bubble and squeak

1 7.3

A British dish made by frying leftover cabbage and potatoes, often served with eggs or bacon

noun
/ˈbʌb.əl ənd skwiːk/

: bubble and squeak

After finishing the roast, we turned the leftovers into bubble and squeak.
bubble and squeak and mash

Examples

They ate things they called toad in the hole, bubble and squeak.

Fiction book (1995)
SAUSAGE AND MASH, BUBBLE AND SQUEAK, TOAD IN THE HOLE.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
I love having bubble and squeak for breakfast, especially with some crispy bacon.
On cold winter mornings, nothing warms me up like a plate of bubble and squeak.

Surface Forms

bubble and squeak singular

bubble and squeaks plural

Morphology

bubble + and + squeak

The words 'bubble' and 'squeak' are literal verbs describing sounds, and the coordinating 'and' gives no culinary cue; knowing these constituent meanings does not indicate a specific fried-leftovers dish. 'Bubble and squeak' is a lexicalized, culture-specific food name in British English, so its meaning cannot be derived from the parts and would be opaque to B1 learners unfamiliar with the term.

Etymology

Bubble and squeak gets its name from a simple kitchen image: one popular story says the potatoes bubble and the cabbage squeak as they fry together in a pan. So the name came to mean a fried mix of 'leftovers' such as potatoes, cabbage and sometimes meat.