Bubble and Squeak Options

[Guest_Don_*]

Springlike day outside our window this midwinter February day. Drove 15 miles to meet three fellows to make a foursome for breakfast at a popular country eatery this sunny Saturday morning.

They hand scribble their menu specials on two large wallboards.  Of interest was a trivia question.  What do the English call bubble and squeak?

To our many English members I pose this question in hopes of learning what it may be.

To present a football metaphor: One outside the huddle doesn't know the play calls.


Thanks

Don

[Guest_Nina_*]

Hi Don

Bubble and Squeak is a traditional way of using up mashed potatoes and cooked cabbage and sometimes roast beef (optional) left over from the Sunday lunch.  You mix together the cold mash and cabbage and fry gently in a frying pan until it is brown underneath and piping hot.

[Guest_Jox_*]

In fact, we're all driving round to Nina's now in the hope of sampling it - sounds wonderful.

I've never heard of Bubble and Squeak having beef in - I suspect that is a rich southern variation. Us from the deprived area, north of what we call "The Watford Gap" have so little beef in a lifetime that we eat it straight away - nothing left. There, that's my beef.

Yes, Nina has put it so well and is correctly, Don. This is most alarming; does it mean that something with an odd name in the USA is the same as something with an odd name in the UK? Oh dear me!

But there is a rescue here! I've never heard the phrase:

"One outside the huddle doesn't know the play calls."

Though I think its meaning is apparent.

B&S: The name comes from the actions and sounds as it cooks, I believe.

It is a great dish - especially with the addition of beef. Wow! We'll be there a little later, Nina :)

Incidentally, Don, I answered you but I wouldn't call myself an English member of MM :)

Cheers, James.

[Guest_Toumai_*]

Hm ... I'd always supposed the name came from the effect of eating fried cabbage ...

Thanks for the enlightment.

Fran

[Guest_Jox_*]

Fran,

ROFL!!! Ouch :

James.

[Guest_Nina_*]

Hi James

Confession time.....I have never made bubble and squeak, my info was from a cookery book.  I do however make a delicious  Swiss Rosti (no idea how to do an umlaut which should be on the O) though which is very similar but without the cabbage.

Nina

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Nina,

That's fine; I know that dish, too. I'm sure it will be splendid. Thanks!

James.

[Guest_Don_*]

Thank you Nina,

Is this served similar to fried potato patties?  I must admit never seeing this dish, but sounds a delightful means of modifying mashed potatoes with cabbage.  

James,  you may not consider yourself English, but residing in the UK puts you on the football field with a chance of being called into a huddle for a clue of what Nina knew.

To my knowledge the small restaurant posting the subject trivia question has not served this mix.  Maybe they have something in mind.

Don

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Don...

>>James,  you may not consider yourself English, but residing in the UK puts you on the football field with a chance of being called into a huddle for a clue of what Nina knew.

Hi Don,

I'm not sure if Bubble & Squeak is an English dish at all. It actually sounds more Scottish to me - but I have no evidence. It might also be a Lancastrian dish (part of England). They would be my top two guesses. So I don't think the English have any special claim to Bubble & Squeak.

I have, by the way, eaten Bubble & Squeak many times - my family served it very frequently when I was a child - slight difference from what Nina said 9though she is right) - we prepared it from scratch intentionally; it was not from left-overs. (But no beef! - what is today called a vegetarian dish).

England, of course, is not the UK; it is just one of the United Kingdoms. The largest and most dominant but only one.

And I'm not English - there is no legal entity of being English - or being Welsh - or Scottish. We're legally all Her Britannic Majesty's subjects. That is, we're legally all British - citizens of the UK. I've always said I'm British but I would be most insulted if anyone called me English. (I'm not Welsh, either - though, I always support Wales - as last week when we beat England at rugby - the football :) ).

Bore da,

James.

[Guest_Perrorist_*]

Bubble and squeak is a dish made from leftovers of the Sunday roast as Nina described. My mother wouldn't cook it, saying it was a peasant dish. The name comes from the sound of it being cooked. It's not a regional dish as far as I know.

I've eaten it once and I think it was turned in the pan so that both top and bottom were crisp.

Did you know that it's also rhyming slang? A bubble is Cockney for a Greek.

Perry

[Guest_Jox_*]

Yes, Perry -

It was cooked in a frying pan and did take the shape.

But, as I said, we prepared it specially and no meat. I've had it dozens of times and love it. In fact, a frozen version is available (not seen it for a couple of years) and we bought that, too. Not being a great meat eater, I appreciate the non meat content of the ones I've had,

James.

[Guest_Don_*]

Perrorist~~

>>Did you know that it's also rhyming slang? A bubble is Cockney for a Greek?<<

No, I did not know and my inkling is that a Greek would consider it derogatory.

