Colcannon

Description

Colcannon is most commonly made with only four ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and kale. Irish historian Patrick Weston Joyce defined it as "potatoes mashed with butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot herbs". It can contain other ingredients such as scallions (spring onions), leeks, Laverbread, onions and chives. Some recipes substitute cabbage for kale. There are many regional variations of this staple dish. It was a cheap, year-round food. It is often eaten with boiled ham or Irish bacon. As a side dish it goes well with corned beef and cabbage.

An Irish Halloween tradition is to serve colcannon with a ring and a thimble hidden in the dish. Prizes of small coins such as threepenny or sixpenny bits were also concealed inside the dish. The dish champ is similar but made with buttermilk.

Etymology

The origin of the word is unclear. The first syllable 'col' is likely derived from the Irish 'cál' meaning cabbage. The second syllable may derive from 'ceann-fhionn' meaning a white head (i.e. 'a white head of cabbage') - this use is also found in the Irish name for a coot, a white headed bird known as 'cearc cheannan', or 'white-head hen'. The phrase may also be borrowed from the Welsh name for a leek soup known as cawl cennin, literally "broth (of) leeks."

Song

The song "Colcannon", also called "The Skillet Pot", is a traditional Irish song that has been recorded by numerous artists, including Mary Black. It begins:

The chorus: