mashed-food-msg - 3/17/99
Period ÔmashedÕ food. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: polenta-msg, root-veg-msg, lamb-mutton-msg, organ-meats-msg, haggis-msg, turnips-msg.
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Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 18:42:48 -0500
From: Jean Holtom <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Corned meat
In Wales we have a tradition of mashing things together as a dish or
side dish:
In North Wales this is known as "Stwns". for example:
"Stwns Rwdan a Iau" (liver and onions, served with swedes and
potatoes mashed up together)
"Stwns ffa" (potatoes and broad beans mashed together)
"Stwns pys" (potatoes and peas mashed up together)
In South Wales the swede and potato combination is known as "potch"
so we have "Potch Erfyn" (potatoes and Swedes mached up together)
NOTE: In America swedes or "erfyn" as they're known in Welsh
are "Rutabagas", and originally I dare say turnips were
used instead of potatoes in these dishes).
In and around London there is a popular "Cockney" dish served for
breakfast which is combined like this also it's called "Bubble and
Squeak" which is composed of potatoes mashed up with peas and cabbage
and fried. Usually it's eaten for breakfast.
I wonder if anyone has heard of any other cultures with this type of
traditional "mashed up together" combination dish?
Is it a Celtic thing, whether in Cockney London or Wales? Is it
commonly done? And I wonder where and when it originated - if it's
possible to sort that out!
Elysant
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 22:26:51 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Corned meat
snowfire at mail.snet.net wrote:
> In and around London there is a popular "Cockney" dish served for
> breakfast which is combined like this also it's called "Bubble and
> Squeak" which is composed of potatoes mashed up with peas and cabbage
> and fried. Usually it's eaten for breakfast.
>
> I wonder if anyone has heard of any other cultures with this type of
> traditional "mashed up together" combination dish?
The Irish have colcannon, boiled potatoes, cabbage, and leeks, mashed
with butter and sometimes cream, usually gratineed in a casserole.
Traditionally eaten at Lughnasa, the Irish version of Thanksgiving
(roughly August 1st, I think, and the only festival I can think of with
the eminently civilized custom of speaking a toast with the first bite
of _food_). In Scotland colcannon is sometimes made with kale instead of
green "head" cabbage. Also in Ireland and Scotland there is champ,
made similarly, but usually of potatoes and scallions or other spring
onions.
A small clue as to possible origins below.
> Is it a Celtic thing, whether in Cockney London or Wales? Is it
> commonly done? And I wonder where and when it originated - if it's
> possible to sort that out!
One possibility is that it's a Viking thing. In Ireland there is an
expression about doing a thorough job (IIRC), about beetling one's
champ. Apparently a beetle is the pestle of a huge mortar, a tool
apparently introduced all over the British Isles by the Vikings, and one
which, incidentally, is excellent for mashing boiled vegetables.
I wouldn't want to go and base a master's degree thesis on this, it's
just something Malachi McCormick mentions in one of his books about
Irish foods.
Adamantius
¯stgardr, East
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 22:38:16 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Corned meat
snowfire at mail.snet.net wrote:
> I wonder if anyone has heard of any other cultures with this type of
> traditional "mashed up together" combination dish?
Sorry, I forgot to mention:
English (as well as other countries') sailors used to eat a rather
widely despised dish called, if I remember it correctly, lobscouse,
which was a sort of hash of potatoes or ship's biscuit, added to salt
meat boiled to rags, and cooked until the liquid was absorbed. I'd have
to check on details, but that's my recollection of it.
Americans, on the other hand, many of them either Irish immigrants or
descendants of them, used to eat, and still do, red flannel hash, made
from the chopped leftovers of a New England Boiled Dinner, usually
consisting of corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, onions, and beets. Between
the corned beef and the beets, and, for all I know, the skins on red
Bliss potatoes, the dish is pretty darned red.
Then, of course, there's chop suey, which some call an American dish,
because Chinese immigrants cooked it while on railroad-building crews in
the nineteenth century. In actual fact, though, mixed sauteed
vegetables, with a gravy-like sauce and sometimes some meat, had been
eaten in China (and called chop suey) long before.
Adamantius
¯stgardr, East
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 02:06:44 -0000
From: <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - Corned meat
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>:
>English (as well as other countries') sailors used to eat a rather
>widely despised dish called, if I remember it correctly, lobscouse,
>which was a sort of hash of potatoes or ship's biscuit, added to salt
>meat boiled to rags, and cooked until the liquid was absorbed. I'd have
>to check on details, but that's my recollection of it.
