There is a school of thought that says the best recipes are the ones invented to use up what's left in the pot. Rumbledethumps belongs firmly to that school. It comes from the Scottish Borders — not the Highlands, not the islands, not the Burns Night table — and it has none of the ceremony of haggis or the elegance of cranachan. It is, at its heart, a way of turning yesterday's potatoes and cabbage into something worth eating again.

The name is the best thing about it before you've tasted it. It comes from the rumbling and thumping of a wooden spoon working through the mash — the noise the pot makes when you're putting some effort in. Agnes Isabella would have recognised the sound immediately.

Mashed potato, cabbage, onion, topped with mature cheddar and baked until the crust is golden and the edges are bubbling. That's it. It sits alongside Bubble and Squeak in England and Colcannon in Ireland as one of those quietly brilliant dishes that every culture seems to have arrived at independently — the peasant genius of not wasting food.

This rumbledethumps recipe is made for one, in a Marseilles blue cast iron gratin dish that has become something of a fixture in the Casa Adora kitchen. It goes straight from the oven to the table.

What is a rumbledethumps recipe?

Rumbledethumps is a traditional baked dish from the Scottish Borders, made from mashed potato, cabbage and onion, topped with cheese and baked until golden. The name is thought to derive from the sounds made when vigorously mashing and mixing the ingredients — the rumbling and thumping of the spoon against the pot.

It is often described as Scotland's answer to Bubble and Squeak or Irish Colcannon, though rumbledethumps is baked rather than fried, and the cheese crust sets it apart from both.

A leftover supper

This is a dish built for the end of the week. Leftover mashed potato is the starting point — if it's already seasoned and buttered, so much the better. The cabbage can be leftover too, though a few fresh leaves shredded and briefly cooked take no more than five minutes. The onion is the only thing you're cooking from scratch, and even that is barely ten minutes over a low heat.

If you're starting entirely from scratch, boil and mash the potato first and let it cool slightly before combining. The result is the same either way.

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 200g mashed potato (leftover or freshly made)
• 100g cabbage, shredded (leftover or briefly blanched)
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 15g butter
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 50g mature cheddar, grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and soften the onion for 8–10 minutes until translucent and just beginning to colour. Add the cabbage and stir through for a couple of minutes if using fresh; if using leftover cooked cabbage, just combine and remove from the heat.

Mix the onion and cabbage through the mashed potato. Season well — this needs more salt than you think, particularly if the potato is unseasoned leftovers.

Spoon into a gratin dish and level the top. Cover generously with the grated cheddar.

Bake for 20–25 minutes until the cheese is golden and the edges are bubbling. Serve straight from the dish.

What to serve with rumbledethumps

As a side dish it sits naturally alongside haggis — a Balmoral Chicken would not complain either. As a supper in its own right, it needs nothing more than something sharp alongside — a few pickled onions, or a smear of mustard.

The Scottish Borders cluster

If you're working through the Scottish Recipes collection, rumbledethumps sits alongside Clapshot — the Orcadian combination of neeps and tatties — as one of the great Scottish side dishes built around root vegetables and honest labour. Skirlie, made from oatmeal and onion fried in butter, completes the trio. Between them they cover most of what the Scottish kitchen does quietly and well.

Footnote

This rumbledethumps recipe is part of my Scottish Recipes collection, a gathering of traditional and adapted Scottish dishes from a Morrison with roots in Clackmannanshire. You'll also find it in my Potato Recipes collection. If you like your oatmeal in a pan, my Skirlie is worth a look too.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef