Colcannon (and other variants)

Duck59

Duck59

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Colcannon to the Irish, bubble & squeak to the English and possibly a good few other names as well. It's the perfect thing for using up potatoes and other vegetables that might have been lying around for a while.

Personally, I like it with a bit of zing and shove plenty of garlic into it. One of the beauties of colcannon is that it can be whatever you want it to be; basic mashed spud and cabbage or something a bit more exotic.

I quite like spring greens as an alternative to cabbage. They're not quite so sweet and provide a lovely chewy texture. I'm not averse to chopping a chilli or two into the mix.

Does anybody have regional or country variations? Any other names for it? Any favourite quirks?
 
Duck59 said:
Colcannon to the Irish, bubble & squeak to the English and possibly a good few other names as well. It's the perfect thing for using up potatoes and other vegetables that might have been lying around for a while.

Personally, I like it with a bit of zing and shove plenty of garlic into it. One of the beauties of colcannon is that it can be whatever you want it to be; basic mashed spud and cabbage or something a bit more exotic.

I quite like spring greens as an alternative to cabbage. They're not quite so sweet and provide a lovely chewy texture. I'm not averse to chopping a chilli or two into the mix.

Does anybody have regional or country variations? Any other names for it? Any favourite quirks?
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As I understand it, Colcannon isn't the same as Bubble and Squeak because its not fried. Its origin is Irish but there are Scottish versions known as Rumbledethumps (a great word!) and Kailkenny. So, are you talking about a fried dish?

I always add white pepper to Colcannon and to Bubble and Squeak. Its a sadly neglected pepper these days, ever since Delia introduced freshly ground black pepper back in the '70's and it became 'lower-class' to use white pepper! If you haven't tried it in your Colcannon I'd urge you to consider - its tangy almost lemony note makes quite a difference.
 
Colcannon is often used as a base for frying, though. I've had wonderful potato pancakes and several other interesting concoctions from a base of cold mash. I used to do one in Eritrea with whatever happened to be hanging around in the kitchen (well, not the cockroaches, admittedly). We called it 'schlock'.
 
My husband grew up eating Bubble and Squeak, so when he first mentioned it to me I had to look it up on the internet. Since that time 10 years ago, I've been making it as our St. Patrick's Day supper. I like to make it with potatoes, onions, cabbage and ham or if we've had a corned beef dinner I'll use the leftover corned beef. It's easy to make especially with leftover potatoes and cabbage.
 
Don't forget, kids, there's no harm in using brussels sprouts, because anything goes.

(I'm just pre-empting our resident sprout maniac, who will no doubt find a way to get Guinness into the mix.)
 
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