Ingredients
Cake
- 600 gcold leftover mashed or boiled potato
- 400 gcooked cabbage or Brussels sprouts, roughly chopped
- 1onion, finely chopped
- 50 gbutter or beef dripping
- salt and plenty of black pepper
Optional
- leftover roast meat, chopped
To serve
- a fried egg
- cold cuts
Directions
- Use cold vegetables from the day before. Freshly cooked potato holds far too much water, and the cake will neither crisp nor hold together; this is a dish built for leftovers and it is genuinely worse made from scratch.
- Fry the onion in half the fat over a medium heat for about 8 minutes, until soft and lightly coloured.
- Mix the potato, cabbage, onion and a great deal of black pepper together, keeping it rough. Over-mashing gives you a smooth paste, and you want visible pieces of cabbage through it.
- Heat the rest of the fat in a heavy frying pan until it is properly hot and beginning to shimmer.
- Press the mixture in as a single flat cake and then leave it completely alone for 6 to 8 minutes. The urge to stir is what ruins this dish: the crust only forms with uninterrupted contact against the pan.
- When the underside is deeply browned, turn it over, in pieces if it breaks apart, which is normal and expected rather than a failure.
- Press it flat again and brown the second side for another 5 to 6 minutes.
- Serve hot, cut into rough wedges, with a fried egg on top or alongside cold cuts.
Technique
- It is named for the sounds it makes in the pan, and if yours is silent the pan is not hot enough.
- First recorded in 1762, when it meant fried beef with cabbage. The potato arrived later and eventually took over.
- Sprouts rather than cabbage after Christmas is the classic version, and the one the dish is really built around.
Substitutions
- Beef dripping rather than butter, which browns harder and tastes considerably better.
- Kale or spring greens in place of cabbage.
Variations
- With bacon or leftover roast fried in at the start.
- Formed into individual patties and fried separately, which is easier to turn.
- With a splash of malt vinegar over the top, which is a northern habit.
History
A fried dish made from leftover boiled potatoes and cabbage from a previous meal, most often a Sunday roast, mashed together and pan-fried until crisp on the outside, its name generally explained as describing the sound the mixture makes while cooking in the pan, bubbling and squeaking as it fries. Documented in English cooking since at least the 1700s, it developed specifically as a practical, no-waste way to use up leftover vegetables rather than as a dish designed and cooked fresh from raw ingredients. Its exact composition varies by household and by whatever vegetables happen to be left over, with some versions including additional root vegetables or even leftover meat mixed in alongside the traditional potato and cabbage base.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bubble and squeak?
Bubble and squeak is a salad & side from United Kingdom: leftover potato and cabbage fried together until crisp and browned. A fried dish made from leftover boiled potatoes and cabbage from a previous meal, most often a Sunday roast, mashed together and pan-fried until crisp on the outside, its name generally explained as describing the sound the mixture makes while cooking in the pan, bubbling and squeaking as it fries. Documented in English cooking since at least the 1700s, it developed specifically as a practical, no-waste way to use up leftover vegetables rather than as a dish designed and cooked fresh from raw ingredients. Its exact composition varies by household and by whatever vegetables happen to be left over, with some versions including additional root vegetables or even leftover meat mixed in alongside the traditional potato and cabbage base.
How long does Bubble and squeak take to make?
Bubble and squeak takes 10 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Bubble and squeak?
Yes, within limits. Beef dripping rather than butter, which browns harder and tastes considerably better. Kale or spring greens in place of cabbage.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bubble and squeak?
When the underside is deeply browned, turn it over, in pieces if it breaks apart, which is normal and expected rather than a failure.