Well, there«s this recipe, from the first Icelandic cookbook ever published
(written in 1784; this is actually from a recipe for Sheep«s head with lung
mash):
"... They should then be eaten with browned butter,
and, if wished, some lung mash, made of boiled lamb«s lungs, heart and a
small piece of liver. This is chopped very finely on a board, then put into
a pan with some fresh milk or cream, a knob of butter, a pinch of ground
ginger, chopped parsley, and a few currants; when this mash comes to the
boil, it is thickened with some wheat flour, and seasoned with a pinch of
sugar. The cream can be replaced with some meat broth, mixed with wine
vinegar and sugar."
There«s also a recipe for plokkfiskur, boiled fish mashed with a wooden
mallet. Then some cream (or milk), butter and flour is added, and perhaps
some raisins. (This is still a popular dish but chopped onion has replaced
the raisins). Another version from the book but now forgotten uses dried,
pounded fish, mixed with some mashed "yellow roots" (either carrots or
swedes).
Nanna
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 22:02:09 -0500
From: snowfire at mail.snet.net
Subject: Re: SC - Mashed Smashed dishes
- -Poster: Jean Holtom <Snowfire at mail.snet.net>
>> I wonder if anyone has heard of any other cultures with this type of
>> traditional "mashed up together" combination dish?
>English (as well as other countries') sailors used to eat a rather
>widely despised dish called, if I remember it correctly, lobscouse,
>which was a sort of hash of potatoes or ship's biscuit, added to salt
>meat boiled to rags, and cooked until the liquid was absorbed. I'd have
>to check on details, but that's my recollection of it.
i.e. a hash type dish. Interesting.
>There«s also a recipe for plokkfiskur, boiled fish mashed with a wooden
>mallet. Then some cream (or milk), butter and flour is added, and perhaps
>some raisins. (This is still a popular dish but chopped onion has replaced
>the raisins). Another version from the book but now forgotten uses dried,
>pounded fish, mixed with some mashed "yellow roots" (either carrots or
>swedes).
This and the hash type recipe above are similar to the original dishes I'd
mentioned but with the addition of either a meat or fish into the mash.
As an aside, in Britain we also have "fishcakes" which are breaded patties
of mashed fish and potato - fried. And we have "Rissoles" which are mashed meat
, onions and potato in batter and deep fried. They are usually sold at Fish and
Chips shops as a cheaper alternative to go with the chips.
"Potch Erfyn" and "Stwns" are more similar to the second version of
"plokkfiskur" above as it seems the dried pounded fish is mixed with the "yellow
roots" and then served on the plate like a side dish (I'm supposing this
anyway). The similarity of the dishes certainly makes sense of the Viking
origin of this type of dish doesn't it?
Elysant
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 21:49:13 -0500
From: James Gilly / Alasdair mac Iain <alasdair.maciain at snet.net>
Subject: Mashed foods (was Re: SC - Corned meat)
At 22:26 15-1-99 -0500, Adamantius wrote:
>The Irish have colcannon, boiled potatoes, cabbage, and leeks, mashed
>with butter and sometimes cream, usually gratineed in a casserole.
>Traditionally eaten at Lughnasa, the Irish version of Thanksgiving
>(roughly August 1st, I think, and the only festival I can think of with
>the eminently civilized custom of speaking a toast with the first bite
>of _food_). In Scotland colcannon is sometimes made with kale instead of
>green "head" cabbage.
Actually, the colcannon recipe in my mother-in-law's Irish cookbook calls
for kale.
And while we're on the subject of mashed foods, let's not forget that
marvelous combination of haggis, bashed neeps, and chappit tatties, all
stirred together on the plate. (I want to go back to Scotland....)
Laird Alasdair mac Iain of Elderslie
Dun an Leomhain Bhig
Canton of Dragon's Aerie [southeastern CT]
Barony Beyond the Mountain [northern & southeastern CT]
East Kingdom
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 15:26:19 -0500
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Mushy Foods
I was cruising through the english translation of Le Menagier, and found
this in the Odds and Ends section. It sounds pretty good, kind of like a
vegetarian c.b. hash and poached eggs.
Christianna
Rique-Manger. Take two apples as big as two eggs or a little more and
peel them, and take out the seeds, then chop in small pieces, then
parboil in an iron skillet, then pour off the water, and let the
rique-manger dry: then add butter for frying, and while frying and
stirring, drip in two eggs; and when it is all cooked, throw on powdered
spices, and saffron, and eat with bread during September.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 15:46:58 -0600
From: LYN M PARKINSON <allilyn at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Mushy Foods
Wolfmother has a good idea regarding old apples. Here's another
thought--could it have been made with slightly green apples? The new
ones, especially the wind-falls, would be egg sized. If this were a
peasant recipe, I'd say the peasant had only one apple tree and didn't
want to lose any of the fruit. Some apples do ripen early. We used to
have a golden delicious that would wake us up at night, throwing apples
on the tile roof. Windows were open, so it was still very warm weather.
Next day, we could get a bite or two from the 'missiles'.
Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc
<the end>