Boiled bacon with cabbage and carrots

4.40 (12)
⏱ 140 mins 🍽 Serves 6 🌶 irish ✅ More effort 🏷 Main course

This classic Irish main course features a large piece of smoked bacon simmered with aromatic herbs and cloves. Carrots and wedges of pointed cabbage are cooked in the same pot, creating a flavourful one-pot meal. A simple sauce made from the cooking stock, double cream, English mustard and fresh parsley completes the dish. It is ideal for serving six people and is famously good for next-day sandwiches.

Boiled bacon with cabbage and carrots

Ingredients

  • 1.3kg piece smoked bacon
  • 1 onion peeled and studded with 6 cloves
  • large bunch herbs tied together, including bay, thyme and parsley stalks
  • 1 bunch new-season carrots (about 12 in total), scrubbed and trimmed
  • 2 pointed cabbages trimmed and each cut into 6 wedges
  • 150ml stock from the bacon
  • 142ml pot double cream
  • 3 tbsp English mustard
  • handful fresh curly parsley leave, chopped

Method

  1. Put the bacon in a stockpot with the clove-studded onion and the tied herb bunch. Cover with water and bring to a simmer, cooking for 45 mins and adding more water if necessary. Add the carrots and cook for a further 15 mins. Reserve 150ml of the cooking stock in a separate pan. Place the cabbage wedges into the stockpot and cook everything for another 10-15 mins until the cabbage is tender.
  2. Prepare the sauce while the final cooking takes place. Add the cream to the 150ml reserved stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for a few mins, then whisk in the mustard and chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper as required.
  3. Take the bacon out of the pot and slice it thickly. Arrange on a platter with the cabbage and carrots, drizzling over a little of the stock. Present the sauce in a jug, with buttered new potatoes as an accompaniment.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories694 kcal
Fat57 g
Saturates23 g
Carbs9 g
Sugars8 g
Fibre3 g
Protein36 g
Sodium1804 mg
Salt4 g

Recipe details

Skill levelMore effort
CategoryMain course
Cuisineirish