It's from the sound of the cooking.
It's a reference to the boiling water that the potatoes and cabbage are cooked in, followed by the squeaky noise that the cabbage leaves make against each other when you stir. I think.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Sat 6 Feb 2010, 14:00, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Heh. Sounds about right.
Actually it sounds an awful lot like what my mom used to refer to as German potato pancakes. She would fry up onions and mix them into leftover mashed potatoes and fry globs of that into pancakes for breakfast. I haven't thought about that in years.

Google has turned up dozens of recipes for German potato pancakes. Might have to introduce my daughter the vegetarian to this.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sat 6 Feb 2010, 14:18, Reply)