A little early for St. Patrick's Day, but I made Colcannon last night

[csziggy]

On impulse the other day I picked up a couple of leeks, then went and searched for recipes. The one that sounded good was Colcannon, a combination of leeks, cabbage and mashed potatoes. While completely different from anything we have had before, both my husband and I liked it.

Here is how I made it, a mix of several different recipes from various sources.

Ingredients

6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
4 tablespoons butter
2-3 leeks, chopped, both green and white parts
1/2 head (about 1 pound) of cabbage, shredded
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
salt & pepper to taste

Put potatoes in a sauce pan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, cook until fork goes in easily. Drain then mash with milk and sour cream. Season to taste.

Melt butter in large pan, saute leeks, garlic, and half the cabbage until tender. Mix in the rest of the cabbage and the mashed potatoes. Top with butter as desired.

NOTE: I do not add salt or pepper when I cook (an effort to cut our salt use). We add salt as desired at the table and seldom use pepper at all.

This was a very different and interesting dish - it would be great with corned beef, or some reviewers suggested putting beef stew on top. We had it with pork chops.

[appalachiablue]

1. Yum, sounds great (sans garlic). Never knew of this dish before, thanks.

St. Patty's Day is coming up soon.

[csziggy]

3. Some of the original recipes didn't use garlic, some did

I had two cloves left in the fridge that needed to be used up, so they went in there, too. I think it would be good with or without.

As far as mashing the potatoes, my husband did it with my hand masher and per my request, left lumps in. With all the leeks and cabbage, lumpy mashed potatoes were just fine!

[sprinkleeninow]

7. Colcannon is delish! I leave some lumps in my mash also.

Slavs like cabbage and mashed taters, too.

They do make a light brown roux [made with real butter 😉] for the cooked cabbage, then place atop the potatoes. Helpings of each together.😋

[appalachiablue]

8. Some cloves for zest sounds fine. I like a bit of garlic, well cooked But,

it doesn't like me! Light handing or mild eating stays for ages even if I douse with kerosene! My sister on the other hand, can eat onions raw, no problem.

Good idea to use low fat milk and sour cream, still provides great creamy flavor and texture.

I'll ask one of our closest Irish friends if he knows this dish, probly does.

Thanks for the recipe & have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day this month!
____


We spent a few memorable summer days in DUBLIN and saw much: Temple Bar & River Liffey area incl. a local Pub with young Irish dancers, my first 'Lager & Lime.' Trinity College and the famous Book of Kells, priceless medieval art treasure. Elegant Georgian architecture and parks, The National Gallery of Ireland. GPO, Govt. Post Office, famous rebel site during the 1916 Easter Uprising. Drove by US Ambassador Residence of Jean Kennedy Smith. Brought back Jameson's, powerful!

[OnDoutside]

14. Traditional Colcannon wouldn't have garlic, but if it works, all the better. My mother would have

boiled the cabbage in the leftover water that was used to boil the bacon, having torn off the leaves. She boiled the spuds seperately and then mashed them with the cabbage, milk, salt, white pepper and a lot of butter.

[flotsam]

2. Just to be sure

The second half of the cabbage is uncooked? I think I'd like to try it so I would appreciate if you could clear that up for me.

[csziggy]

4. Yes, but it is stirred in with the hot potatoes

And into the hot leeks and other cabbage, so it gets slightly cooked. I liked the texture the less cooked cabbage provided.

With just two of us, we have a lot left over that will be reheated in the microwave, so it will all end up cooked in the long run. I wanted to try it with the less cooked the first time around at least.

I looked at a half dozen or so recipes for Colcannon and kind of cobbled this one together from them. Some called for bacon and cooking the leeks and cabbage in the bacon fat and adding the bacon at the end. Some called for boiling the cabbage before cutting it up and adding it. There are a lot of variations, but this method was simple and I had the ingredients.

[flotsam]

5. Thanks for the update...

I knew that some recipes called for bacon grease which I find appealing. I think I will try your cabbage technique but I will need to shred that part of the cabbage slightly finer than I normally do. Thanks again!

[csziggy]

6. I just cut the cabbage in eighths and then about 1/4" slices

About the same size I cut the leeks. The leeks I cut in half lengthwise then sliced.

