Colcannon and Champ

Colcannon is mashed potato with kale or green cabbage worked through it and a well of melted butter in the middle; champ is mashed potato with chopped scallions steeped in hot milk, and is more associated with Ulster. Both are old, both are peasant food in the direct sense, and both are better than the description suggests when made with floury potatoes and an unreasonable quantity of butter. Colcannon carried a Halloween tradition: charms were hidden in the dish and served at the Samhain meal, a ring meaning marriage within the year, a coin wealth, a thimble spinsterhood - the same practice attached to barmbrack, which has largely displaced it. Unmarried women were said to hang a sock filled with colcannon on the door handle to catch a husband. It appears on pub and carvery menus nationwide as a side, and in restaurants that have decided to take Irish food seriously.

What to look for

• Colcannon - mashed potato with kale or cabbage and a well of butter.
• Champ - mashed potato with scallions steeped in hot milk, an Ulster dish.
• The Halloween charms - ring, coin and thimble hidden in the colcannon.
• The butter - the quantity is not incidental to either dish.

When to go

Any time; colcannon appears specifically around Halloween in its traditional form. Both are standard pub and carvery sides year-round.

Good to know

Simple food that depends entirely on the potatoes and the butter - made with waxy potatoes it is poor. Restaurant versions sometimes overcomplicate it. The Halloween charm tradition has mostly moved to barmbrack.

Nearby

Served nationwide; champ is most at home in Ulster and the border counties.