View source for Bubble and squeak

{{Short description|English breakfast dish}}
{{Other uses|Bubble and Squeak (disambiguation)}}
{{use British English|date=December 2019}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Bubble and squeak
| image            = File:-2021-12-03 Pan fried Bubble and squeak, Trimingham, Norfolk (4).JPG
| image_size       = 275px
| caption          = Pan-fried bubble and squeak
| alternate_name   = 
| place_of_origin          = England, United Kingdom
| region           = 
| creator          = 
| course           = 
| type             = 
| served           = 
| main_ingredient  = Potato, cabbage
| variations       = 
| calories         = 
| other            = 
| cookbook         = Bubble and squeak
}}
'''Bubble and squeak''' is an English dish made from cooked potatoes and cabbage, mixed together and fried. The food writer [[Howard Hillman]] classes it as one of the "great peasant dishes of the world".<ref name=hh>Hillman, pp. 62–63</ref> The dish has been known since at least the 18th century, and in its early versions it contained cooked beef; by the mid-20th century the two vegetables had become the principal ingredients.

==History==
The name of the dish, according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (OED), alludes to the sounds made by the ingredients when being fried.<ref name=oed/> The first recorded use of the name listed in the OED dates from 1762;<ref name=oed>{{Cite OED|bubble and squeak}}</ref> ''The St James's Chronicle'', recording the dishes served at a banquet, included "Bubble and Squeak, garnish'd with Eddowes Cow Bumbo, and Tongue".<ref>"Bill of Fare of a West-India Dinner", ''The St James's Chronicle'', 16–18 September 1762, p. 1</ref> A correspondent in ''The Public Advertiser'' two years later reported making "a very hearty Meal on fryed Beef and Cabbage; though I could not have touched it had my Wife recommended it to me under the fashionable Appellation of ''Bubble and Squeak''".<ref>"To the Printer of the ''Public Advertiser''", ''The Public Advertiser'', 9 February 1764, p. 1</ref> In 1791 another London paper recorded the quarterly meeting of the Bubble and Squeak Society at [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]].<ref>"Present Week", ''The Diary, or Woodfall's Register'', 28 February 1791, p. 3</ref>

[[File:Rundell-bubble-and-squeak.png|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=scan of early 19th century page of text, giving ingredients as in the adjoining paragraph to this image|[[Maria Rundell]]'s recipe, 1806]]
The dish as it is made in modern times differs considerably from its first recorded versions, in which cooked beef was the main ingredient and potatoes did not feature. The earliest-known recipe is in [[Maria Rundell]]'s ''[[A New System of Domestic Cookery]]'', published in 1806. It consists wholly of cabbage and rare roast beef, seasoned and fried.<ref name="rundell">Rundell, p. 42</ref> This method is followed by [[William Kitchiner]] in his book ''Apicius Redivivus, or The Cook's Oracle'' (1817);<ref>Kitchiner (1817), p. 302</ref> in later editions he adds a couplet at the top of his recipe:
<poem>
     When 'midst the frying Pan in accents savage,
     The Beef, so surly, quarrels with the Cabbage.<ref>Kitchiner (1827), p. 302</ref> </poem>
[[Isabella Beeton|Mrs Beeton]]'s recipe in her ''[[Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management|Book of Household Management]]'' (1861) similarly combines cooked beef with cabbage (and, in her recipe, onions) but no potato.<ref name=mb>Beeton, p. 287</ref> An 1848 recipe from the US is similar, but adds chopped carrots.<ref name=k37>Kalman, p. 37</ref> In all of these, the meat and vegetables are served next to each other, and not mixed together.<ref name="rundell" /><ref name=mb/><ref name=k37/>

