Potatoes

Potato History - Martin Watts
Fried Potatoes
             Non-fried Latkes - Jan Garvin
             Dutch French Fries - Bru Helmboldt
             Chips - John Meyn
             Chip Potatoes - Sue Northcott
             Rosti - Lois
Mashed Potatoes
             Clampit - Jay Reay
             Kasha Knishes - Susan Wenger
             Champit Tatties With Skirlie
             Mashed Potato with Irish Malt - Nick Coleman
New Potatoes
             Garlic Potatoes - Em Tavener
             John Bannon
             Astrid Bear
             Doug Essinger-Hileman
             Julie Hoffman
             Growing New Potatoes - John Meyn
Pan Haggarty / Scalloped Potatoes
             Astrid Bear Asks...
             Ray Martin Replies
             Rowen's Notes
             Marian Van Till: Transforming Pan Haggarty to Scalloped Potatoes
             Susan Collicot's Notes
             Astrid Bear Responds
             The One True Scalloped Potato Recipe - Alice Gomez
Potato Salad
             Randall Allred
             Astrid Bear
             Charles Gifford
             John Casey
             Jan Hatwell
             Potato Salad Poetry - Elaine Jones
             German Potato Salad - Robin Welch

Potato History - Martin Watts
July 28
Did you know...
Today in 1586 the first potatoes to be seen in Britain arrived at Plymouth, brought from Colombia by Sir Thomas Harriot.

Fried Potatoes
Non-fried Latkes - Jan Garvin
Ingredients 3 russet or Idaho potatoes
2 parsnips
2 medium yellow onions
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 egg whites
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray
1 cup non-fat sour cream
1 cup applesauce
Cooking Instructions
1. Preheat two nonstick baking sheet in a 450 degrees F oven.
2. Peel the potatoes, parsnips and onions and coarsely grate them in a food
processor fitted with a shredding disk, or on a box grater. Grab handfuls of the grated vegetables and squeeze tightly between your fingers to wring out as much liquid as possible.
3. Transfer the grated vegetables to a mixing bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs, baking powder, egg, egg whites, salt and pepper.
4. Drizzle the hot baking sheets with vegetable oil or spray them with nonstick spray. Spoon small mounds of the potato mixture onto the baking sheets to form 3-inch pancakes. Bake the pancakes in the oven until golden brown on one side (about 6 to 8 minutes), turn them over with a spatula and brown the other side (about 4 to 5 minutes).
5. Transfer to plates or a platter and serve immediately with sour cream and applesauce.

Dutch French Fries - Bru Helmboldt
And the Dutch taught me to eat fries with mayonaisse. Mmmm-mmmm! Nothing better than fresh mayo on fresh french fries.

Chips - John Meyn
Cut the potatoes into 1cm (1/4 in.) sticks.
Blanch them for a few minutes in deep, hot fat.
Remove them from the fat just before they brown. Keep them as warm as possible and allow them to drain while the fat gets very hot, up towards smoking.
Plunge the fries back into the hot fat for a minute or two to finish, until they're golden brown.
Everything's a process.
The first frying raises the temperature of the inside of the potatoes to near boiling but lowers the temperature of the fat.
Plunging them back into the very hot fat causes the water inside of the hot potatoes to boil very quickly, which makes them puff up while crisping up the outside. Et Voila!
If you fry them to a finish in one go, you just get fried potatoes.
Beef fat is the best by far, oil just makes chips oily.
They're called chips in the UK and frites in France.

Chip Potatoes - Sue Northcott For chips, etc. you really need the big, old potatoes. Too young and they have too much sugar and brown quickly, before they're really cooked. With the little new potatoes you can't beat them straight from the garden. My grandfather used to grow them in between his rose bushes. It was a great treat to be allowed to dig them up, give them a quick wash and boil them for a little while. Then eat them hot with plenty of butter and salt. It's possible to grow them in a large pot (a dustbin or oil drum works well). They do need plenty of water, and I don't think they'd like to be too hot (not a problem we ever have in Wales). The crops are quite small but the taste is good, and the kids do enjoying growing their own food.

