Colcannon

[paul_oshea]

Has anyone ever even heard of this or eaten it? I can honestly say I had never heard of it until I went to america years ago. I have never ever seen it anywhere in Ireland be it family homes, restaurants, pubs, hotels or anywhere you can "buy" food. Where did this myth originiate that it was a big traditional Irish meal?

Also I have just read that it was the only meal had at lunch time on halloween night.

[Dodge]

I eat a version of it. Mash potatoes with raw onion.

[drummerboy]

Absolutely. Having it at home this evening. Kids love it. Kale with mash and onion, add in some coins wrapped in grease proof paper. Traditional meal for Halloween

[paul_oshea]

Mash potatoes and onions is not a version of it. thats just mash potatoes and onions.

DB i hope yer kids have no fillings....btw it has to have either kale or cabbage or both, generally cabbage though (" i'm a savage for bacon and cabbage" ) to be Colcannon. FACT ( it is now true )!

DB also what did you call it? DId you actually call it Colcannon?!

[Dodge]

Mash potatoes and onions is not a version of it. thats just mash potatoes and onions.
All its missing is the curly kale (sp?)

And its always been called colcannon (sp?) in my house

[Ash]

All its missing is the curly kale (sp?)

And its always been called colcannon (sp?) in my house

Never had it with kale but mash and onion was always called
colcannon here aswell.

Didnt know it was a Halloween meal ... we seemed to have it
every feckin day when I was a gasún

[Magicme]

I am making it this evening too, we usually have it on Halloween. Being a nordy tho we call it Bubble and Squeak but its same principle.

Boil spuds, boil cabbage then heat some milk, butter, onions, a little salt and black pepper together. When spuds are cooked mash them, add the cabbage and stir in the milk, butter and onions. I sometimes add cheese and mustard too but not on halloween when it has to be the traditional way!

The kids dad uses curly Kale in his colcannon so maybe that is a dub thing.

[drummerboy]

Yes we call it Colcannon. Same recipe as Magicme, except we use Kale, must be a Dublin thing.

[paul_oshea]

Ok well it makes sense the dubs eat it. No seriouslly though, i have had mash and onion or sometimes mash and onion and rasher, but it is not colcannon. Really, its not. But MagicYou and DB seem to be spot on and Ash. Thing is I dont remember anyone from the weshht knowing what it was, but then Ash you are midlands after all :p

[Eire06]

Wasn't colcannon a vegetarian thing because according to tradition you aren't supposed to eat meat on Halloween?

Traditionally its Cabbage and Potatoes and coins in it.
I think

[Bluebeard]

I am making it this evening too, we usually have it on Halloween. Being a nordy tho we call it Bubble and Squeak but its same principle.

Boil spuds, boil cabbage then heat some milk, butter, onions, a little salt and black pepper together. When spuds are cooked mash them, add the cabbage and stir in the milk, butter and onions. I sometimes add cheese and mustard too but not on halloween when it has to be the traditional way!

The kids dad uses curly Kale in his colcannon so maybe that is a dub thing.

Thanks for teh recipe Magicme, think I've sorted out tonight's dinner now.

[soccerc]

Thanks for teh recipe Magicme, think I've sorted out tonight's dinner now.

Don't forget the very runny fried egg on top!

[noby]

I thought bubble and squeak was reheated from the previous nights dinner.

[Macy]

We had colcannon in our house too. Curly Kale though not Cabbage (both brassica's so doesn't exactly matter much).

You might be a savage for bacon and cabbage, but that has bugger all to do with colcannon.

[Magicme]

I thought bubble and squeak was reheated from the previous nights dinner.

Possibly it was a way of eating cabbage and potatoes from the night before but my Tyrone mum always called colcannon bubble and squeak. Mash with spring onions, butter and milk is called "champ" about our house!

[noby]

Champ down here too. Perhaps that's closer to Dodge's version.

[Magicme]

According to wikipedia haluski is a similar dish from Hungary. You are right about bubble and squeak being from leftovers but usually consisted of potatoes and cabbage and then anything else leftover.

[Ash]

Thing is I dont remember anyone from the weshht
knowing what it was, but then Ash you are midlands after all :p

Ahh, but I'm on the east side of the Shannon :)

[osarusan]

Thing is I dont remember anyone from the weshht knowing what it was

From Clare and ate it every Halloween. We sometimes had sausages sticking up out of the mashed potato and kale, but not on Halloween night. Never put the coins in it either, that went into the Barm Brack.

