flipBoiled Bacon and Cabbage (Cork-style)
Boiled Bacon and Cabbage (Cork-style)
Why this dish? Settled in Cork from 1849 as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Boole shared the southern Irish table, where bacon and cabbage was the king of Sunday and family reunion meals.
A fine piece of mild-cured bacon simmered in water until tender, then cabbage cooked in the salty bacon broth, served with potatoes and a little mustard. The festive dish of the Irish home, generous and fragrant.
Here is the dish of good Sundays, as it is served in our Cork homes. The bacon is put into cold water and left over a gentle fire for hours, for patience alone draws out all its sweetness; when it is tender, the cabbage soaks up this savoury broth. I confess frankly: a man of figures also has his appetite, and a shared table is worth all the theorems of the day. Serve hot, with good potatoes, and let each help themselves abundantly.
- •Mild-cured bacon (shoulder or hock) — a piece for the household (meat, base)
- •Green cabbage — a fine head (vegetable)
- •Potatoes — as many as needed (side)
- •Peppercorns — a few (flavouring)
- •Mustard — a little (condiment)
Boiled Bacon and Cabbage (Cork-style)
A fine piece of mild-cured bacon simmered in water until tender, then cabbage cooked in the salty bacon broth, served with potatoes and a little mustard. The festive dish of the Irish home, generous and fragrant.
Why this dish? Settled in Cork from 1849 as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Boole shared the southern Irish table, where bacon and cabbage was the king of Sunday and family reunion meals.
Here is the dish of good Sundays, as it is served in our Cork homes. The bacon is put into cold water and left over a gentle fire for hours, for patience alone draws out all its sweetness; when it is tender, the cabbage soaks up this savoury broth. I confess frankly: a man of figures also has his appetite, and a shared table is worth all the theorems of the day. Serve hot, with good potatoes, and let each help themselves abundantly.
Ingredients (period version)
- Mild-cured bacon (shoulder or hock) — a piece for the household (meat, base)
- Green cabbage — a fine head (vegetable)
- Potatoes — as many as needed (side)
- Peppercorns — a few (flavouring)
- Mustard — a little (condiment)
Ingredients
- Mild-cured pork shoulder or belly — 800 g (meat, base)
- Green curly kale or cabbage — 1 (about 800 g) (vegetable)
- Waxy potatoes — 800 g (side)
- Black peppercorns — 6 (flavouring)
- English mustard — 1 tbsp for serving (condiment)
Method
- If the bacon is very salty, soak it in cold water for 1–2 hours.
- Place it in a large pot, cover with cold water, add the peppercorns, and bring gently to a simmer.
- Cook at a low boil for about 1½ hours (25 min per 500 g), skimming the surface.
- Cook the potatoes separately, in their skins or in salted water.
- Shred the cabbage, plunge it into the bacon broth for 8–10 minutes until tender.
- Slice the bacon, serve with drained cabbage and potatoes, and a dollop of mustard.
How it was made : Before the New World potato was widely adopted in Ireland, cabbage boiled in the cooking water of salted bacon was already a meal for both poor and bourgeois. Salt preserved the pork all year; the meat was boiled to desalt it partly, and the broth then flavoured the vegetables — nothing was wasted.
The contemporary twist : Reduce a little of the cooking broth with a knob of butter and parsley to make a light 'parsley sauce' to coat the cabbage — a modern presentation that does not betray the dish.
Sources : Isabella Beeton, The Book of Household Management, 1861 · Florence Irwin, The Cookin' Woman: Irish Country Recipes (collection of 19th-century traditions)
George Boole · Charactorium
