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All You Need to Know about Coddle

What is it about coddle that makes non-Dubliners determined to meddle with it? I expect it must be the rather unappealing appearance of The Real Thing, a combination of pinks and greys. This assumes that you have not added parsley, an extravagance eschewed by the purists.

This Dublin working-class one-pot dish originated, and remained for many years, the food of the poor. I never even heard of the stuff growing up middle-class in the Dublin suburbs of the 1970s. According to Wikipedia, it was the favourite dish of both Dean Swift and Seán O’Casey, a claim that I take with a hefty pinch of salt. That it may be called coddle because coddling is a form of cooking in which the dish is kept below boiling point may be true, but I think it’s fanciful. The Dubs who made coddle as a feed to be enjoyed after a great deal of porter or stout in the pubs of the Liberties or North Wall or Ringsend would not have been, I venture to suggest, proscriptive about temperature.

And I feel that parsley would have been a rare addition as herbs were not big amongst the urban poor; but it seems reasonable to assume that it was sometimes used to add some much needed colour to the dish.

In its purest form, coddle is made by combing sausages and streaky rashers, both cut into bit-sized pieces, with onion, chunky cubes of potato, water, salt and pepper, bringing all to the boil, then simmering for about 10 minutes or until the potato has softened but not yet fallen apart.

I am not a coddle purist but I do generally guard against frivolous meddling with our capital’s municipal dish. Don’t even think of browning anything. Use stock if you have it, but well-diluted. ‘Tis far from stock that coddle came into being. Do use parsley if you have it to hand; it really adds a bit of cheer. On no account add carrots. What do you think you’re making? Lobscouse? Herbs? Other than parsley, just say no. Salt? Yes, to taste. Pepper, yes, and ideally white rather than black. Try to get hold of Maris Piper as the spud of choice for coddle although traditionally I suspect it would have been made with Kerr’s Pinks or Golden Wonders.

Pay absolutely no attention to Felicity Cloake when she suggests serving coddle with cabbage and brown sauce. Coddle is not served with anything except, maybe, a slice of thickly buttered batch loaf. Brown sauce, indeed!

And now, a confession. The last time I made coddle, I used a combination of potato and – heaven forfend! – a Winter squash called Uchiki Kuri. I also added a dash of Lea & Perrins and a finely chopped clove of garlic. I waited for the bolt from above to strike me down, but so far so good. And, as coddle goes, it was very, very good.

But, I hear you ask, no browning? No fear!

This is what it looked like…