[stann]

The things people have never heard of totally amazes me at times. Colcannon is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, tradition Irish dishes in it!
Sometimes people do name it incorrectly though. Down my way mash with onion and milk has often been known as colcannon too, but then they make 'Shepherd's Pies' with minced beef everywhere as well despite the rather obvious clue in the name. :D

My take on it is this:
Mash with onion, milk etc. is champ, though often misnamed colcannon.
Mash with kale or cabbage and occasional extras is colcannon, though seemingly sometimes misnamed bubble and squeak. :)
Fried boiled spud and cabbage is bubble and squeak, named for the noises it makes whilst cooking.
No?

[SÓC]

Never heard of it until two years ago when I had to occasion to visit Cork Prison and it was on the menu, the chef explained that it was "some Dublin dish" but I'd never heard of it in my time in Dublin either tbh

All the Oirish pubs over here serve it though.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Here's a song about it :

'' Oh you did , so you did , so did he and so did I
And the more I think about it sure the more I am to cry
(forget the next line).............................when troubles we knew not,
And our mother's cooked Colcannon in the little skillet pot.

Champ is also known in England by the way.

Now does anyone know about Coddle? :D

[Magicme]

I never heard of Coddle until I married a dub! Sounds disgusting and as a Veggie I will never find out to the contrary!

[Green Tribe]

I had some fantastic boxty last night, my mum made it though :p
huge boxty cake, had about 4 slices last night cos it's halloween, it's massive, it's made from 20 potatoes in total :D
Magicme you should know this type of boxty as it's a Fermanagh/Cavan/Monaghan thing, not this rubbish thin potato boxty pancake you get in the rest or ireland.
it's so good. slurp

[Magicme]

Yeah its a "wild big feed" as they would say around these parts!

I made the big pot of bubble & squeak (yes stan I think you are right that it should be fried to make it propper b&s but we always called it that anyways) and bacon for the 3 carnivores. God it was gorgeous. Didnt stop the kids scoffing tons of sweets & junk later though.

[paul_oshea]

I knew GT would have something stupid and irrelevant to say.

Stann, thats my take on it too, but I actually think Colcannon is one of these Oirish things that became more popular when it was seen abroad as an Irish dish. I have asked the parents as well, they obviouslly know it, but said it was not a popular dish when they were growing up either!! Maybe its just big outside of connacht

ALso I have also known Bubble and squeak to have been an English dish, northern too I might add. Makes sense as its the more northern residents on here talking about it!


Yeah its a "wild big feed" as they would say around these parts!

"while" or "wild"?!

[Magicme]

wild of course! Thats wild that you dont know that its wild!

[Green Tribe]

I knew GT would have something stupid and irrelevant to say.

Stann, thats my take on it too, but I actually think Colcannon is one of these Oirish things that became more popular when it was seen abroad as an Irish dish. I have asked the parents as well, they obviouslly know it, but said it was not a popular dish when they were growing up either!! Maybe its just big outside of connacht

ALso I have also known Bubble and squeak to have been an English dish, northern too I might add. Makes sense as its the more northern residents on here talking about it!

"while" or "wild"?!

I love you too Paul!
I always thought B+S was a northern english dish too. Colcannon is not big up our way (Fermanagh/Down) it was always boxty at halloween.
I agree it(Colcannon) always seemed to be something on an irish themed bar menu (o'neills etc) in the UK.

[Green Tribe]

wild of course! Thats wild that you dont know that its wild!

it's wild, but POS is pronouncing it "while" cos he's a big culchie :D

[Magicme]

I suppose it does sound sorta like "while" but its more like "wile" but means wild! god its complicated explaining northernese to WIMs

[paul_oshea]

no, see the thing is im used to hearing wile up around donegal and derry and stuff, and i have seen dcfcsteve use it here before, like "he's wile sound like that there" and to me i always though it meant wile and was actually wild being said till a few friends pointed out to me that they were saying "wile". So I was wondering whether or not you were actually saying wild or not. I think its just a dif dialect MagicYou. I misspelt it above i meant to spell wile!!

[Magicme]

It was your spelling that threw me. It is pronnounced "wile" but it means "wild" in my neck of the woods anyhoo!

[Macy]

Magicme you should know this type of boxty as it's a Fermanagh/Cavan/Monaghan thing, not this rubbish thin potato boxty pancake you get in the rest or ireland.
it's so good. slurp
You mean your not actually boxty boxty?

[Green Tribe]

You mean your not actually boxty boxty?

eh? :confused:

[Macy]

Boxty is the thing you dismiss, not the potato cake effort you call it. That is all.

