Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce
Photo: Zackgallagher · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Bacon and cabbage was the daily protein of rural Munster cottages from the 18th century, the back rasher boiled in a single pot with a head of York cabbage, finished with a parsley sauce thickened with flour and milk. Cork city remained Ireland's largest pork curing centre into the 20th century, with Henry Denny's North Main Street smokehouse defining the regional style; the Denny brand still ships nationally. Cork pubs and traditional rooms (the Long Valley, the Mutton Lane Inn) keep the dish on the Tuesday and Thursday lunch carvery, often with mashed potato and a thick parsley sauce, the canonical Irish bacon-and-cabbage plate.

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Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 30 minTotal 2 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg unsmoked bacon collar or gammon joint, soaked overnight in cold water
  • 1 large savoy cabbage, quartered and cored
  • 2 onions, halved
  • 2 carrots, halved
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 1.2kg floury potatoes (Roosters or Kerr's Pinks), peeled
  • For the parsley sauce: 60g unsalted butter
  • 60g plain flour
  • 600ml whole milk
  • 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley (finely chopped)
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • Sea salt, white pepper, freshly grated nutmeg

Method

  1. Drain the soaked bacon. Place in a deep pot with onions, carrots, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Cover with cold water.
  2. Bring slowly to a simmer; skim the grey foam off the surface. Cook gently for 90 minutes for a 1.5kg piece (allow 45 minutes per kilo).
  3. Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Drain and keep warm.
  4. Lift the bacon onto a board, cover loosely with foil, rest 15 minutes.
  5. Add cabbage to the bacon cooking liquor and simmer 8 minutes until just yielding. Drain, keep warm.
  6. For the sauce, melt butter, stir in flour, cook 2 minutes to a blond roux. Whisk in milk gradually until smooth. Simmer 5 minutes.
  7. Stir mustard and chopped parsley into the sauce. Season with white pepper, nutmeg, and salt only if needed.
  8. Carve the bacon into thick slices. Plate with cabbage wedges, a floury potato, and a ladle of parsley sauce.

Tip from the editors. Use unsmoked bacon for the cleanest pork flavour; smoked bacon throws off the parsley sauce balance and is not the Cork style.

Where to eat bacon and cabbage with parsley sauce

Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce in Cork

Jacobs on the Mall ★ 4.1

€€€€ Tasting €55TurkishChef the kitchen team at Jacobs

The most dramatic dining room in Cork, inside the vaulted former Turkish baths on South Mall. A 130-seat restaurant with a private room, serving broadly.

Book1 week ahead

Directions Book

Greenes Restaurant ★ 4.5

€€€ Fine dining brunch, Irish seasonal, Wine brunchMaccurtain Street (Victorian Quarter)

Greenes operates weekend brunch as an extension of its fine dining credentials on MacCurtain Street. The brunch menu reflects the kitchen's Irish seasonal.

Directions

The Long Valley Bar ★ 4.5

€ Cocktail barCity Centre

Established in 1842 and run by the Moynihan family since 1927, the Long Valley is Cork's most storied bar. The counter is famously long, the decor unchanged.

Directions

Cornstore ★ 3.9

€€€€ Tasting €45SeafoodChef the kitchen team at Cornstore

A converted Victorian corn market housing one of Cork's most reliably-executed steak and seafood rooms. The baked crab mornay and dry-aged Irish beef cuts.

Book3 to 5 days ahead

Directions Book

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