I doubt that bubble and squeak is strictly English.  Many Americans are pretty loose about where national treasures come from.  You probably have suspicions.  As an example: we are more than likely to claim invention of aero plane.

I wish I was highly bred to consider some foods below my station.  I probably do, but too blind to see.  I ain't proud, just picky.

Learning that it is fried sorta suprised me.  Without prior knowledge, I pictured a casserole style preparation.


Don

[Guest_Don_*]

James~~

I was thinking it to be a good New Years dish containing the requisite good luck cabbage.  


Don

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Don,

The point is that bubble and squeek has been prior cooked (as it is leftovers) so cannot again be thoroughly cooked. Hence the frying was only really to warm it up. In our case, we boiled the veg, then bunged the whol lot in a frying pan.

I'm sure many countries do have similar - Nina quoted a Swiss dish, for example. Anyway, I did not claim it was English - I suggested it may well be Scottish.

As for the Greek - it's not unpleasant at all - just more Cockney rhyming slang-

Trouble & Strife - wife
Dog & Bone - 'phone etc.

The original reason was to have a language the Coppers (Police) could not understand.

Don - what is a "good luck cabbage" please?

Toodle Pip,

James.

[Guest_Don_*]

Hi James,

In our rural area it is a superstition, but tradition, to consume cabbage in some form (sauerkraut) on New Years to assure a prosperous new year.  My understanding is the practice came from Germany.

We reside in a town of about 14,000 surrounded by rich farmland, which requires us to eat sauerkraut to keep up with our wealthy farmers.

Don  :)

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Don, thanks for that.

I have a Hungarian pen-friend who lives in Canada. She recommends sauerkraut (I'd only ever heard of it prior to chatting to her - no idea what it was). We tried a jar of it. Could only eat a fork-full and had to leave the rest. Far too acetic for our tastes. So you're most welcome to it!

Yes, it's a German food originally.

My nearest town has a population of 30,000 and my second-nearest of 90,000 (they are 9 miles and 15 miles distant respectively). But the "biggie" is 55m west of here and has a population of just over 7 million (2001 Census). So we're surrounded. If they all ate sauerkraut I think the level of "localised global warming" (I like that concept) would be very high indeed!

All the best, James.

[Guest_Don_*]

James~~

Yes, you have found an ideal oxymoron in local global warming.  Reads like tomorrow's newsprint.  An astrophysicist might think we were speaking of this sphere of Earth, but we know the real skinny, no?


Don  

[Guest_Perrorist_*]

James

Sauerkraut should be eaten with bratwürst or similar, otherwise it's like eating pickled onions without pork pie or cheese or whatever.

Potato rosti, of which I'm fond, is sometimes badly cooked in Oz. Much too greasy. It's made from fresh ingredients, unlike bubble and squeak. You can also make it from sweet potatoes (delicious).

Although my mother made derogatory remarks about peasant cooking, she was certainly not much more than a peasant herself - such were the subtle class differences in Britain in the forties.

Perry

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Perry,

>>Sauerkraut should be eaten with bratwürst or similar, otherwise it's like eating pickled onions without pork pie or cheese or whatever.

Ah! That makes sense, thank you. My hungarian friend serves it as a vegetable, not a pickle condiment - and she eats it out of the jar. I was badly advised. Nevertheless, we didn't care for the taste - but would be more disguised with sausages (if I liked sausages - too meaty and too fatty for me!)

>>Potato rosti, of which I'm fond, is sometimes badly cooked in Oz. Much too greasy. It's made from fresh ingredients, unlike bubble and squeak. You can also make it from sweet potatoes (delicious).

I thought I loved all foods. OK, in addition to saurkraut and most sausages, I don't like yams. I do like rosti but it can be very greasy, yes.

As I've said a couple of times, Bubble and Squeak can be and is prepared with fresh ingreients - as well as preparing it for the traditional reason of using-up left overs. It's one of my favourite meals and prepared fresh is excellent... though not had it for quite a while now.

>>Although my mother made derogatory remarks about peasant cooking, she was certainly not much more than a peasant herself - such were the subtle class differences in Britain in the forties.

I think peasants went out with feudalism but I think the working class division started to disappear with The Beatles and ended its disappearing act with Thatcher. Poverty is now the division - as per the "How To Be A Capitalist Bas*ard" handbook.

James.



Perry

[Guest_Nina_*]

Hi Perry

My mum often used to dish up sauerkraut as a vegetable with salt beef, but she used to heat it up in a tomato sauce and it was delicious.  Her rosti was never greasy and it was always made by boiling the potatoes first in their skins and occasionally she made it from left over boiled potatoes from the day before.

Nina