We need to talk about potatoes here.

[auntieannie]

I've made pureed potatoes twice last week just for me. I had not cooked this in years as my ex didn't like this way of eating potatoes.

[Deleted]

Good for you, Annie!

Many of us don't always do what pleases us enough.

[rikita]

oh, the auflauf looks nice!+

i made mashed potatoes for our family in india, btw, when they asked us to make some german food. it wasn't easy to come up with something to which we could find all the ingredients, for which we didn't need knifes and forks, or an oven...

so mr. r. made a pasta dish once (not really german, but close enough), and another time i made mashed potatoes with fried eggs and carrots - i suppose more an international dish than a german dish too, but something we had often when i was a kid... they said the mashed potatoes are nice, almost like tapioca pudding...

[lagatta]

Well, certain egg noodles are very much German, but I suppose they'd be hard to find in India.

I have several tins of red salmon and am thinking of making an old-fashioned salmon pie, which involves potatoes, and onions, obviously.

Wonder what Indians would think of Currywurst?!?

[Deleted]

Interesting that noodles migrated from China to Europe without really entering the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent or the Middle East until probably well into the 20th century due to reimported Western influence.

[rikita]

you mean like spätzle? yeah, i suppose those are german, but i meant just normal pasta...

hm, i should have invited the school's principal to a curry wurst when she was part of a delegation to germany... but we went out for kebab with their group instead...

[lagatta]

I confess I was very disappointed by Currywurst - I thought it was a type of sausage with curry flavouring (we have a nice lamb sausage like that at Boucherie du Marché), not a normal (and rather cheap) sausage with a dip of ketchup and curry powder.

I prefer kebabs, but usually opt for the chicken kind as it is less greasy.

Spätzle of course, but also some ribbon noodles with a high egg content. They are also common across the Rhine in Alsace, as well as in many Central European countries.

Hard wheat pasta is more Italian in origin, but now eaten everywhere in the world. Much of the hard, high-protein wheat used is grown on the Canadian prairies.

[Deleted]

I bought a bag of frozen rösti at Dia this evening, which of course does not resemble rösti one bit, although it is a product that I find relatively edible with a little doctoring. They are basically just oversized pommes paillasson.



I think if I were Swiss, I would sue Dia.

[lagatta]

Now you have me craving some Rösti - and I have no uncooked potatoes left.

It is very cold today - about -15 - and that is the kind of food one craves.

But on Monday, the temperature is supposed to go up to +7, and they are predicting rain!

[auntieannie]

well...if you have cooked potatoes... grate'em and get'em into a pan with some fat.

[hwinpp]

Like this? Though these were grated raw.

[rikita]

well since i don't eat sausages, i don't eat currywurst. but yeah, as far as i know the curry is just currypowder in the sauce (though the sauce shouldn't be ketchup, afaik)...

[Deleted]

Just out of curiosity,why are folks not posting the type of potato they are using in these discussions and recipes? It does make a huge difference what kind of potato one uses for specific recipes no?

[tod2]

Casi - Sorry hon but we don't get too much choice. Only "Baking potatoes" or "Boiling potatoes". Occasionally we see a kind of red skinned variety at Woolworths Food Stores.
The best 'baked' potato I ever tasted in my life was on Guernsey! Huge and with a gorgeous nutty flavour.

[tod2]

For the lucky ones near London....

Spitalfields City Farm
Potato Day - Sunday 12th February
You are invited to our first ever Potato Day

Sunday 12th February 2012

12 - 2pm

There will be certified organic seed potatoes for sale, including

Pink Fir Apples - Edzell Blue - Casablanca - Amorosa and many more

[Deleted]

Jan 26, 2012 14:40:09 GMT tod2 said:

Casi - Sorry hon but we don't get too much choice. Only "Baking potatoes" or "Boiling potatoes".

In the generic bags of potatoes at Monoprix, we also have "frying" potatoes.

[Deleted]

I find it hard to believe, but I could not find a thread with just this simple title. We've talked about fries, chips, potato salad, whether or not to peel potatoes, easy ways to peel potatoes. So maybe somebody else will find the thread that I couldn't find, but in the meantime I have a question.

I find it difficult to choose between white potatoes and red potatoes (no problem with sweet potatoes at all because I never touch those horrible things). Yes, I know there are other colours of potatoes, but those two are the most common in many supermarkets.

In France, they try to confuse you, because the various potatoes are labelled according to what you want to do with them: soup, boiled, fries, mashed... Dammit, I want all purpose potatoes, because if I were just thinking about one kind of use, I would probably have to buy no more than two potatoes at a time and I want to buy a big bag of them!

Anyway, I find that I nearly always buy white potatoes while being tempted by the red ones. I have this perhaps unfounded idea that red potatoes discolour more rapidly if you do not cook them immediately. I remember my grandmother covering the peeled potatoes with a towel or keeping them submerged in a tub of water to prevent discolouration.

