If you’re not familiar with this most Dublin of dishes, please allow us to educate you. Coddle is a traditional Dublin dish that incorporates slow cooking root vegetables and available meats. The ingredients include potatoes, onion, bacon, and sausages at the recipe’s most bare bones. The ingredients are combined in a pot and cooked low and slow on the hob, only adding pepper to it as the combo forms an amazing broth and turns everything to a lovely tender texture.
There are some variations on coddle but generally the broth is quite clear, save for the starch from the potatoes. Some people mash the potatoes a bit, add stock, and in one case in what is definitely not traditional, we have been told that some people add tomatoes.
We’re big fans of the dish but for some it doesn’t look the most appetising of dishes. But trust us, this is a dish worth trying on a visit to Dublin, especially in Winter.
The Hairy Lemon
The Hairy Lemon on Stephens Street is an excellent example of a pub that offers some of the best traditional Irish cuisine in the city. This includes of course a steaming bowl of coddle. They call it their ‘Famous Dublin Coddle’ and it has certainly received good notices over the years. It must be as good as ever since the recipe never changes.
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O’Shea’s Talbot Street
O’Shea’s on Talbot Street is a great northside spot for visitors to the city to enjoy live music, dancing shows, whiskey, and of course food. Their coddle looks very authentic and traditional. They have some carrot in their recipe which is a perfect root vegetable inclusion.
The Gravediggers
On a recent walking/tweeting tour of the city we finished our day in The Gravediggers with a thirst and a hunger to beat the band. There’s only one thing that will satisfy after a hard day of work and that’s a pint of stout and a bowl of Ciaran’s Coddle. The ham in this coddle is left on the bone. Even Anthony Bourdain agreed that this bowl of nourishment is worthy of all the praise it gets.
It’s a lovely rustic pub to enjoy this most Dublin of dishes.
The Quays
The Quays in Temple Bar are flying the flag for old Irish cuisine in the area that welcomes so many visitors to our traditions. Many people visiting from all the nations of the world have been introduced here to coddle and will no doubt be bringing it home to put their own spin on it using their own home grown produce. Coddellá anyone?
Nancy Hands
Nancy Hands near the gates to the Phoenix Park have a ‘Liberties Dublin Coddle’ on their menu, paying homage to the most Dublin of Dublin areas.
