Coddle is exactly as homely and comforting as it sounds: a hodge-podge of leftovers that, according to JP McMahon’s Irish Cookbook, was born out of poverty and famine, and is claimed as a favourite of everyone from Jonathan Swift to Seán O’Casey; it even pops up twice in the works of James Joyce. It is, however, so relatively little known outside Dublin that even the great Midlands-born and now Cork-based chef and food writer Darina Allen professed ignorance in her Complete Book of Irish Country Cooking.
She headed to the capital to find out more, a decision that perhaps offers a clue as to the dish’s relative obscurity; rather than home-reared mutton and vegetables from the garden, in its usual form, coddle relies on cheaper processed meats, which places it, historically at least, in an urban rather than rural context. As McMahon very sensibly observes: “with its associations of poverty, it is surprising to find ‘authentic’ recipes, especially given the status of the dish as being made with whatever leftovers were to hand (as in pig’s trotters/feet, pork ribs, etc.” My mum, who has Irish heritage, claims no knowledge of the dish, let alone a family “recipe”, but, that said, here is my perfect version.