Then again, who cares if they change colour a bit?

Do we have any potato experts here to enlighten me?

[htmb]

I'm no expert, but I usually find our red more flavorful than our white. I love sliced red potatoes cooked with peppers and onions. However, if I was making mashed potatoes (rare for me), I would use the white.

I remember peeled potatoes soaking in water when I was a child, but I honestly never feel a need to do that when I'm cooking. My peeled and sliced potatoes end up in the cooking pot much quicker than my mother's, I suppose.

[Deleted]

I seem to recall from childhood that red potatoes were preferred for potato salad. Or maybe not?

[htmb]

Well, there's red potato salad, then there's white potato salad; New York Style potato salad, and Southern Style potato salad. ;D

I would imagine it's mostly up to the preferences of the cook, and what is available in the market. I don't really remember my mother ever making anything with red potatoes. She always used white.

[mich64]

I remember my mom soaking her potatoes as well, but it was just out of convenience, peeling them in the morning after breakfast, soak until onto the stove for supper. One less chore do get done when preparing Sunday dinner.

Always white potatoes for mashed and red for baked with olive oil, butter and garlic in the summer on the BBQ. I also like red potatoes for my potato salad.

[Don Cuevas]

I made a French style potato salad day before yesterday: small brown skin potatoes, boiled, then wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped parsley, scallions (really young onions) capers, s&p.

This needs to be finished and I think it will go well with the Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches I'm making for tomorrow's lunch.

[bjd]

I nearly always buy red potatoes because they don't fall apart when I cook them, so they are indeed fine for eating boiled, or gratin dauphinois, or potato salad or frying left-overs or whatever.

However, they don't work well for mashed potatoes just because they stay rather firm cooked instead of falling apart.

I can't imagine why anyone would soak them in water unless indeed it's because they are peeled hours before being cooked.

[onlymark]

Soaking them removes some of the starch, doesn't it?

[Deleted]

Yes, I was reading that there are two reasons for soaking potatoes -- to remove excess starch and to keep them from oxidizing if they are not cooked immediately. You are supposed to wipe and dry them before cooking. My grandmother used a fresh dish towel for that.

If you are boiling the potatoes, however, naturally there is no reason to soak or dry them.

[bjd]

Out of habit, I rinse them in cold water before putting in fresh water to cook them in. So, maybe that was something I learned to remove some of the starch?

Recently I read that you shouldn't rinse the potatoes if you are making gratin dauphinois.

[Deleted]

I often put lots of turmeric in the water in which I boil potatoes. Not only does it give them a pleasant tint, but it also adds a pleasant flavour in addition to whatever else do with them. I haven't tried it with potatoes that I use for potato salad, but I'm sure that I will before long.

[bixaorellana]

That sounds really good, Casimira. I need to get some coconut milk and try things with it. I've never used it because I never knew how. I'd also like to try your potato method with the addition of some seeds, such as cumin &/or anise.

I've done that forever -- boiled potatoes with turmeric, but didn't know anyone else did. It's really good with potatoes for potato salad, not only for taste, but psychologically the salad just seems richer.

[Deleted]

The evening news mentioned that France is the biggest consumer of mashed potatoes in Europe. The things they keep track of!

[chexbres]

I don't know if this was ever answered, but here's what I know from cooking many tons of potatoes during my restaurant career:

All white and red potatoes will discolor after they've been peeled. Some take longer than others. Keeping them covered with cold or room-temperature water will help, but if you leave them there long enough - and especially if you have sliced or grated them - they will turn sort of pink and disgusting. You can rinse the pink gunk off, though - it's just oxydized starch - and they will be just fine. You should always dry them thoroughly, no matter what you plan to do with them.

I only remember a couple of gourmet recipes which mentioned removing as much starch as possible. I somehow doubt you'd be interested in making sure that your pile of nickel-sized, 1/32" potato slices remained delicately white and separate after poaching them briefly in home-made vegetable stock, after which you meticulously dried each one before you applied them all with melted butter to a skinless fish fillet so they looked like scales, after which the whole thing was sauteed in extra-virgin olive oil so it vaguely resembled the original fish - but if you are interested, let me know.

Starch is good because it makes potatoes brown faster in the oven or when you fry them (especially twice). Starch is also good when you want potatoes to stick together, as when you mash them or make latkes or pommes Anna. On the other hand, don't use a food processor or electric mixer for too long to mash potatoes, because overworking the starch turns it to inedible glue, which is a bitch.

Red potatoes contain much less starch than white ones of any variety. They are best for boiling and potato salad, because they don't fall apart unless you really overcook them to death.

You can make soup with any kind of potatoes, and you can mix the varieties, to make the texture more interesting.

I agree that I have never seen so many varieties of white potatoes as there are in Paris. Never thought I'd have to play "20 Questions" just to make dinner...

The only thing I have against sweet potatoes in Paris is the price!