Talk:Clapshot

Merge?

This is surely never going to be more than a definition? Needs to be merged, whether to Cuisine of Scotland or the Orkneys, or potato or whatever. Cuisine of Scotland is probably the best destination unless someone can find a better one. FlagSteward 21:05, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I am not much of cook, but I believe clapshot is to Orkney as haggis is to Scotland. In its current form I agree it is of little value, but I don't doubt a decent article could be written about it if anyone was so inclined. Ben MacDui (Talk) 07:31, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

It would help if it made more sense as well. If it "consists primarily of potatoes and turnips," how is it different from "neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes)"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.97.98.201 (talk) 21:48, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Served mashed together, rather than mashed individually and served side-by-side. Does anyone have any knowledge of the etymology of the word?86.1.196.156 (talk) 02:46, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Rotmos

Seem to be identical with the Swedish rotmos. Sometimes made with chives or other herbs (in my part of Sweden with either parsley (sv. bladpersilja), bear's garlic (sv. ramslök) or chives (sv. gräslök), since chives are native to Sweden, I would guess that it was used first (parsley and bear's garlic has been grown in my part of Sweden since at least the 8th century (bear's garlic is now growing in the wild) and rutabaga (sv. rotabagge/kålrot) is a native, wild growing, species, it was mostly replaced by potatoes as a crop in the 18th century). Rotmos, in its modern form, have been eaten in Sweden for as long as potatoes have been grown here. Before that it was made by using only cultivated rutabaga, and before that from wild growing rutabaga and other wild plants of the genus Brassica (then the mash was called gröt/grautr (meaning something that has been coarsely ground), a word now only used for porridge in written Swedish).

Netherlands and Germany have their versions too (but I can't recall what they call them). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.234.126.82 (talk) 21:10, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Is this really uniquely Scottish?

The term 'clapshot' may be Scots/Orcadian, but potatoes mashed with swedes/rutabagas are a standard side vegetable wherever these crops are grown. There's nothing particularly distinctive about the Orcadian version. I'm going to have some tonight with some nice sausages, and I'm about 300 miles south of the Scots border, and Orkney is a lot further north than that. Ef80 (talk) 16:00, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

Do you have sources for this standard elsewherishness? Recipes in multiple other traditions? To my memory it was fairly unusual even elsewhere in Scotland a few decades ago and to this day, if eaten on the same plate, mashed potatoes with separate diced or mashed neep would be the norm. The article doesn't claim uniqueness but that it is a distinctive tradition. Mutt Lunker (talk) 10:04, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

There are no real recipes because it's just a way of serving potato and swede as vegetables. Just as with mashed potato alone, it can have butter added, or be served dry with gravy. Sometimes mashed carrot or other root vegetables are included, and also chopped fried onion or chives. Certainly in England, potato and swede are more likely to be mashed together than served separately. These are mainstream things - supermarkets sell ready prepared versions, e.g. https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-carrot---swede-potato-mash-400g

I don't doubt that people in Scotland eat potato and swede mashed together and call it 'clapshot', but it's not unique to Scotland and, as you imply, it may even be *less* popular there than elsewhere. It's just that other places don't use the 'clapshot' name. --Ef80 (talk) 15:03, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm not sure what your point is in regard to the article. You are still mentioning uniqueness, which is irrelevant. There are numerous simple, traditional recipes with small combinations of vegetables. Their comparative similarites or that anyone else might reasonably stumble on the same combo do not mean they are not WP:NOTABLE as entities. Indeed, the small number of ingredients would mean the addition of onion or gravy (never, as far as I'm aware, a feature of clapshot) a distinctly different dish. I do not imply clapshot is less popular in Scotland than elsewhere but that it, to my memory, was less commonplace in my non-Orcadian part of Scotland when I was a child than it is now. Your assertions are original research, so mine, in regard to England is that supermarkets started offering potatoes and carrots mashed together maybe 20 years ago. They are now apparently mashing swedes/neeps in with it too. My childhood memories and your current impression are neither here nor there for the article and, as OR, inadmissable. It is verifiably a traditional dish of Orkney (demonstrably, there are real recipes), whether unique or not. Roast beef has one ingredient, is not unique to England but a/the national dish. Mutt Lunker (talk) 16:01, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm not going to continue to make a fuss about this, but I do think the suggestion to merge the article into Cuisine of Scotland made upthread in 2007 was sensible. To be clear, none of my comments here are in any way criticisms of Scots or Scottish culture. --Ef80 (talk) 16:14, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

It's unlikely to ever be much more than a stub but 17 years ago it was even briefer and entirely unreferenced. It now has 5, which is more than sufficient to establish notability. I was not interpreting your remarks as criticisms of Scots or Scots culture. (For no other reason that it has occurred to me, in London in the 90s, possibly 2000s, swedes were not commonplace, though it was less difficult to find them in the run-up to Burns Night. I was occasionally offered the nippy wee white things by the well-meaning.) Mutt Lunker (talk)