[stann]

I always thought B+S was a northern english dish too. Colcannon is not big up our way (Fermanagh/Down) it was always boxty at halloween.
I agree it(Colcannon) always seemed to be something on an irish themed bar menu (o'neills etc) in the UK.

Never thought of where bubble and squeak came from, it could well be a North of England thing ("and fry it in't lard, mother, none of this olive oil sh!te!"), but it was always popular wherever I went in Ireland due to it being the de facto tea-time dish on the night after you've had the feed of bacon and cabbage. :D
Without wanting to sicken the purists and epicures on here, colcannon has, for example, been available pre-prepared in most of the country's finest supermarkets for years now. It really is quite popular, down this end of the country at least.
Now, who remembers pandy? Or goody! :eek: :D

[noby]

Goody is/was fabulous. I was reared on the stuff. Pandy, never heared of it.

[stann]

I think it might be a Tipperary thing, used to get it at the gran's there as a child anyway.
Basically mash mixed with enough milk to make it kind of a semolina-ish paste. Almost runny, like. Quite the thing at the time. Nothing on goody though, that was the business. :D

[Wolfie]

Excuse the fine cuisine ignorance folks - what the hell is "Goody" ?

[noby]

Basically bread and warm milk mushed up together.

[osarusan]

Basically bread and warm milk mushed up together.
with sugar. lots of sugar. lots.

[noby]

Oh yeah. Don't forget the sugar.

[Wolfie]

Bread, warm milk and generous amounts of sugar..............

I've a match at the Astro tonight - nothing like bread, milk and sugar combinations to settle the stomach!!!!!!!!

[Magicme]

We used to call it boilies. Sometimes was made with a bit of hot water as well as milk and sugar. We give it to our dog when she isnt well and she is in fine form after it!

[BohsPartisan]

We always had it same as Dodge but with Parsley as well and a fried egg on top.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Stann and the Waterford lads

Explain Blaa's to the uninitiated... and for the record I am not one of those :D

[sligoman]

huge boxty cakeI don't wanna start the whole "is it rice crispie cake/bun" debate but Boxty is not a cake for feck sake;).

[stann]

Stann and the Waterford lads

Explain Blaa's to the uninitiated... and for the record I am not one of those :D

Blaas are bread items, similar to but at the same time nothing like a bap. They are always white bread, no such thing as a brown blaa. They vary in style from round and crusty (some so crusty they tend to explode in shards when you tear them open), to more square at the bottom with soft innards and a smooth domed crust.
They are a staple particularly of breakfast time down here, on their own or filled with everything from pretend meat like hang, corned dog or red lead, to sausage and rashers with red sauce ('red sauce', never ketchup), to tayto cheese and onion crisps and an easi-single.

They are the greatest thing ever invented. By anyone. Ever.

Funnily enough, a mate of mine has come up with a theory about the name that is so plausible and simple that it must be true, but that I've not heard anywhere else.
Blaas originated with the Hugenots who arrived in the city after fleeing persecution in France in the 17th and 18th centuries, that much is well documented. They also had the facility or know-how to make proper white bread at a time when local bread would have been brown or black, and that therefore 'blaa' is simply a corruption of 'blanc'. Nifty, eh?

[Green Tribe]

I don't wanna start the whole "is it rice crispie cake/bun" debate but Boxty is not a cake for feck sake;).

:mad: yes it is.
debate over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwXIBquiqgY

[CollegeTillIDie]

Blaas are bread items, similar to but at the same time nothing like a bap. They are always white bread, no such thing as a brown blaa. They vary in style from round and crusty (some so crusty they tend to explode in shards when you tear them open), to more square at the bottom with soft innards and a smooth domed crust.
They are a staple particularly of breakfast time down here, on their own or filled with everything from pretend meat like hang, corned dog or red lead, to sausage and rashers with red sauce ('red sauce', never ketchup), to tayto cheese and onion crisps and an easi-single.

They are the greatest thing ever invented. By anyone. Ever.

Funnily enough, a mate of mine has come up with a theory about the name that is so plausible and simple that it must be true, but that I've not heard anywhere else.
Blaas originated with the Hugenots who arrived in the city after fleeing persecution in France in the 17th and 18th centuries, that much is well documented. They also had the facility or know-how to make proper white bread at a time when local bread would have been brown or black, and that therefore 'blaa' is simply a corruption of 'blanc'. Nifty, eh?

And they are only available within the city limits of Waterford :D