Rosti - Lois
Rosti is just grated potatoes, wrung dry, seasoned, and then fried in oil.
The Rosti covers the whole bottom of the pan, is maybe 1/2 inch thick, and if you do it right, there's a crackly brown thin crust on the bottom, and then you can turn it over and out on a plate, like a cake, slice and serve. Or you can make it like patties.
The secret is in the cooking, and the textures you achieve, not the ingredients.
You need oil, and need it hot to keep the stuff from sticking to the pan, so these days, it's not the kind of food a lot of people want to prepare.

Mashed Potatoes
Clampit - Jay Reay
Clampit is stiff mashed potato, often mixed with leeks or onions, and always boiled and mashed with the skins intact - none of yer namby-pamby Michelin restaurant sieved "creamed potato" in my kitchen! Clampit is best served with nicely fired lamb's liver or a couple of sound chops, and a good gravy. Mixed with chopped, lightly cooked cabbage it becomes bubble and squeak, when it attains a lovely parti-gold and green colour.

Kasha Knishes - Susan Wenger
Here's a nice appetizer from Brighton Beach, the Russian section of Brooklyn, NY:
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/3 cup matzah meal
2 tbsp. potato starch
1 egg
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup of cooked kasha (cooking directions are on the box)
1 small onion, chopped
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl combine the potatoes, matzah meal, potato starch, egg, pepper and salt and knead together. If it is too thin, add more matzoh meal until it has a firm consistency. (If it's too dry, add a little water or another egg). Divide the dough into 6 balls and flatten them.
Mix the kasha and raw onion together.
Spread a tablespoon of kasha/onion onto each circle, fold over, and press edges to seal.
Generously butter or oil a baking sheet. Arrange the knishes in a single layer on the greased sheet, and bake for 15 minutes on each side. Serves 6.

Champit Tatties With Skirlie
This recipe is from Scotland; in Aberdeenshire it is traditionally served on Saturdays. In other parts of Scotland the skirlie part of this dish is served as an accompaniment to mince or used as a stuffing for chicken, game or lamb. Carniverous cooks can use 1 1/2 ounces of good quality beef dripping instead of butter for frying the skirlie, if they wish. I've not tried this recipe yet (which comes from an old Sainsbury's magazine), but the Zaar World Tour 2005 provides the perfect opportunity to post it. NB this recipe measures in UK fluid ounces, which is slightly different to the USA fluid ounce.
Ingredients
3 1/2 ounces butter, divided
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (choose potatoes for mashing)
2 ounces oatmeal (or whole rolled porridge oats)
nutmeg
7 fluid ounces milk
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. To make the skirlie, melt 1 1/2 ounces of butter in a medium frying pan, add the onion and fry very gently for 15 minutes until soft and browned, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile put the potatoes for the champit tatties in a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until they are tender.
3. When the onions are cooked, mix in the oats, increase the heat slightly and fry, stirring often, until well toasted and golden: remove from heat and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper: set aside.
4. Towards the end of the cooking time for the potatoes, heat the milk over a low heat (don't boil it).
5. Drain the potatoes and mash them well potatoes then slowly beat in the hot milk and remaining butter at the same: season and spoon into a warm serving dish.
6. To serve, reheat the skirlie if necessary, stir in the parsley then scatter over the tatties.

Mashed Potato with Irish Malt - Nick Coleman
I know it's sacrilege, but one of my favourites is mashed potato with Irish malt. The flowery malt compliments the blandness of the mash.
Make the mash the normal way, but with a bit more cream or butter and preheat the oven to 'blazing'. Once mashed, place in an oven-proof open pan (Le Creuset is ideal) and spread out. Put into oven. This puts a nice crisp layer on top and dries it out a bit.
Serve into a pile like a volcano and then pour about a tablespoon of Irish malt into the 'cone' of the volcano. Stir it in a little bit and serve immediately. Superb.
The recipe recommends crayfish as the accompaniment (true!).

New Potatoes
Garlic Potatoes - Em Tavener
Try taking a huge pile of baby new potatoes, and roasting them with a lot of extra virgin olive oil, huge amounts of garlic, handfuls of rosemary, and some coarse sea salt. Roast, turning, until golden brown and crunchy on the outside, melting and garlicky on the inside.
Whole roasted bulbs of garlic are also excellent - just roll them in olive oil and roast slowly. You can squeeze out the insides onto toast. The roasting makes the garlic flavour less powerful, so it can easily be eaten "neat".

