Bacon and Cabbage
Photo: Miss Ayumi · CC BY 2.0

History

Bacon and cabbage was the canonical Irish Sunday dinner long before Irish-American emigrants substituted corned beef in 19th-century New York. The Irish bacon used is collar, gently brined for a week; not American streaky bacon. Dublin gastropubs The Greenhouse, Bastible and Delahunt all keep the dish on the winter menu.

Book a food experience

Tours, tastings and classes from the cities on this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.

Browse every bookable food experience

Common allergens: Dairy, Gluten, Mustard

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 25 minTotal 2 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1.5kg piece of Irish bacon collar (or lightly smoked gammon, soaked overnight)
  • 1 large savoy cabbage, quartered through the core
  • 8 medium carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
  • 1.2kg floury potatoes, peeled and halved
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
  • 8 whole cloves
  • 1 onion, halved (with cloves stuck in)
  • 60g unsalted butter (for parsley sauce)
  • 60g plain flour (for parsley sauce)
  • 500ml whole milk, warm (for parsley sauce)
  • 100ml double cream (for parsley sauce)
  • 1 tbsp grain mustard
  • 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (about 40g)
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Place the bacon in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Drain off this water; this is the soaking step that removes some of the salt.
  2. Cover with fresh cold water. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and the clove-studded onion.
  3. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 90 minutes for a 1.5kg piece (allow 25 minutes per 500g).
  4. Add the carrots to the pot for the last 25 minutes.
  5. Add the potatoes to the same pot for the last 20 minutes; they cook in the bacon stock for flavour.
  6. Add the cabbage quarters in the last 8 minutes of cooking; they should be just tender, not collapsed.
  7. While the bacon cooks, make the parsley sauce. Melt 60g butter in a heavy pan. Whisk in the flour and cook 2 minutes to a pale roux.
  8. Whisk in the warm milk a third at a time. Simmer 4 minutes until silky.
  9. Stir in the cream, grain mustard and 2 ladles of the bacon cooking liquor for seasoning. Fold in the chopped parsley last so it stays bright green.
  10. Lift the bacon onto a warm board. Rest 10 minutes, then slice thickly across the grain.
  11. Plate slices of bacon with quarters of cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Pour over the parsley sauce.

Tip from the editors. Soak the bacon overnight in fresh cold water to draw out the salt or the dish runs sharp. Cabbage goes in last; cooking from the start gives sulphurous mush.

Where to eat bacon and cabbage

Bacon and Cabbage in Dublin

Bastible 1 ★ ★ 4.6

€€€€ Tasting €75-95IrishPortobelloChef Killian Walsh

Bastible on the South Circular Road corner at Leonard's, the Barry FitzGerald-owned one-Michelin-star neighbourhood room with head chef Killian Walsh.

OrderThe set menu only, designed around what FitzGerald has from Irish growers and the Atlantic that week.

Book2-3 weeks ahead

TipThe bar seats book up later; if the dining room is gone, ask if the four counter seats are open for the same kitchen.

Directions Book

Delahunt ★ 4.6

€€€ Modern IrishPortobello

Delahunt on Camden Street in Dublin, Darren Free's modern Irish dining room with head chef Dermot Staunton inside a restored Joycean grocer.

OrderThe squab pigeon course and a glass of natural Riesling from the wine list.

TipFriday and Saturday book three weeks ahead. The upstairs bar serves the full menu and is the walk-up option.

Directions

Gallagher's Boxty House ★ 4.2

€€ IrishTemple Bar

Gallagher's Boxty House on Temple Bar in Dublin, Pádraic Óg Gallagher's three-room canon of boxty, coddle and smoked salmon, the boxty reference in town.

OrderThe boxty pancake stuffed with beef and Guinness, with a half pint of stout.

TipThe middle dining room is the calm one; the front bar fills with traffic from Temple Bar Square after 19:00.

Directions

All Dublin signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want bacon and cabbage covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →