Bide Bodice or Salted Ribs with Champ or Colcannon
Salted pork ribs, bought and often cooked in a sheet, are a great Cork speciality, known as 'bodice'. This follows the Cork tradition of naming various bits of offal after items of women's clothing. We also eat skirts!
PREP TIME
10
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
60
MINUTES
Ingredients
For the bodice:
1 bodice, about 11 bacon ribs
For the champ:
1.5kg unpeeled 'old' potatoes e.g. Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks
110g chopped scallions or spring onions (use the bulb and green stem) or 45g chopped chives
350ml milk
50-110g butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
For the bodice:
Cover in cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for an hour or more until soft and juicy.
Eat using your fingers with English mustard. Mashed potatoes, carrots or swede turnips are often served with bodice, but we love champ or colcannon, our most traditional potato dishes and the ones that are always associated with Halloween.
For the champ:
Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their jackets.
Chop finely the scallions or spring onions or chopped chives. Cover with cold milk and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes, turn off the heat and leave to infuse. Peel and mash the freshly boiled potatoes and while hot, mix with the boiling milk and onions, beat in the butter. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve in 1 large or 6 individual bowls with a knob of butter melting in the centre.
Scallion mash may be put aside and reheated later in a moderate oven, 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Note: Cover with parchment paper while it reheats so that it doesn’t get a skin and add the lump of butter just before serving.
