Potatoes · Recipe · Ireland · Reference page

Colcannon

Name: Colcannon
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1.8 kg floury potatoes (7–8 large), peeled; 1 piece head of green cabbage or kale, cored and thinly sliced; 240 ml milk or cream; 120 g butter, divided into three; 5 piece scallions (spring onions), chopped (optional); salt; fresh parsley or chives, chopped

cál ceannann

Floury potatoes mashed by hand with hot milk, butter and scallions, mixed with just-wilted cabbage or kale and served with a pool of melting butter in the middle. It is Ireland's Halloween dish, once hiding charms that foretold the year ahead.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 6
Preparation: 15 min
Cooking: 30 min
Total: 45 min
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Two saucepans; potato masher or fork (not a ricer or mixer)

Servings6

Ingredients

1.8 kgfloury potatoes (7–8 large), peeledThe source insists on old, floury potatoes: waxy ones won't do.
1 head of green cabbage or kale, cored and thinly sliced
240 mlmilk or cream
120 gbutter, divided into three
5 scallions (spring onions), chopped (optional)
salt
fresh parsley or chives, chopped

Shopping list

Method

Put the potatoes on to boil.
Meanwhile, cover the sliced cabbage with boiling water from the kettle in a large pan and keep it at a slow rolling boil for 3–5 minutes, until just wilted and darker green. It should be, if anything, slightly undercooked.
Timer · 4 min4:00
Drain the cabbage well, squeeze out the water and return it to the pan with a third of the butter. Cover and keep warm off the heat while the butter melts.
When the potatoes are soft, drain and return them to the pan over a low heat, uncovered, until perfectly dry.
Why Wet potatoes make a watery mash; driving off the steam lets them absorb the milk and butter.
Add the milk, another third of the butter and the scallions. Let the milk warm until the butter melts and the pot steams, without boiling. Mash the potatoes thoroughly into it with a masher or fork.
Why A ricer or mixer overworks the starch and makes the mash gluey, the source warns.
Mix the cabbage through the mash. Season with a little salt, sprinkle with herbs, make a well in the centre and drop in the last of the butter to melt.

To drink & serve with

Irish stew
Editorial suggestion: with boiled bacon, sausages or alongside an Irish stew.

Substitutions

Cabbage → Kale, equally traditional.
Milk → Cream, for a richer mash.

Common mistakes

Overcooking the cabbage: it turns grey and sulphurous.
Using waxy potatoes or a mixer: the mash turns gluey.

Storage & reheating

Leftovers can be fried in butter as a cake the next day. Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days.

Safety

Contains milk.

Allergens

Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian · gluten-free

White-headed cabbage and Halloween charms

IrishCentral derives the name from the Irish cál ceannann, "white-headed cabbage". Colcannon is the traditional Halloween dish, and charms were once mixed into it as portents for the coming year: a button meant staying a bachelor, a thimble a spinster, a ring marriage and a coin wealth. Some, it adds, filled their socks with colcannon and hung them on the front door, believing the first man through it would be their future husband.

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Dry potatoes, hot milk, butter in three

The method is about texture. The greens are only just wilted so they stay bright and slightly firm. The drained potatoes are dried in the pan before the milk goes in, and the milk is warmed with butter until it steams so it is absorbed, not poured cold into hot potato. The butter goes in in three parts: on the cabbage, into the mash, and finally into a well on top.

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