John Bannon
I visited an Irish aunt who had a couple of sons a little older than I (12 at the time). We went to a movie and on return, they got some new potatoes, small, cut them into quarters and boiled them with the skins on. When done, they put them in a bowl, and we ate them with butter, salt and pepper. A great snack.

Astrid Bear
Other delicious things to do to potatoes: while weeding this summer, I found a small bowl's worth of tiny potatoes in one bed (once you grow potatoes, you have them forever). I boiled them and served warm, tossed with mayonnaise and snips of fresh dill, for a wonderfully earthy potato salad.
And new way to me of cooking the dear tubers on top of the stove: slice into 1/4 inch rounds, put in frying pan with some water and olive oil, about 1/4 cup of water per handful of potatoes. Cover and simmer, turning a few times, until the water is gone. This mostly cooks the potatoes, but now you take off the lid and cook in the oil until they're crisp, brown and lovely.

Doug Essinger-Hileman
My preferred excuse for eating aioli is boiled, small new potatoes.

Julie Hoffman
Small new potatoes are also a good excuse for eating sour cream if aioli is not available.

Growing New Potatoes - John Meyn
Within four hours of being picked, half of the sugars and most of the flavour in most vegetables, including potatoes, has turned to tasteless starch.
Last year I decided to lay a patio in my tiny garden and do some other serious landscaping.
I've shifted tons and tons of earth and concrete and paving slabs by hand, and I'm now at the grass-seeding stage. The beginning of the end.
There's not been anywhere to grow anything in the garden itself, so, being fond of a fresh spud, I've been forced to adopt a different strategy. Anyone with a sunny patch can do this, and the results, for me at least, have more than paid back the small effort involved.
Put four fingers of rich compost into a high-sided plastic box. A bottle crate is just big enough but bigger is better.
Place a good quality seed potato in two opposite corners, and cover with more compost.
Add enough water to keep the compost moist.
When the potato plants are about four inches tall, cover with a layer of compost.
Keep re-covering the plants with compost as they grow until the compost is two inches from the top of the crate. This allows for easier watering.
Keep the compost moist at all times without being waterlogged.
In hot weather you will be surprised at how quickly these plants will drink, so give 'em plenty.
Feeding with a seaweed based fertilizer gives a good crop and good flavour.
When the plants have flowered and the flowers have gone, you can begin to harvest, but as long as the leaves are green, the tubers will keep on growing.
Put the cooking water on to boil before digging out enough tubers for your immediate needs.
Dig with your hands and with care, undermining the plants to get at the tubers while doing as little damage as possible to the leafy part. It's like finding buried treasure.
Replace the compost.
Enjoy.

Pan Haggarty / Scalloped Potatoes
Astrid Bear Asks...
...what's pan-haggerty?

Ray Martin Replies
Astrid asked about pan haggerty: here's from my trusty recipe book.....
"A warming, filling dish at a bargain price..succulent layers of potato, onions and cheese, given a bubbling brown finish under the grill... a good choice if you're planning an evening at the pub, or for satisfying teenage appetites.
Use firm fleshed potatoes such as Maris Piper or Desiree, as they will keep their shape and not crumble into mash at the end of the cooking time."
serves 4
1 ounce butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium onions, skinned and thinly sliced
4-8ounces Cheddar or Lancashire cheese, grated
salt, (lots of freshly ground ) pepper
Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy frying pan.
Remove from heat and put in alternate layers of cheese, potatoes and onions, seasoning well between each layer. End with a top layer of cheese.
Cover, and cook the vegetables for about 30 minute or until the potatoes and onions are almost done.
Uncover and put the pan under a hot grill until the cheese is bubbling and browned. serve immediately straight from the pan.
I would suggest a little Tabasco sauce or Lea and Perrins, and a bottle of Brown Ale. A layer of corned beef is an option for you carnivores.