While I love bacon and think it would be great to cook the cabbage and leeks in bacon grease, I just had a new aortic valve put in. Even though the doctors did not see any significant blockage, I want things to keep working for a few more decades! So I'm cutting back on most fats - I really should have cooked the leeks and cabbage in olive oil, but a half stick of butter for about eight servings isn't that bad. I did use low fat sour cream and low fat milk.

[Historic NY]

9. Add some Irish bacon....(rashers)

[OnDoutside]

10. It's odd that Corned Beef is used on St Patrick's Day in the US, but in Ireland

we use Bacon, and would never use Corned Beef (well very rarely), except for sandwiches.

My Floridian brother is in the process of trying to "cure" his own Bacon, a small piece just to see how it works out. If it's successful he'll do a much bigger piece for his family and friends for St Patrick's Day.

In Ireland, you can get smoked bacon too, but regardless, we would always steep bacon in a dish of cold water to get the salt out. Sometimes I would do that with cheaper rashers too.

[TexasProgresive]

11. Thanks for an attempt to educate about corned beef.

That is an American Irish thing and not an Irish Irish thing.

[OnDoutside]

12. Happy to help :) I just did a google for why and Irishcentral.com have a good explanation

My brother said that he could source 4lbs of bacon but it was about $60 !

Why Irish Americans eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, not bacon

Why corned beef?

Beef was not readily available in Ireland and was considered a luxury and that’s why the traditional Irish meal centered around ham, the bacon. But when these Irish got off the boats in America it was quite the opposite. Corned beef was the meat that they could easily and more cheaply get their hands on and, so, this became the meal of choice for generations of Irish Americans to come.

SNIP

Francis Lam on Salon.com reports that, years ago, the bars of early 20th century New York would offer a free dinner of corned beef and cabbage to the Irish workers who would crowd in after working all day on the building sites.

The Irish builders would still have to buy a few drinks in order to get their supposedly free dinner, but the main reason that the corned beef and cabbage dinner is thought to be of Irish origin is not because they were enticed by a traditional meal so much as a cheap meal.

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/food-drink/why-do-irish-americans-eat-corned-beef-and-cabbage-instead-of-bacon-for-st-patricks-day-196470851-237570541

[csziggy]

15. So the pork chops we had with our colcannon was Irish!

Even if they were marinated in a sweet teriyaki type sauce.

[OnDoutside]

16. Ah, the Far East cousin, Paddy Teriyaki !

[csziggy]

17. LOL! nt

[OnDoutside]

13. Just as a follow up on Bacon in the US

What is Irish bacon made out of?

It is the most popular cut of bacon in the British Isles. Unlike American bacon which is only made from pork belly, Irish bacon is cut to include the pork belly and loin.

What do you call bacon in Ireland?

In Ireland, the term "bacon" is used to mean any joint of pork except the leg, which is ham. The cuts of pork which in North America are called "bacon", in Ireland are called "rashers".

What is back bacon in America?

American Bacon: Pork Belly. Canadian Bacon: Pork Loin. Canadian bacon is more like ham than the streaky cured and smoked strips of bacon that most of us are used to. American bacon comes from the fatty belly of the pig while Canadian bacon is typically cut from the loin.

Why is Bacon different in America?

Even though American bacon is often smoked for flavor, and Irish bacon is often left unsmoked, or “green,” both styles of bacon are cured. (That curing process is, after all, what makes bacon bacon.) ... American bacon is streaky with fat because it comes from pork belly, one of the fattiest parts of the pig.

How is bacon cured?

Bacon is a cured meat, made by letting a slab of pork belly (or side or loin or fatback) sit in brine or salt for a while to preserve it. So if all bacon is cured by definition, what is uncured bacon? ... Cured bacon is made by adding artificial nitrates, usually sodium nitrite, into the regular salt and brine mixture.

i'm learning myself here today !

In my search I came across a site in the US which does this bacon and more

http://www.foodireland.com/p/spi205.html

and is doing stuff for St Patrick's Day http://www.foodireland.com/c/patrick.html

and of course amazon do rashers ! https://www.amazon.com/Irish-Rashers-Sliced-Breakfast-Bacon/dp/B000LDXS2S