Greetings Gastronauts, this is Keef Cooks,
I'm Keef, and today, well, we've got St
Patrick's Day coming up so I'm going to
do something Irish - I'm going to show you
how to make traditional boiled bacon and cabbage.
[ MUSIC ]
And this was suggested to me by
my friend Blowin' in the Far West of Ireland,
who, y'know, reminded me that
St Paddy's Day was coming up and
suggested this, which really is the kind
of thing that Irish people have always
eaten and continue to do. So y'know,
it's bit of a change from things that
people normally do for St Patrick's
Day. And I've got every suspicion that it
might be fabulous.
And also I've got to do a shoutout for
Saoirse O'Leary.
Saoirse, this was requested by
your boyfriend George Winston Rylance -
and I'm sure you don't call him that all the
time. I hope nobody will be offended if
I describe this as 'peasant food', but y'know
really this is what people would eat -
they'd chuck it in the pot, the iron pot
hanging over the fire and just let it
cook. There's not a lot to it really,
although you will find fancier
recipes, but I'm just keeping it really
simple, really basic. So it's going to be
lovely, let's do it!
Now ingredients - a big old joint of bacon
and a cabbage. Now the
bacon joint, you might find it tricky to
get - what we're after is the stuff that
back bacon would be sliced from, but not
sliced. In a big chunk if you like.
Failing that, this is gammon - it's cured,
it's got the skin and the rind on, so
that will be just as good. The cabbage -
I've got a savoy cabbage. So let's go
with our bacon and cabbage. I'm going to
make a parsley sauce and just boil some
spuds. For the parsley sauce you want a
good handful of parsley, flat-leaf for
preference, half a litre of milk, about 100 mil
of cream - that's just single cream,
like, y'know, normal cream.
A good lump of butter and the equivalent
amount of flour, and also probably some
salt and pepper. So let's stop messing
about and cook that bacon.
So there's quite a bit of scum there - I'll just get rid of it.
Then turn down the heat to simmering.
And put the lid on and leave that for quite a while.
It will take about 30 minutes per
pound or 450 grams and that is one and a half
kilos so it's going to take an hour and a
half to cook. So while the Bacon's
boiling away, we'll just deal with the
cabbage. You just take off the outer
leaves - actually they're OK.
Then just chop it into sheds.
Did I say sheds? I was trying to say shreds.
[ CHUCKLE ]
[ SHREDDING ]
I think I'll only use about half of this today.
[ MORE SHREDDING ]
Look at that - that beautiful thing. And,
if you like, just cut your shreds in half.
And set that aside till we're ready for it.
And you want to chop your parsley.
[ CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP]
[ SCRAPE ]
[ CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP]
Right, bacon's almost done so I'm going to
make the sauce. I'm melting that big lump of butter in
the pan. There it is, all melted and now we
just sift in some flour. You want about
the same quantity of flour as you had butter.
Just stir that - get it nicely mixed together.
This is your basic white sauce roux and
you get a kind of thick paste. So now we can add milk...
and the parsley...
and the cream.
Just let that heat up and then we'll give it a little taste.
So the sauce is nice and thick
- well, not too thick, but coats the
back of the spoon. And right, I reckon
it's time for a taste...
Definitely needs salt and I think I'm
going to slam a bit of English mustard
in that as well,
because it'll go nicely with the bacon
Good teaspoon of that
little taste again...
Ooh yeah!
That's it, fantastic. So I'll just turn this off
till I've finished everything else then I'll
just reheat it briefly.
[ BEEP ]
OK, I reckon
this is cooked, so we'll take it out of there
Ooh yeah...
One big hunk of boiled bacon nom nom nom.
[ LAUGHS ]
I'm just going to loosely tent that in foil
to keep it warm
And we'll pop the cabbage in the water
and that just wants to cook for about 10 minutes.
[ KNIFE HONING SOUNDS ]
So we'll just carve some bacon off
and you want to get the rind and the
fat off, unless you actually like eating it.
I don't! .
Ooh, but look at that.
[ LAUGHS ]
I think I might have overcooked this a little
but... let's check.
Mm-hmm. So I've got a bit of ham, and let's have a bit of...
Sorry, BACON!
[ LAUGHS ]
And a bit of cabbage, couple of spuds,
Bit of butter on the spuds 'cos that's how I like 'em
And a dribble of parsley sauce.
OK I think it's about time for a taste test.
OK, St Patrick's Day boiled bacon
and cabbage and spuds and parsley sauce and...
Mrs Keef Cooks, YAY!
[ CHEERING ]
[ LAUGHS ]
"There you go"
"OK"
"Might be a bit cold, just spent half an hour taking its photo"
"Ah That explains it. I said to him about an hour ago..."
"so how long will it be? He said oh, about half an hour"
[ LAUGHS ]
"Mmm"
"Mmm, nice sauce"
"And that is really soft"
"Falling off the bone"
"Excuse me"
"Would be falling off the bone..."
"If there was one" "If there was one"
"You spoil all my jokes"
[ LAUGHS ]
[ MUSIC ]
"Do you want some Guinness with it?"
"Ooh no"
"People think you have to put Guinness in anything..."
"...Irish but, you really don't"
OK that's your lot, thanks for watching.
If you liked it, give it a like, subscribe,
make a donatio,n become a patron, all that
great stuff. Unless you don't want to.
So, um yeah. Yeah. Tara, see you next time!
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