Now my mum denies this, but me and my sisters all agree that mum served us Boiled Bacon and Cabbage at least 4 times a week as we grew up. I became sick of it!. As a child, to see ‘Hairy’ bacon on my plate was enough to give me nightmares.”Eat it” my dad would boom “It will give you hair’s on your chest”. Well, he was right as I have a hairy chest now but I still have issue’s with Bacon and Cabbage.
- Firstly hair on food is just wrong – Thankfully I haven’t seen that on the meat in years!
- Secondly mum cooked the cabbage in the bacon water (a good idea) till it could only be picked up with a spoon and all the goodness was gone!
A dark grey green coloured cabbage sludge is just wrong on all levels. When it is also served with boiled potatoes in their skins (now, maybe I’m strange but I hated potatoes in their skins) it was like finger nails been dragged across a blackboard to me.
The Irish brand of ‘Chef ‘ sauce was always my saviour as huge dollops of this dark tangy condiment could hide all food abuse served to me. This meal was a culinary torture, an Irish Inquisition of Food.
Now I know that most of my friends and family love BBC and these are my personal opinions, but I’m the chef and that makes me right! lol 😉
My goal is to make something wonderful with these ingredients, and keep the essence of the original dish. And fingers crossed, enjoy my cooking!
I want to believe that BBC is not a childhood trauma and an opportunity to challenge myself in the kitchen and cook something wonderful with these great ingredients:
- Boiled Bacon is stunning in flavour and texture.
- Cabbage, an amazing vegetable with so many varieties, textures, flavours and is high in vitamin A and C.
- Potatoes been the Holy Grail of Irish Food.
I would also like to apologise to my Mum for this tirade against her cooking of this particular dish but “you reap what you sow” 🙂 xx (she is going to kill me for this)
John
______________________________________________________________________________________________________