# What is (was?) "Aberdeen Hotpotch"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216 "2010-04-24T16:25:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216/1 "2010-04-24T16:25:34Z")

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I’m reading a book about an exploration expedition to Tasmania. For a long stretch the party seems to exist on little other than cans of ‘Aberdeen hotpotch.’

Googling so far has only turned up that hotpotch, also ‘hot potch’ and ‘hot-potch’ means something like “mish mash” or conglomeration of miscellaneous ingredients.

Fine, but WHAT ingredients? Meat – what kinds? Vegetables – which? And what did it look like? A ground together smoosh like current day canned roast beef hash? Or was it in chunks, like Dinty Moor beef stew?

I figure that if the stuff was sold commercially, surely there was a defined recipe for at least their version, but so far I’ve not come up with a desciption.  
(Yes, my mind gets snagged by insignificant details and it niggles at me.)

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**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216/2 "2010-04-24T16:36:11Z")

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I could be wrong but it might be Hotpot. Lamb, potatoes and Onions.

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**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216/3 "2010-04-24T16:42:12Z")

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It;s also know as Scottish hot pot, hotpotch, … Basically what tomcar said. In the carribean they have a version where they never let the pot go off heat. They just add new stuff every day and some families claim to have batches that are a hundred years old.

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**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216/4 "2010-04-24T21:29:51Z")

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Ah, thank you. So a sort of lamb hash, then. Makes sense, I guess.

I’ve heard of soup pots that were kept going indefinitely the same way, though personally I’ll skip the centuries old stew!

And as a later thought, I’ll bet “hodge podge” is related to this phrase, too.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-aberdeen-hotpotch/537216/5 "2010-04-24T22:06:56Z")

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> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> And as a later thought, I’ll bet “hodge podge” is related to this phrase, too.

Absolutely.