This traditional supper dish of Bangers (sausages), bacon, onions and potatoes dates back to the early eighteenth century. It was a favorite of Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels and Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. In Dublin, a coddle is a dish that can be prepared ahead of time and left to cook in a very slow oven, or a slow cooker. This is an ideal menu choice for when you can’t stand over the grill or oven to watch it cook.
Comfort food at its best—I find this dish is also an easy prep, especially if you are out in the yard busy in springtime activities. Set up the dish, let it slow cook and you’ll have a meal ready for a crowd later in the day, or a few hours later.
As common sense with ingredients in all recipes, the sausages in this dish should be the best quality pork sausages for optimum results. My butcher friend Peter O’Sullivan from Co. Kerry, Ireland figured if we paired his sausages and my grilling recipes we would have a hit! Peter also told me he is a third generation sausage maker and the only thing that has changed in the recipe in a hundred years is there is less fat and the ingredients were pretty simple, no preservatives.
Note: Coddle means to cook slowly and gently below the boiling point.
Combining the flavor of the grilled sausages and slow cooking of the vegetables makes this hearty dish ideal for serving for a St. Pat’s celebration or on Spring's unexpected chilly nights. Keep it in a Dublin theme and serve with Guinness and brown bread.
Dublin Coddle
Makes six – eight servings | George Hirsch
4 pounds Yukon or new potatoes, well scrubbed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
1 pound pork sausages, grill until brown – not fully cooked, room temp.
2 large sweet onions, peeled and cut into two inch pieces
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into two inch pieces
8 cloves caramelized garlic, puree with flat of knife
1 pound slab bacon, sliced - browned - cut into one inch pieces
1 - 2 cups beef or chicken broth, variable
1 cup Guinness or use additional broth
4 Tablespoons fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Fresh ground black pepper
After grilling and chilling sausages, it may be left whole or cut into smaller pieces, depending on the size of sausages on how you are serving this dish. I also like leaving the skin on the potatoes for added flavor and nutrients.
Layer ingredients into a cast iron pan with a tight fitting cover, or a slow cooker in this order: onions, carrots, bacon, sausages, potatoes, pinch of thyme, parsley and pepper. Repeat until all ingredients are used up. In a small sauce pot, mix caramelized garlic with broth, heat to simmer, then pour the broth and Guinness over the top of sausage and vegetables.
Slowly cook on a low temperature grill on indirect heat for three hours (cover closed), or 300 degree F oven for 3-4 hours or in a slow cooker on low for 7-8 hours, or high for 3 to 4 hours. After a couple hours, occasionally check the liquid in the bottom of the pan to make sure there is at least 1 inch of liquid remaining in the bottom at all times. Add additional broth as needed.
Serve immediately.
