I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Bubble-and-Squeak is, traditionally, a way to use up leftovers. Sometimes, however, you don't have leftovers and still want Bubble-and-Squeak. So what's the solution? Fake the leftovers, of course!

B&S is another of those recipes that nearly everyone makes differently. In no small part that's because it is made from leftovers. Most people seem to agree that it needs cabbage and potatoes, after that it's a free for all. If you do a "Sunday roast" sort of meal, you can throw whatever you've got into the pan. Personally, though, I like using confit. Not everyone always has confit on hand, though they probably should, but it's not really necessary. In fact, meat of any kind is not strictly speaking necessary.

Making confit is not hard, it just takes a while My basic method is here. I usually make it a couple of times a year. It keeps for a long time, especially if you freeze it, and it's great for applications like this.

I note that about a year ago, I put up a recipe for Froth and Moan which is a sort of B&S variation. That's the sort of thing that happens when you try to eat seasonally and locally - this is storage vegetable season, which includes potatoes and cabbage. So B&S is a natural.

• 1/4 head of cabbage
• two large, four medium or six small potatoes
• 1/2 cup or so of confit, shredded
• some confit fat
• salt and pepper

Cut the leftovers in smallish chunks. If you are using other sorts of leftover meats or vegetables, do the same to them. (Or shred the meat, if you'd rather.) If you're using confit pull out what looks like about the right amount, don't be too aggressive about cleaning the fat off, toss it into a pan and get it heating. I usually pack the confit on the bone, so I pull the bones out at this point, and shred the meat in the skillet. If you are using something other than confit (or nothing meaty) you'll need to add some other lipid of your choice. When the oil is up to medium-to-medium-high, put the vegetables in. Add some salt and pepper at this point, bearing in mind how salty your confit is.

The hard part now is not stirring it so much that it never browns, but not stirring it so little that it burns. Rather than actually stirring, I like to try to flip it in sections. It doesn't hold together, so it doesn't flip well, but trying to invert sections of the B&S is what I'm aiming for. When it has reached a suitable level of brownness, serve it forth.

Since everything in the dish has already been cooked, you can fry it to whatever level of brownness you like. I recommend pretty brown, but to each his own. It's also a whole meal on its own, although you could certainly serve it as a side dish if you'd rather. Warm, starchy, filling - it's a great winter dish.