently, parboil or stew’.
See also
*
Colcannon
*
List of Irish dishes
*
List of potato dishes
*
List of sausage dishes
*
References
External links
*
{{Potato dishes
Bacon dishes
Culture in Dublin (city)
Irish cuisine
Meat and potatoes dishes
Potato dishes
Sausage dishes