Viili Colcannon
Look at all that extra butter. You want to eat this, don’t you?
Ah, colcannon. This dish alone represents Ireland to me, due to its simplicity, quality, and elegance. Although we are not Irish, this is a staple dish in our home. We eat this when we’re sad, when we’re sick, and in general any time we want good comfort food. It seems, often, that what is in effect a bowl of mashed potatoes with cabbage in it wouldn’t have such a profound effect on the soul, nor be quite so filling (without being heavy) on its own, but it is!
This is a non-traditional version of colcannon. Traditionally, it’s basically potatoes, cabbage or kale, leeks or onions, and some milk and butter. That’s really all it needs to be, but sometimes you want to make it just a little differently. Just about everything in this version is fermented, though I don’t always do it that way. In this particular version, the cabbage comes from a slaw kraut recipe that’ll be posted next Wednesday, the butter was cultured, and then of course the viili. My family cannot stand fermented potatoes for any reason, but if you like them then go on ahead and use them!
It should be noted that when you cook a fermented food, it does lose its probiotics. You likely can tell by now that I don’t care, because flavor is really what ferments are about for me. The probiotics in ferments I don’t cook are awesome, but it’s not at all why I ferment. That’s great for y’all, though, because more recipes come from my willingness to cook them!
We use viili for this because of all the dairy cultures we’ve tried, viili makes the best colcannon. Here’s what you need to know about the viili - it should be over-fermented. When you culture your new batch for this, save an extra portion of the last batch you used to start your over-fermented viili. Sometimes, long viili becomes short if it’s over-fermented, and I don’t want you to risk losing your ropes! This is still good with normally fermented viili, but the magic happens best if it has some extra funk to it.
In some kind of weird moment of doing things in my head instead of in real life, I published this without actually giving y’all the recipe. Sorry about that! Here it is!!
The Recipe… dun dun dunnnnnnnn!
1-2 cups of chopped green cabbage or kale - OR about 1-2 cups of sauerkraut!
1 leek or 1/2 an onion, chopped
2-4 pounds of potatoes (white makes the best, and keep these ratios)
Assume you need at least one stick of butter
1/2-1 cup of overfermented viili (or whatever yogurt or sour cream you’re rockin’)
Salt and pepper (I use a mix of white and black because kid is sensitive to black, but black is better)
You get to decide if you peel the potatoes. Tradition says yes, I say no. Chop them up and put them in cold water with a whole bunch of salt. Our “whole bunches” will vary, so you decide. But you want these to come out of the pot well-seasoned.
Put a good sized chunk of butter in a skillet, melt, and cook your cabbage, kale, or kraut with salt and pepper and you onion/leek until it’s soft with brown, crispy bits. When the potatoes are done, drain and return them and the well fried cabbage/onion to the boiling pot. Add 1/2 to a full stick of butter, plus your viili, and mash away. Serves 2-4.
Traditionally, you serve this with a well in the center and an extra knob or two of butter. In contemporary times, there’s an increase in additives, ranging from bacon or bacon bits to ham, some people add cheese, go nuts and let your freak flag fly! My family prefers ham or bacon bits and occasionally does use cheese, but I tend to be a bit more purist about it.
