Dublin Coddle Recipe

I know many of you will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage, and no offense to you guys.

I mean, I love corned beef and cabbage, too, but this Dublin coddle is what you should be having instead. 

It’s hearty, it’s easy, it’s delicious, and from my research, it’s a more authentic way to celebrate Ireland than corned beef.

• prep time: 15 MINUTES
• cook time: 2 HOURS
• total time: 2 HOURS 15 MINUTES

Ingredients

• 8 slices bacon, chopped into small pieces
• 1 pound high-quality pork sausages (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle Guinness beer (see notes)
• 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 large onions, cut into slices
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 cups beef, ham, or chicken broth

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
2. Heat a large, oven-proof Dutch oven over high heat. Add in the bacon and cook until crisp, about five minutes. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towels. Leave the grease in the Dutch oven.
3. Add the sausages in, a few at a time (don’t crowd the pan), and cook on each side until just golden brown—no need to cook all the way through. Remove to a plate and continue with additional sausages. Remove to plate. When cool enough to handle. Slice into 1″ pieces.
4. Reduce the heat to low, and then whisk in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Then remove from heat completely.
5. Whisk in the bottle of Guinness (see notes if you’d like to not use beer).
6. Place half of the potatoes in the gravy, followed by half of the onions, half of the garlic, half of the bacon, half of the sausages, half of the parsley, the bay leaves, the thyme, and black pepper. Repeat layers with the remaining ingredients.
7. Pour the broth over the whole thing. Place lid on, and bake in preheated oven for at least 2 hours (see notes).

Notes

If you can find traditional Irish pork sausages, that’d be awesome, but honestly, any good-quality pork sausages will do. Use whatever you can find and you like (bratwurst, polish sausage, even good-quality breakfast sausage).

Between the bacon, sausages, and broth, this dish is inherently very salty. Do not add more salt without tasting it first! I almost never add additional salt when making coddle.

If you want to skip using the beer, just sub in 1 1/2 additional cups of whatever broth you are using.

The coddle will be ready to eat after 2 hours in the oven, but it can easily stay cooking for 3-5 hours without any consequence. This isn’t a delicate dish. You don’t have to worry about breaking it.