In 1872 a [[Lancashire]] newspaper offered a recipe for "delicious bubble and squeak", consisting of thinly sliced beef fried with cabbage and carrot,<ref>"Australian Meat", ''Blackburn Standard'', 20 March 1872, p. 4</ref> but not potatoes, although by then they had been a major crop in Lancashire for decades.<ref>Wilson, p. 218</ref> In the 1880s potatoes began to appear in recipes. In 1882 the "Household" column of ''The Manchester Times'' suggested:
{{blockindent|'''Bubble and Squeak'''. – Mash four potatoes, chop a plateful of cold greens, season with a small saltspoonful of salt and the same of pepper; mix well together, and fry in dissolved dripping or butter (three ounces), stirring all the time. Cut about three-quarters of a pound of cold, boiled beef into neat, thin slices. Fry slightly over a slow fire six minutes. Put the vegetables round the dish and the meat in the centre. Serve very hot.<ref>"The Household Column", ''The Manchester Times'', 11 March 1882, p. 7</ref>|}}

Potatoes featured in a recipe printed in a [[Yorkshire]] paper in 1892 but, as in earlier versions, the main ingredients were beef and cabbage.<ref>"Hearth and Home: Bubble and Squeak", ''York Herald'', 28 May 1892, p. 12</ref>

==Modern versions==
[[File:Montpelier, Peckham, London (2875954468).jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Bubble and squeak, left]]
Possibly because of the scarcity of beef during [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|food rationing]] in and after the [[Second World War]],<ref>McCorquodale, p. 138</ref> by the latter half of the 20th century the basic ingredients were widely considered to be cooked and mashed (or coarsely crushed) potato and chopped cooked cabbage. Those are the only two ingredients in [[Delia Smith]]'s 1987 recipe.<ref>D. Smith, p. 154</ref> [[Clarissa Dickson Wright]]'s 1996 version consists of crushed cooked potatoes, finely chopped raw onion, and cooked cabbage (or [[Brussels sprouts]]), seasoned with salt and pepper, mixed together and shallow-fried until browned on the exterior.<ref name=tfl>Paterson and Dickson Wright, p. 97.</ref> Like Smith, Dickson Wright specifies [[dripping]] (or [[lard]]) for frying, finding vegetable oil unsuitable for frying bubble and squeak, because the mixture will not brown adequately.<ref name=tfl/> Several other cooks find oil or butter satisfactory.<ref>Hix, p. 214; Oliver, p. 383; and J. Smith, p. 247</ref>

[[Fiona Beckett]] (2008), like Smith and Dickson Wright, stipulates no ingredients other than potato and cabbage,<ref>Beckett, p. 169</ref>
but there are many published variants of the basic recipe. [[Gary Rhodes]] favours sliced Brussels sprouts, rather than cabbage, with gently cooked sliced onions and mashed potato, fried in butter.<ref>Rhodes, pp. 118–119</ref> He comments that although the basic ingredients of bubble and squeak and [[colcannon]] are similar, the two are very different dishes, the former being traditionally made from leftovers and fried to give a brown crust, and the latter "a completely separate dish of potato, [[spring onion]] and cabbage, served almost as creamed potatoes".<ref name=gr>Rhodes, pp. 139 and 147</ref>

[[Jeff Smith (chef)|Jeff Smith]] (1987) adds grated [[courgettes]] and chopped ham and bacon.<ref>J. Smith, p. 247</ref> [[Mark Hix]] (2005) adds cooked and chopped leeks and swede to the mix.<ref>Hix, p. 214</ref> [[Jamie Oliver]] (2007) adds chestnuts and "whatever veg you like – carrots, Brussels, [[swede (vegetable)|swedes]], [[turnip]]s, onions, leeks or [[Savoy cabbage]]".<ref>Oliver, p. 383</ref> [[Nigel Slater]], in a 2013 recipe using Christmas leftovers, adds chopped goose, ham and pumpkin to the mixture.<ref name=ns>Slater, Nigel. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bauble_and_squeak_09032 "Christmas bubble and squeak"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815205419/https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bauble_and_squeak_09032 |date=15 August 2020 }}, BBC. Retrieved 27 October 2020</ref>

