Feast of St. Patrick
The Feast of St. Patrick is an Irish holiday which sees culture and religion pooled into an annual celebration more commonly known as St. Patrick’s Day. This holiday is often associated with consuming vast quantities of Guinness and whiskey as it is an acceptable justification to set aside one’s Lenten penance in the name of celebrating the death of an Irish Patron Saint.
If asked what one might eat on this official Christian Feast Day an outsider of Ireland may wrongly quip that the Irish eat nothing but potatoes and mutton. Ireland’s cuisine is soaked in history and tradition using ingredients harvested from the sea, the moors and pastureland. The kitchen is the heart of the home and is host to all sorts of celebrations.
Gotta love the Irish!
The Irish are known for their love of gathering and celebrating which can leave to having various bits of leftover food in the refrigerator. Using up leftovers from an Irish fridge has led to the creation of what many recognize as Ireland’s official national recipe being coddle. Coddle or Dublin Coddle as some call it is a simply prepared meal made of leftover bacon, sausages potatoes, onions with a bit of barley that is that is braised for a few hours. Recipes made from leftovers are common in many homes but finding them in written recipe format using ingredients prepared for the dish instead of using the ingredients that have had a few days to age and develop flavours in the fridge can alter the flavour and results of such preparations.
As Coddle is cooked using the braising method it is important that it be cooked in a pot with a well-fitting lid. This allows the ingredients that aren’t completely submerged in stock to cook in the trapped steam which makes this recipe ideal to prepare in a slow cooker or crock pot.
This Irish comfort food is commonly served in the winter months and eaten for dinner on Thursday as it uses up all the meat found in the home setting the stage for the meatless diets followed by the Irish Catholic. Its name comes from the verb coddle, meaning to cook food in water below boiling produces the derivative caudle, a warm drink given to the sick which would be prepared in a cauldron.
Cook extra of all of the ingredients you need to make coddle over the weekend and throw this recipe together Monday morning before heading out to get your Irish Pride on, whether your Irish or not.
Coddle
5 lbs potatoes peeled and sliced
3 medium cooking onions, peeled and sliced thickly
1 lbs pork sausage cooked and cut into bite size pieces
1 lbs thick sliced bacon cooked and cut into bite size pieces
¼ cup barley
2 cups chicken stock
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
Method:
In a heavy roasting pot layer the ingredients: onions, bacon, sausages and potatoes. Lightly season each layer with a bit of salt and pepper and repeat until all the ingredients are used up.
Pour the stock into the pot, cover with the pot lid or foil and place the pot into a300°F preheated oven and cook for two hours. Check the pot and add more water if necessary as you want about an inch of liquid at the bottom of the pot at all times. Return the pot of coddle to the oven and let cook for 1-2 more hours.
Serve immediately from the oven with a loaf of fresh soda bread and a pint of Guinness.
Tags: Caterer Kawartha, Caterer Kawartha`s, Caterer Lakefield, Caterer Peterborough, catering Canada, Chef, Chef Algonquin Park, Chef Apsley, Chef Bancroft, Chef Bobcaygeon, Chef Brian Henry, chef Canada, Chef Cottage Country, Chef Haliburton, Chef Hastings, Chef Kawartha, Chef Muskoka, Chef North Kawartha, Chef Northumberland, Chef Ontario, Chef Peterborough, consultant, cooking classes, cottage caterer, cottage country catering, culinary educator, Emergency food response team, Food, Food Safety Training, Food truck, food writer, Ghost Chef, ice carving, irish, Kawartha Culinary School, mobile kitchen, Ontario Catering, Personal Chef, Private chef, recipes. same sex catering, restaurant consultant, Restaurant consulting, St. Patrick's Day
