Bacon ribs don’t seem to be as popular in modern Ireland as they were in my Grandad’s youth. He likes his bacon ribs boiled with cabbage until both are tender, then served with a pile of buttery mashed potatoes. Ribs were far cheaper to buy 80 odd years ago than they are now but they are still a frugal cut of bacon to enjoy for a family meal.

Mam remembers this dish being prepared as she was growing up (Grandad will turn 99 this year, Mam obviously is an awful lot younger!). She absolutely detested it, she said that the smell of the boiling cabbage would linger in the hall when she got home from school and she would have to eat a mound of slimy, over-cooked cabbage because that was the way Grandad liked it.

I find it very interesting that my husband’s family always ate their bacon ribs in a completely different way. I wonder if Mam had been exposed to their way of eating the ribs when she was growing up, would she be persuaded to try them nowadays?

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