The mixture is then [[Shallow frying|shallow-fried]], either shaped into round cakes or as a single panful and then sliced. The first method is suggested by Delia Smith, Hix and Slater; Rhodes finds both methods satisfactory; Dickson Wright, Oliver and Jeff Smith favour the whole-pan method.<ref name=ns/><ref>Hix, p. 214; Oliver, p. 383; Paterson and Dickson Wright, p. 97; Rhodes, pp. 118–119; D. Smith, p. 154; and J. Smith, p. 247</ref>

==Outside Britain==
Bubble and squeak is familiar in Australia; a 1969 recipe adds peas and pumpkin to the basic mix.<ref>Moloney, Ted. "New Ideas for Bubble 'N Squeak", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 26 May 1969, p. 39</ref> The dish is not common in the US but is not unknown; an American recipe from 1913 resembles Rundell's version, with the addition of a border of mashed potato.<ref name="usa">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SaQtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n50FAAAAIBAJ&dq=bubble&pg=4819%2C2454303 "Hearty Luncheon and Supper Dishes"], ''The Reading Eagle'', 20 July 1913. p. 18</ref> In 1983 the  American food writer [[Howard Hillman]] included bubble and squeak in his survey ''Great Peasant Dishes of the World''.<ref name=hh/> More recently ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine ran an article about the dish in 2004.<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/2004/11/17/cx_cv_1117food.html "Squeaking by"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044523/https://www.forbes.com/2004/11/17/cx_cv_1117food.html |date=1 December 2017 }}, ''Forbes'', 17 November 2004</ref> A Canadian newspaper in 1959 reported a minor controversy about the origins of the dish, with readers variously claiming it as Australian, English, Irish and Scottish.<ref>Cribbens, Norman. "Here and There", ''Times Colonist'', 24 December 1959, p. 11</ref> In 1995, another Canadian paper called the dish "universally beloved".<ref>Hunter, Don. "Out and About", ''The Province'', 24 November 1995, p. 41</ref>

== Similar dishes ==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* [[Panackelty]], from north-east England
* [[Rumbledethumps]], [[stovies]] and [[clapshot]] from [[Scottish cuisine|Scotland]]
* [[Colcannon]] and [[Champ (food)|champ]], from [[Irish cuisine|Ireland]]
* [[Stoemp]] from Belgium
* [[Calentao]], from Colombia
* [[Biksemad]], from Denmark
* [[Bauernfrühstück]] and [[Stemmelkort]], from Germany
* [[Aloo tikki]], from India
* [[Stamppot]], from the [[Dutch cuisine|Netherlands]]
* [[Trinxat]], from the [[La Cerdanya]] region of [[Catalonia]], northeast Spain and [[Andorra]]
* [[Matevž]], from [[Slovenian cuisine|Slovenia]]
* [[Pyttipanna|Pyttipanna, Pyttipanne and Pyttipannu]] from Sweden, Norway and Finland
* [[Hash (food)|Hash]], from the United States
{{div col end}}

==Other uses of term==
The OED gives a secondary definition of "bubble and squeak": "figurative and in figurative contexts. Something resembling or suggestive of bubble and squeak, especially in consisting of a variety of elements". In 1825 a reviewer in ''[[The Morning Post]]'' dismissed a new opera at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] as "a sort of bubble and squeak mixture of English and Italian".<ref>"Covent Garden Theatre", ''The Morning Post'', 9 April 1825, p. 3</ref> The OED gives examples from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including, from [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]], "... the restless Bubble and Squeak of his Vanity and Discontent", and from [[D. H. Lawrence]], "I can make the most lovely bubble and squeak of a life for myself".<ref name=oed/> In [[rhyming slang|cockney rhyming slang]] the phrase was formerly used for "beak" (magistrate) and more recently "Bubble" has been used for "Greek".<ref name=oed/>

The term has been borrowed by authors of children's books as names for a pair of puppies and (by two different authors) pairs of mice.<ref>[https://archive.org/search.php?query=Bubble%20and%20Squeak&and=mediatype%3A%22texts%22 "Bubble and Squeak"], Internet Archive. Retrieved 27 October 2020</ref>

In the late 1940s, George Moreno Jr., an American animator living and working in England, borrowed the term, re-spelling it "Bubble and Squeek," for a series of cartoon shorts released by [[Associated British-Pathe]].  The star characters of Moreno's cartoons were a humanized taxi (Squeek) and its driver (Bubble).

