Good traditional Irish Bacon and Cabbage

Warper

Just googled bacon and cabbage as I want to cook some for dinner. You know the type you're mother used to cook. Got some fancy dan ways of cooking it which bared no resemblance to the type I'm on about. What Im looking for is your normal B & C from the same pot, kind of a buzz. How do I cook it and what type of bacon do I get? Cheers, single male btw so words like baste etc. is like double dutch to me.

Seaneh

Just get a nice cheap cut of bacon, one with a good amount of fat on it. shoulder is perfect.

Boil it for the recommend time (20 per lb and 20 mins over, so for a 3 lb piece you wanna boil it for an hour and 20 mins...). Take it out, trim off the fat if you want, I don't bother, and leave it somewhere warm to rest for 10 mins.

While that's resting, throw your shredded cabbage into the bacon water and boil it for 4/5 mins (or more if you want it how my mammy used to make it, as in, cabbage coloured mush).

Serve it with some white sauce (equal parts butter and flour and then add warmed milk gradually).


Put a liter of milk in a heavy bottomed pan, throw in a studded onion (peal the onion and stick a bay leaf to it with a few cloves, as in, pierce the cloves through the leaf into the poinn) and heat it up, try not to let it boil. leave it for about 10 mins so the flavour of the onion infuses a bit.
When thats warmed up a bit.
melt 70g of butter in a heavy bottomed pan, when its melted add 70g of white flour and mix it until it cooks out to a sandy texture then add the warm milk, a ladle at a time, to the flour and butter while stirring, it will start to look like really thick gloopy crap, dont worry just keep adding the milk slowly and stirring until it's fully mixed, eventually you'll have a lovely silky smooth sauce. strain it through a sieve to remove and lumps.



This is all really easy to do, honestly.

Mountjoy Mugger

Seaneh wrote: »

throw in a studded onion (peal the onion and stick a bay leaf to it with a few cloves, as in, pierce the cloves through the leaf into the poinn) and heat it up, try not to let it boil. leave it for about 10 mins so the flavour of the onion infuses a bit.

Studded onion? Cloves? Bay leafs - it's bacon and cabbage for goodness sake.

It's far from bay leaf ye were reared!


Don't forget to boil some potatoes as well..

Ash.J.Williams

was it not Cromwell that gave us the humble cabbage?

Warper

I have cooked enough bacon and cabbage for 2/3 days. Where do I put the excess bacon and cabbage that I have cooked for tomorrow? Do I just leave it on a plate covered with tinfoil and reheat in microwave tomorrow or I do I need to put it in the fridge?

Cheers, totally new to this.

Seaneh

Fridge dude, will be good for 3 days in the fridge. And yeah, you can microwave it no bother.

Warper

Seaneh wrote: »

Fridge dude, will be good for 3 days in the fridge. And yeah, you can microwave it no bother.

Thanks man, youre a life-saver.

TequilaMockingBird

Don't forget to remove the tin-foil before microwaving!

Next time - chop a turnip up and put it in with the bacon for the last half hour. It'll stretch the meal another bit, and you can always freeze one or two portions. You get lovely salty soft turnip - yum. (pro tip from my late Granny)

dh0661

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

Next time - chop a turnip

TURNIP always called SWEDE in supermarkets.

Corsendonk

dh0661 wrote: »

TURNIP always called SWEDE in supermarkets.

Turnips is a general term, it covers the real tough turnips called mangels which would be used as cattle feed mainly. So swedes it is. At least we don't call them Rutabaga which is the american name!


So whats the best type of cabbage to use?

The Hill Billy

Any oul cabbage. It is a traditional Irish dinner, ie, peasant food - whatever cabbage you can get - it is not haute cusine.

Seaneh

Savoy is the king but it costs more. I actually like using Kale myself. normal white cabbage is grand. even red cabbage is grand.

Corsendonk

Seaneh wrote: »

Savoy is the king but it costs more. I actually like using Kale myself. normal white cabbage is grand. even red cabbage is grand.

Red Cabbage!! Never heard that one. I had it with Savoy, York(sweetheart) and green(celtic) cabbage and have to say I agree with your Savoy Observation.

A friend of mine use to have a summer job with two batchlor farmers in Tipp. They ate bacon and cabbage with spuds 6 days a week. On sunday they had a roast.

dh0661

Seaneh wrote: »

Savoy is the king but it costs more.

All cabbage savoy, york and celtic costs the same in my local veg shop -- 89c, same price as TURNIPS.

All locally grown BTW.