How do you like your spuds?


caroljane

Recommended Posts

I grew up despising the lumpy blue-tinged inevitability I knew as the potato, but I have since learned to appreciate this useful though tragedy-tainted vegetable. I still don't like it in soups or chowders or in recipes except cheese-scalloped, but qua potato here is my top 5:

1. Baked, lotsa butter

2. New potatoes boiled

3. Mashed all to hell without even microscopic lumps

4. Fries very thin and non-potatoey, no gravy or ketchup

That's it. I know I said 5, sorry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, Carol, the pain of growing up spuddy in Nova Scotia New Brunswick, all monoculture, scabby russets and lumpy grey mush.

As you may or may not know, Bolivians love potatoes -- and they grow some of the oddest native varieties. Here is just a sample, from the website Ode to Capitalism ...

potatoes.jpg

I recommend to you the Bolivian 'black' potato -- the one that looks a trifle more scatological than the others. It is said to have a crisp buttery flavour. Baked until the black skin turns brown, then crushed with a fork under a load of salted butter. Sort of what Obama might taste like fresh off the pyre ...

That said, until you have tried my latkes, you have not tasted the glory of potato.

Edited by william.scherk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No hash browns? Home fries? German potato salad? Dumplings (also German).

What's the point of this thread? It sounds like something Comrade Sonia would come up with. Or no, she's almost exclusively fixated on bacon, never mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, Carol, the pain of growing up spuddy in Nova Scotia, all monoculture, scabby russets and lumpy grey mush.

As you may or may not know, Bolivians love potatoes -- and they grow some of the oddest native varieties. Here is just a sample, from the website Ode to Capitalism ...

potatoes.jpg

I recommend to you the Bolivian 'black' potato -- the one that looks a trifle more scatological than than the others. It is said to have a crisp buttery flavour. Baked until the black skin turns brown, then crushed with a fork under a load of salted butter. Sort of what Obama might taste like fresh off the pyre ...

That said, until you have tried my latkes, you have not tasted the glory of potato.

I forgot latkes. I have nothing against potato flour. May I say that when I clicked on your biscuits on the other thread, I could smell them. Divine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No hash browns? Home fries? German potato salad? Dumplings (also German).

What's the point of this thread? It sounds like something Comrade Sonia would come up with. Or no, she's almost exclusively fixated on bacon, never mind.

NO. no hash browns or home fries, I hate potato salad...dumplings are other. What do you mean point? This is the Kitchen for galtsakes. Maybe I am trying to work out my feelings about Ma's relentless nutritionism vs. her rigid frugality , unleavened by any cooking talents, and its effects on my fragile childhood psyche...you insensitive brute.

If poor Sonia is fixated on bacon I hope it is Canadian bacon, she might still be saved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bill, I have looked again and a lot of those rooters resemble what Uncle Leonard occasionally brought us from his farm. I had no idea he was so experimental. They all tasted the same when cooked however.

Nova Scotia is not New Brunswick! Ten lashes with the Cat-o-Nine-Dulse for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up despising the lumpy blue-tinged inevitability I knew as the potato, but I have since learned to appreciate this useful though tragedy-tainted vegetable. I still don't like it in soups or chowders or in recipes except cheese-scalloped, but qua potato here is my top 5:

1. Baked, lotsa butter

2. New potatoes boiled

3. Mashed all to hell without even microscopic lumps

4. Fries very thin and non-potatoey, no gravy or ketchup

That's it. I know I said 5, sorry.

Roast (soft and crisp) plus Yorkshire pud.

Rosti

Mash mash mash plus anything - spring onion, cayenne, garlic, and don't hold the butter.

Indian-style with turmeric.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up despising the lumpy blue-tinged inevitability I knew as the potato, but I have since learned to appreciate this useful though tragedy-tainted vegetable. I still don't like it in soups or chowders or in recipes except cheese-scalloped, but qua potato here is my top 5:

1. Baked, lotsa butter

2. New potatoes boiled

3. Mashed all to hell without even microscopic lumps

4. Fries very thin and non-potatoey, no gravy or ketchup

That's it. I know I said 5, sorry.

Roast (soft and crisp) plus Yorkshire pud.

Rosti

Mash mash mash plus anything - spring onion, cayenne, garlic, and don't hold the butter.

Indian-style with turmeric.

O yes--roast,compliant with chcken or beef-----bread sauce and Yorkshired pud forever.----

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[Quoting Carol's number 3. Mashed all to hell without even microscopic lumps]

Mash mash mash plus anything - spring onion, cayenne, garlic, and don't hold the butter.

O yes--roast,compliant with chcken or beef-----bread sauce and Yorkshired pud forever.----

Rgghh. I will issue myself a potato challenge (or as it would be said in Charlottetown, a budayduh challenge). I will take plain mashed potatoes inside a pastry shell and make it something other than a knish.

You know what a knish is, dontcha? Ya just put potatoes and bread together and let them kiss ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baked. I prefer Idaho potatoes, baked so that the skin is a bit hard and crusty. Mix the inside starch with yogurt and you have a good side dish.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baked. I prefer Idaho potatoes, baked so that the skin is a bit hard and crusty. Mix the inside starch with yogurt and you have a good side dish.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Weird. I was expecting a scientific answer from you. Like, raw potatoes because they contain the most nutrients, or 328 gram Russets because they make the best potato batteries.

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been maligning my poor mother, who baked such sublime cookies and biscuits as bribes for eating the Things. Her potatoes were Julia Child's compared to what they served us at summer camp. It was a church camp so I guess the food was our penance for the fun we had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baked. I prefer Idaho potatoes, baked so that the skin is a bit hard and crusty. Mix the inside starch with yogurt and you have a good side dish.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Weird. I was expecting a scientific answer from you. Like, raw potatoes because they contain the most nutrients, or 328 gram Russets because they make the best potato batteries.

J

Raw potatoes taste like dreck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baked. I prefer Idaho potatoes, baked so that the skin is a bit hard and crusty. Mix the inside starch with yogurt and you have a good side dish.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Weird. I was expecting a scientific answer from you. Like, raw potatoes because they contain the most nutrients, or 328 gram Russets because they make the best potato batteries.

J

Raw potatoes taste like dreck.

Yes they do, but not much better than cooked ones in my experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Favorite recipe is pommes paillason (hashbrowns) in Richard Olney's Simple French Food. It's folded into the narrative rather than broken out as a recipe, but look in the potato section.

The technical stuff about rinsing and squeezing dry is important. No need to peel them. Be generous with the fat, and get it really hot before you add the potatoes. Baking and boiling varieties are equally good. He specifies butter which I've never used; olive oil, vegetable oil and duck fat are all good. Consider adding finely minced onions, garlic, scallions or herbs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

J

Raw potatoes taste like dreck.

Yes they do, but not much better than cooked ones in my experience.

You should get out more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now