==References and sources==
===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book | last = Beckett | first = Fiona | author-link=Fiona Beckett| title = The Frugal Cook | year = 2008 | location = Bath | publisher = Absolute Press | isbn = 978-1-904573-85-2 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Beeton | first = Isabella | author-link=Isabella Beeton| title = The Book of Household Management | year = 1861 | location = London | publisher = S. O. Beeton |url= https://archive.org/details/b21527799/page/286/mode/2up?q }}
* {{cite book | last = Hillman | first = Howard | author-link=Howard Hillman| title = Great Peasant Dishes of the World | year = 1983 | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | isbn = 978-0-395-32210-9 |url = https://archive.org/details/greatpeasantdish00hill/ | url-access = registration }} 
* {{cite book | last = Hix | first = Mark | author-link=Mark Hix| title = British Food | year = 2005 | location = London | publisher = Quadrille | isbn = 978-1-84400-213-9 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Kalman | first = Bobbie | title= Food for the Settler  | year = 1992 | location = Toronto and New York | publisher = Crabtree | isbn = 978-0-86505-013-6 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Kitchiner | first = William | author-link=William Kitchiner| title = Apicius Redivivus or, The Cook's Oracle | year = 1817| location = London | publisher = S. Bagster | url= https://archive.org/details/apiciusredivivus00kitc/page/n383/mode/2up| oclc = 1039992330 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Kitchiner | first = William | title = The Cook's Oracle | year = 1827 | location = London | publisher = Houlston and Stoneman | url=https://archive.org/details/b22016430/page/n401/mode/2up| oclc = 1040257989 }} 
* {{cite book | last = McCorquodale | first = Duncan | title = A Visual History of Cookery | year = 2009 | location = London | publisher = Black Dog | isbn = 978-1-906155-50-6}} 
* {{cite book | last =Oliver  | first = Jamie |author-link=Jamie Oliver | title = Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life | year = 2007 | location = London | publisher = Michael Joseph | isbn = 978-0-7181-5243-7 }} 
* {{cite book | last = Paterson | first = Jennifer|author-link=Jennifer Paterson | author2 = Clarissa Dickson Wright | author2-link = Clarissa Dickson Wright | title = Two Fat Ladies | year = 1996 | location = London | publisher = Ebury Press | isbn = 978-0-09-186524-5 }}
* {{cite book | last = Rhodes | first = Gary | author-link=Gary Rhodes| title = Rhodes & More Rhodes Around Britain | year = 1995 | location = London | publisher = Ted Smart | oclc = 1194908499}}
* {{cite book | last = Rundell | first = Maria | author-link=Maria Rundell|title = A New System of Domestic Cookery | year = 1806 | location = Exeter | publisher = Norris & Sawyer | url = https://archive.org/details/b21530452/page/42/mode/2up?q | oclc = 1040258603}}
* {{cite book | last = Smith | first = Delia | author-link=Delia Smith | title = Frugal Food | year = 1987 | location = London | publisher = Coronet Books | isbn = 978-0-340-71294-8 }}
* {{cite book | last= Smith | first= Jeff| author-link=Jeff Smith (chef) | title= The Frugal Gourmet| year= 1987| location = New York | publisher= Ballantine Books | isbn= 978-0-345-33523-4}}
* {{cite book | last=Wilson | first=C. Anne | title=Food & Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century | year=1991 | location=London | publisher=Constable | isbn=978-0-09-470760-3 }}

{{Subject bar|Food|auto=1}}
{{Potato dishes}}
{{English cuisine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bubble And Squeak}}
[[Category:English cuisine]]
[[Category:Potato dishes]]
[[Category:Cabbage dishes]]
[[Category:Brassica oleracea dishes]]
[[Category:Food combinations]]
[[Category:Breakfast dishes]]
[[Category:Dishes based on leftover ingredients]]
[[Category:Peasant food]]