2A0B:AE00:202A:BA01:643B:B754:38CF:C7DC: /* Etymology */

2025-06-04T20:22:49Z

Etymology

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{{short description|Irish potato dish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Colcannon
| image = Colcannon.JPG
| image_size = 250px
| caption = A pot of freshly made colcannon
| alternate_name =
| country = Ireland
| region =
| creator =
| course =
| type =
| served =
| main_ingredient = [[Mashed potato]]es, [[kale]] or [[cabbage]]
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
[[File:Colcannon recipe on bag of potatoes (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Colcannon recipe on a bag of potatoes]]
'''Colcannon''' ({{Irish place name|cál ceannann|white-headed cabbage|no_translate=}} {{IPA|ga|ˌkaːlˠ ˈcan̪ˠən̪ˠ|}}) is a traditional [[Ireland|Irish]] dish of [[mashed potato]]es with [[cabbage]]. It is a popular dish on [[Saint Patrick's Day]]<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beth Dooley |title=4 recipes for a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal, and it's not corned beef |url=https://www.startribune.com/4-recipes-for-a-traditional-st-patricks-day-meal-and-theres-no-corned-beef-in-sight/600350691/ |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=Star Tribune |date=13 March 2024 |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522124236/https://www.startribune.com/4-recipes-for-a-traditional-st-patricks-day-meal-and-theres-no-corned-beef-in-sight/600350691/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and on the feast day of [[St. Brigid]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=If you really want to celebrate Brigid, eat colcannon on Wednesday and then make your cross |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/01/28/if-you-really-want-to-celebrate-brigid-eat-colcannon-on-wednesday-and-then-make-your-cross/ |access-date=2024-05-22 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522124235/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/01/28/if-you-really-want-to-celebrate-brigid-eat-colcannon-on-wednesday-and-then-make-your-cross/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Description==
Colcannon is most commonly made with only four ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and cabbage. Irish historian [[Patrick Weston Joyce]] defined it as "potatoes mashed with butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot herbs".<ref name=cook>{{cite book |last=Andrews |first=Colman |title=The Country Cooking of Ireland |date=21 December 2012 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=9781452124056 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKBdBblqiX0C&pg=PA219 |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> It can contain other ingredients such as [[scallion]]s (spring onions), [[leek]]s, [[laverbread]], [[onion]]s and [[chive]]s. Some recipes substitute cabbage with kale.<ref name=mimi>{{cite book |last=Sheraton |first=Mimi |title=1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List |date=13 January 2015 |publisher=Workman Publishing Company |isbn=9780761183068 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1f-lAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> There are many regional variations of this staple dish.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/recipes/potatoes/pages/colcannan.aspx |title=Recipe from An Bord Bia (Irish food board) |access-date=2011-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219151629/http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/recipes/potatoes/pages/colcannan.aspx |archive-date=2014-02-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was a cheap, year-round food.<ref>{{cite book|last=Irwin |first=Florence |title=The Cookin' Woman: Irish Country Recipes |publisher=Blackstaff |year=1986 |isbn=0-85640-373-3}}</ref><ref name=oxford>{{cite book |last=Friedland |first=Susan R. |title=Vegetables: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2008 |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford Symposium |isbn=9781903018668 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sV5tBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 |access-date=31 August 2019 |archive-date=28 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828113400/https://books.google.com/books?id=sV5tBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is often eaten with boiled [[ham]], [[salt pork]] or [[Back bacon|Irish bacon]]. As a side dish it can be paired with [[corned beef and cabbage]].<ref name=cook />

Colcannon is similar to [[Champ (food)|champ]], a dish made with [[scallion]]s, butter and milk that is traditionally offered to fairies in a spoon placed at the foot of a [[Crataegus monogyna|hawthorn tree]].<ref name="mimi" />

== Etymology ==
The origin of the word is unclear. The first syllable "col" likely comes from the Irish "cál", meaning kale. The second syllable may derive from "ceann-fhionn", meaning a white head (i.e. "a white head of cabbage"). This usage is also found in the Irish name for a [[Eurasian coot|coot]], a white-headed bird known as "cearc cheannan" or "white-head hen".

In Welsh, the name for leek soup is [[cawl cennin]], a phrase combining [[cawl]] meaning "soup", "broth" or "gruel", when it is not a reference to the typical Welsh meat and vegetable stew named in full "cawl Cymreig", with "cennin", the plural of "cenhinen", meaning "leeks".<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans |first=H. Meurig |title=Y Geiriadur Mawr |publisher=Gwasg Gomer |year=1980}}</ref>

== Song ==
The song "Colcannon", also called "The Skillet Pot", is a traditional Irish song that has been recorded by numerous artists, including [[Mary Black]].<ref name="darina">{{cite book |author=Allen, Darina |title=Irish Traditional Cooking |publisher=Gill and Macmillan |year=2012 |isbn=9780717154364 |location=Dublin |page=152}}</ref><ref>"The Black Family" CD, 1986, Dara Records, DARA CD 023</ref> It begins:
<blockquote><poem>Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?</poem></blockquote>

The chorus:
<blockquote><poem>Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.</poem></blockquote>

==Similar dishes==
{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|
* [[Clapshot]], [[stovies]], and [[rumbledethumps]], from [[Scottish cuisine|Scotland]]
* [[Bubble and squeak]], from [[English cuisine|England]]
* [[Champ (food)|Champ]], from [[Irish cuisine|Ireland]]
* [[Pyttipanna|Biksemad]], from Denmark
* [[Trinxat]], from the [[Empordà]] region of [[Catalonia]], northeast Spain, and [[Andorra]]
* ''Roupa velha'' (Portuguese for "old clothes"), from Portugal, often made from leftovers from ''[[cozido]] à Portuguesa''
* [[stamppot|Boerenkool stamppot]], from the [[Dutch cuisine|Netherlands]]
* [[Stoemp]], from Belgium
* [[Hash (food)|Hash]], from the United States
* [[Hash browns]]
* [[Potato cake]]
}}

==See also==
{{portal|Food|Ireland}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[List of cabbage dishes]]
* [[List of Irish dishes]]
* [[List of potato dishes]]
{{div col end}}


==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Category:Colcannon}}
{{Wiktionary|colcannon}}

{{Irish cuisine}}
{{Potato dishes}}

{{Ireland topics}}

[[Category:Brassica oleracea dishes]]
[[Category:Cabbage dishes]]
[[Category:Halloween food]]
[[Category:Irish cuisine]]
[[Category:Irish words and phrases]]
[[Category:National dishes]]
[[Category:Potato dishes]]
[[Category:Vegetarian cuisine]]
[[Category:Irish-American cuisine]]

Colcannon - Revision history

2A0B:AE00:202A:BA01:643B:B754:38CF:C7DC: /* Etymology */