Potato Talk

[flyinglentris]

I would eat potatoes every meal, every day, 365 days a year, and be quite happy, though I'd probably be dead before too long.

I can't even begin to list the ways I like them, but I will say this - most people rave and rave about mashed potatoes, but it's not anywhere near the top for me. Don't get me wrong, I still like mashed potatoes just fine, but there are so many other ways I like them even better.

My mind has just run me back to my childhood, when my mom made German Potato Dumplings "Knadles." These are to be distinguished from German Bread Buttons or Dumplings "Knopfels." Mom worked in a Swedish Diner for some time and also made the Swedish version "Kroppkakor."

Related are what are called "Potato Bombs", but not really, as potato bombs are stuffed mashed potato balls, fried. It's been a while.

And leave it to the Irish, who in the Potato Famine, conceived of a Potato desert - "Potato Pies." But this may have been superseded by "Bacon and Potato Quiche." -- credit the French?

 

[ElizabethB]

Amend my previous post. You could eat a different potato dish three meals a day for a year or more and never repeat the dish.

 

[Windigo]

I would eat potatoes every meal, every day, 365 days a year, and be quite happy, though I'd probably be dead before too long.

I can't even begin to list the ways I like them, but I will say this - most people rave and rave about mashed potatoes, but it's not anywhere near the top for me. Don't get me wrong, I still like mashed potatoes just fine, but there are so many other ways I like them even better.

Same, my favorite potatoes are sauteed the French way with garlic and parsley. Or the German way with bacon and onions. Or roasted the British way. I love the crispy outside and soft inside.

The potato has been the Dutch staple food in the same manner it was a staple food in Ireland since it's introduction. We even call ourselves 'the potato eaters' which is also a famous painting by van Gogh, one of our most famous artists.
Only since the '80s have people started to frequently eat pasta, pizza and other international food as well. Meat and potatoes is still our traditional diet.

Of course, it's different for Dutch Indonesians though we eat much more potatoes than our native Indonesian brothers and sisters. We even have Indo style potato dishes, like sambal goreng kentang and gado gado with potatoes.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

most people rave and rave about mashed potatoes, but it's not anywhere near the top for me. Don't get me wrong, I still like mashed potatoes just fine, but there are so many other ways I like them even better.

Totally agree with you about mash - its perfectly ok (especially if made well with plenty of butter) but I just find it kind of boring. If I had to choose my favourite potato dish it would be simple roast potatoes - cooked in either goose or duck fat (though dauphinoise comes a very close second!). But I love potatoes in almost all their forms.....potatoes are one of the reasons I could never do a low carb diet (bread and pasta the other ones).

We grow a couple of varieties each year - this year we grew Vivaldi and International Kidney. I can't actually remember what we've ordered for next year.

 

[Burt Blank]

I grew loads of different varieties of spuds, they were split into crop availability.
Crop type Planting time Planting distance in row Distance between rows Approximate harvest time
First early potatoes From end of February 30cm (12") apart 60cm (24") apart 10 weeks from planting
Second early potatoes From mid March 37cm (15") apart 75cm (30") apart 13 weeks from planting
Early maincrop potatoes From late March 45cm (18") apart 75cm (30") apart 15 weeks from planting
Maincrop potatoes From late March 45cm (18") apart 75cm (30") apart 20 weeks from planting
Second cropping potatoes Early August 30cm (12") apart 60cm (24") apart 11 weeks from planting

Each crop contained at least 2 varieties that were suitable for various recipes that related to the variety. For instance any potato cropped before the main crop in my opinion would not produce a pot that was any good for roast, baked or mashed pots.

 

[Burt Blank]

I would study the bible of UK varieties in the shed when the cold dark winter arrived. Thankfully Mrs B had forced me to double glaze and insulate it for Max

Varieties

 

[Morning Glory]

I would eat potatoes every meal, every day, 365 days a year, and be quite happy, though I'd probably be dead before too long.

