Dublin Coddle

 

Makes 6 servings (serving a crowd?)

Dublin Coddle
  • 1 lb meaty bacon ends, trimmed of excess fat and roughly chopped
  • 1½ lbs onion, chopped
  • 2 lbs potatoes, cut into about ¾ inch pieces
  • 1 lb thin sausages such as breakfast links
  • 1½ cup chicken broth
  • about ⅓ cup chopped parsley
  • freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 300°. Fry the bacon over medium high heat until about half of it is browned. Don’t fry the bits to a crisp. Reserve. Reduce heat to medium, add onions, and stir occassionally to transfer all that wonderful browness to the onions. Cook until the onions are not quite translucent. Reserve.

Now brown two sides of the sausage links over medium high heat in the same frying pan. Remove, and deglaze the pan with the chicken broth. Remove from the flame.

You are now ready for assembly. In a casserole with a tight-fitting lid or a 13x9 roasting pan, place half of the onions evenly across the bottom. Top with half of the bacon, then half of the potatoes, and half of the parsley. Place all the sausage links evenly across the top. Grind black pepper across the top. Add the rest of the onions, the rest of the bacon, the rest of the potatoes, and pour the broth evenly across the top. Top with another few grinds of black pepper and then the parsley. Seal tightly and bake in the oven for 2 hours. Remove the cover, crank up the heat to 375°, and bake for another half hour to brown the tops of the potatoes a bit. Remove and serve.

Notes

Recipe is loosely based on one by Biddy White Lennon reprinted in O’Mara and is published in a number of Lennon’s books. A traditional lunchtime Dublin Coddle is baked for hours on end at a lower heat. Everything is boiled; nothing is browned. And no broth, just water. We’ve adjusted the dish for American tastes.

A double recipe will fit in an 8 quart full-length steam pan.↩

Suggestions

Boy, wouldn’t a poached/baked egg on top taste delicious! If you use a roasting pan instead of a casserole dish, you’ll have the room for six (one per serving).

Make-ahead recommendation: save the final step for serving day. Cook covered at the 300° then cool and refrigerate. The next day, an hour before serving time, bake uncovered in a preheated 375° oven for an hour.