Ingredients
7 large potatoes (or more)
1 each large bunch kale greens
1/4 cup butter
1 milk or cream as needed
4 each strips of bacon, cut up
1 tbsp onion, minced
1 salt & pepper to taste
Directions
Peel and boil 7 or 8 med. to lge. potatoes until done. Remove
stalks from leaves of kale greens and tear or chop into very small
pcs. Bring to a boil with a bit of bacon and simmer while potatoes
cook. Mash the potatoes with 1/4 c. of butter and milk or cream as
needed. Add salt and pepper. Drain the chopped, cooked kale. (You
should have about twice as many potatoes as kale. Mix the two
together with 1 tb. minced onion. Correct seasoning and serve with
butter.
NOTE: Colcannon is a mixture of buttered greens and potatoes.
Traditionally concannon was eaten at Halloween. A heaping portion is
dished onto each plate. A well is made in the center of the mount to
hold a generous portion of butter. The colcannon is eaten from
around the outside in. You take a scoop, dip it in the well of
butter in the center and eat. With a glass of buttermilk, the WAS a
meal in itself. In the Midlands, colcannon is called "thump". In the
north and western parts of Ireland it is called "champ". To tell
fortunes on Halloween, a ring and a silver coin were mixed into the
colcannon...whoever got the ring was soon to marry and whoever got
the coin would be wealthy.
Servings: 1 servings
Colcannon (Traditional Irish Dish) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Irish
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as an idea can be tracked back into history, at least as far back as early Egypt, and potentially, even further back. However, mostly, these early cook books were just simple hieroglyphic recipes for preparing food.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe discovered, according to food historians are some clay tablets in the Sumerian language which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel blissful. Later on, in The time of the romans 25BC a man called Apicius compiled a few documents detailing recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. In his publication, Apicius tells us how the meals were separated into starters, entrees and dessert, known in latin as `Gustatio, Primae Mensae and Secundae Mensae`. This early Roman chef recounts how the cooks of Roman times were skilled in the use of many herbs and spices, including many that are still in use today such as bay, mint and dill. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there are two recipe books which appeared in the fourteenth century : a book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, they have no connection with the indian food that is served today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals cooked for the upper classes. Later on, in the 15th century, the Crusaders brought back a variety of foods and herbs from the holy land, including spices like basil and rosemary. These new herbs and spices was responsible for an outbreak in recipe publications, the majority of which are kept safe in academic collections. Over the succeeding few centuries, the wealthy families of the West competed to serve up the most exotic meals, and consequentially the best chefs and their collection of recipes could command a high salary. Even so, it was during the 1800s that haute cuisine and cookery books reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collating, verifying, and recording popular recipes of the day. When we get to the 20th century, cooking books were highly popular mostly as a result of better eduction, people having increased spare time and having more money to spend. |
We hope you enjoy this Colcannon (Traditional Irish Dish) recipe.