So could I. And I don't think you'd be dead before long (depending on how you served them). Large amounts of meat and fat are far more deleterious to health. Potatoes aren't particularly high in calories - its the addition of fat which adds cals.

Or did you mean eat only potatoes for every meal?!

 

[Hemulen]

- - -
Share your potato interests.

That "Salad" reminds me of Potatoes Au Gratin. And potatoes in a pot makes me think "Potato Stew."

Good to know. Reminds me of the movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being (the line by the original author Milan Kundera):
Tereza: "I'm reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy" Tomáš: "Oh that Anna Karenina"

Pommes de terres au gratin taste great and garlic reverts them into...garlic potatoes. Potatoes in a stew tend to be mushy and covered in a broth or sauce of some kind - often accompanied by bits of meat or additional veggies.

Potatoes/pommes de terres au gratin. (Photo source)______________________ Potato stew Keralan style. (Photo source)

Potato salads are often mushy as the potato bits are usually soaked in sauce. The most common salad (at least here) consists of potatoes, capers, onion, leek or scallion/green onion, fresh or pickled cucumber and mayo. German type potato salads don't contain mayo; their sauce is vinegary/acid and transparent.

There are thousands of ways to cook/grill/fry potatoes and millions of ways to enjoy or scrutinize the outcome.

Flyinglentris, do you consider Salad Niçoise (Traditional salad from Nice, France) a potato salad? It contains potatoes and is served on a plate instead of a bowl. One of my favorites.

Photo source

 

[Morning Glory]

Salad Niçoise

A favourite of mine too: Recipe - Rainbow Salade Niçoise

I wouldn't call it a potato salad but it certainly does contain potatoes.

 

[TastyReuben]

its the addition of fat which adds cals.

...and that's how I'd eat them, with loads of butter and/or bacon fat.

When I was a kid, come potato-digging time, we'd be out in the massive family garden all day, popping up the taters, and the best part was to take a little of your mason jar of water, wash one off, and eat it right there. Dad used to carry a little salt on him just for that.

MrsT, to this day, loves raw potato, and if her stomach is upset, that's what she goes for. When I'm prepping potatoes for a meal, she ends up in the kitchen, begging, right alongside the pooch, for a raw potato.

 

[flyinglentris]

Flyinglentris, do you consider Salad Niçoise (Traditional salad from Nice, France) a potato salad? It contains potatoes and is served on a plate instead of a bowl. One of my favorites.

I've never had Salad Niçoise. It looks like a salad in the photo.

 

[Morning Glory]

I've never had Salad Niçoise. It looks like a salad in the photo.

Its definitely a salad! Tuna, black olives, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, lettuce with vinaigrette dressing.

 

[Morning Glory]

Just posted a potato (plus other things) salad here.

 

[mjd]

Wow! I remember Mr. Potato Head, but I hadn't realized that there was book about Potato Talk or a Web community named Potato Talk or ...

Maybe I should have named the thread "Spud Talk."

Or, Spud Speak. ;-) P.S. Confession time. I immediately thought of Vodka when you first posted. I've never had it but thought it a bit off-topic since you were talking about dishes with potatoes.

 

[flyinglentris]

Or, Spud Speak. ;-) P.S. Confession time. I immediately thought of Vodka when you first posted. I've never had it but thought it a bit off-topic since you were talking about dishes with potatoes.

Fermented Potato Mash distills more than just Vodkas.

I tend to keep distant from strong alcoholic drink, limiting consumption to Holidays and special events, or as a luxury food accompaniment beverage. I do add a shot of Kahlua to my coffee periodically and on those special events and holidays, wine or special beers, beyond the stale mass production stuff are preferred. Flavor is the important value, not effect. Sometimes I may use a Cognac or Brandy in cooking, again for flavoring.

The point is that I do not share the fascination, want and needs for recreational intoxication that many people do. The John Wayne movies, Viking Myrth and sailor's grog depictions swayed me in my youth, but just like I steered clear of cigarettes when I was 12, I have long steered clear of getting knock down, falling down. I loathe being manipulated from any quarter and value my intellect and spiritual presence.