Rowen's Notes
Thanks, Ray. I made this as the potato dish for New Year's dinner and it was a great hit.
It's not what I would call scalloped potatoes (there is no white or cream sauce) - it's more like Amana fried with cheese, maybe.
I put a dash of Worschesesceshirererer (whatever) in the butter and oil at the bottom before I added the layers. And I will make it again. It was a hit.

Marian Van Till: Transforming Pan Haggarty to Scalloped Potatoes
A favorite of ours -- and "comfort food" many of us grew up with, I think. I think this already good dish is greatly improved by adding thick-sliced chunks of bacon. And I use bacon fat instead of oil, and add some milk, with a little flour to thicken it. A small handful of crumbled feta cheese, with the cheddar, also gives it a nice tang. (Adding a little red wine also works well.)

Susan Collicot's Notes
We also serve this dish quite frequently ... though we leave out the cheese.
Potatoes in a white sauce with lots of butter, with well-cooked ham chunks included.

Astrid Bear Responds
...thinking this sounds a lot like the Potato Casserole I make, only I put grated onion into the white sauce, and layer the parboiled potato slices with cheddar cheese, ham cubes, and the Nice White Sauce.

The One True Scalloped Potato Recipe - Alice Gomez
Serves 12 but divides nicely in half for 6 people.
8 medium potatoes, cooked and sliced (can be sliced, then cooked)
2 large onions, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons each of salt, pepper, dried thyme
1 pint each sour cream and cottage cheese
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese, plus 1/2 cup for top
Saute onions in butter. Combine sour cream, cottage cheese, 2 cups Cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, thyme.
Layer (twice): onions, potatoes, cheese mixture, end with a few potatoes, and sprinkle 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese over top.
Bake covered at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes; uncover the last 15 minutes.

Potato Salad
Randall Allred
And what is the opinion of the List on diced pickle in it? I am firmly on the side of dill - sweet pickles being an abomination.

Astrid Bear
Indeed, sweet pickles in potato salad *is* an abomination. Finely chopped dills, not too many, but also some juice from the pickle jar poured over the hot, cubed potatoes. A little chopped sweet onion -- our local is Walla Walla Sweets. Celery. And some hard boiled egg.

Charles Gifford
Sweet pickles in potato salad are truly the scourge of the earth; for a degree of sweetness, red delicious apples do much better--and some grated carrot, too. I've tried neither the dills nor their juice, but they sound like an inviting idea.
The Maui onions are nice for chopping into the salad.

John Casey
My mother always added French's yellow mustard to the New England variety rather than salad dressing. Tastes great.
Yes, it's been a staple here in New England for a long time.

Jan Hatwell
In Western Massachusetts, we used to put in Gulden's mustard! a little browner, and deeper flavoured.

Potato Salad Poetry - Elaine Jones
In Venetia Murray's "High Society in the Regency Period", there is a chapter, of which I'm sure Jack would have approved, called "The Age of Indulgence". Merely reading the account of the Prince Regent's dinner menus had me reaching for the indigestion tablets!
Ms. Murray quotes a poetic recipe for potato salad, taken from Eliza Acton's "Modern Cookery for Private Families":
The Poet's Receipt For Salad
Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve
Unwonted softness to the salad give;
Of mordant mustard add, a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment which bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault,
To add a double quantity of salt;
Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And once with vinegar, procured from town;
True flavour needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs;
Let onions lurk within the bowl,
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole;
And lastly, in the flavoured compound toss
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce:
Then, though green turtle fail, though venison's tough,
And ham and turkey are not boiled enough,
Serenely full the epicure may say -
Fate cannot harm me - I have dined to-day.

German Potato Salad - Robin Welch
A 1957 House and Garden recipe for German Potato Salad. This is about the way my mother makes it. Quite different from the American.
Ingredients
2 1/4 pounds medium-size red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
6 bacon slices, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons coarse-grained mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
Preparation
Steam potatoes until tip of knife easily pierces center of slices, about 10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Cover with foil.
Sauté bacon in large skillet over medium heat until brown, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels. Discard all but 2 1/2 tablespoons drippings. Heat drippings in skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Whisk in next 6 ingredients. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add potatoes to skillet and toss to coat with dressing. Let stand 3 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped bacon and fresh dill; toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer potato salad to serving platter. Serve warm.