Potatoes

Daikun

We've had an episode for Apples a while ago, so why not create topics for other foods?

I had a delicious dinner that included potatoes tonight, so I figured we should have a thread discussing them. There are so many different varieties of potato and ways to prepare them. Let's talk about our faves and least faves.

Luke Burrage

The other day we made potatoes by cutting them into small cubes and frying them with bacon bits, then mixed with kerbal. We ate with spinach in port wine sauce and a steak on top. Nom nom nom.

Daikun

Kerbal? You mean the space program?
(Sorry. Google isn't being helpful.)

Edit: Never mind. Found it after another search.

Luke Burrage

I didn't know what kerbal is in English. It seems that it's chervil.

TheWhaleShark

The latke is the supreme form of potato. Made fresh, of course. My food processor makes short work of the grating.

Greg

Instead of making a joke, I'm just going to link to this.

sK0pe

I wonder if there are many cultures which don't make use of potatoes.

TheWhaleShark

Not anymore, really. Historically, the potato was unknown to most of the world before the mid-16th century. It's a New World crop. Now it's fairly ubiquitous.

I suppose they're probably a bit less common in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Southeast Asian cultures maybe?

sK0pe

TheWhaleShark said:

Not anymore, really. Historically, the potato was unknown to most of the world before the mid-16th century. It's a New World crop. Now it's fairly ubiquitous.

I suppose they're probably a bit less common in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Southeast Asian cultures maybe?

There are fewer dishes sold in the restaurants I go to but there are a few dishes that are made as home cooked favourites, one of my friends has this awesome shredded potato dish fried and served along side some seafood. In Northern China it is common to see meat and potatoes Chinese style. The subcontinent has a bunch of potato dishes or things that require potatoes to make (e.g. dosas).

Jack Draigo

Ruffas

TheWhaleShark said:

I suppose they're probably a bit less common in Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

Japan is more about yams and sweet potatoes, but does make use of normal taters.

Neito

Ruffas said:

TheWhaleShark said:

I suppose they're probably a bit less common in Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

Japan is more about yams and sweet potatoes, but does make use of normal taters.

I believe they're a common ingredient in some curries, for example.

Ruffas

Yeah. Curry and nikujaga are probably the most common non-fried potato dishes. Tornado potato is a pretty neat thing you can get at festivals, though.

Daikun

Ruffas said:

Tornado potato is a pretty neat thing you can get at festivals, though.

Whoa! That's pretty cool!

MATATAT

Potatoes? Really?

TheWhaleShark

So since we're on this topic, here's the oldest known European recipe that could plausibly involve potatoes - a dish of "erdtepffel" from Marx Rumpolt's Ein new Kochbuch, circa 1581 .

It's somewhat controversial among food history nerds, because as far as we can tell this is the earliest usage of something like "earth apple" in a recipe. It comes between two fruit dishes but appears to be a savory dish. Very interesting stuff.

As an aside, we don't seem to see the word "erdtepffel" occurring in Early New High German dictionaries from the 1560's - so it appears that this did not enter the language until very late in the 16th century.

Here's the manuscript - it's entry 37 :

http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?pointer=385&dir=drucke/2-3-oec-2f

A transcript:

Erdtepffel. Schel vnd schneidt sie klein/ quell sie in Wasser/ vnnd druck es wol auß durch ein Härin Tuch/ hack sie klein/ vnd rößt sie in Speck/ der klein geschnitten ist/ nim~ ein wenig Milch darvnter/ vnd laß darmit sieden/ so wirt es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

Possible translation:

Earth apples. Peel and cut them small/ parboil them in water/ and press it well through a hair cloth/ chop them small/ and roast in bacon/ that is cut small/ take a little milk with it/ and let cook together/ like this it becomes good and well tasting.

(It's worth noting that "bacon" is the translation of "Speck" - that refers more to salted fatback or salted unsmoked pork belly than what we tend to think of as "bacon.")

Nuri

Oh my god you are the biggest fucking nerd.

TheWhaleShark

I'm trying to come up with a response to that, but I've got nothing.

Enjoy your historical potatoes.

Punt Rocket

TheWhaleShark said:

I'm trying to come up with a response to that, but I've got nothing.

I believe an appropriate response would be, "You're welcome"

Nukerjsr

Potatoes are god damn wonderful. I could eat them with every dish. I wish they had more nutrients in them because then they would be a true superfood. There's so many ways to make them or enhance them. And not just "Boil'em, Mash'em, Stick'em in a stew types."

Some of my favorite methods include:
-Potato Soup with Leeks
-Patatas Bravas
-Mashed with Garlic and Parmesan Cheese
-Pan-Fried Duck Fat Potatoes
-Jeera Aloo (Parboiled Potatoes that are sliced and cooked in a pan with tumeric, cumin seeds, and chilies)

Methods I haven't tried:
-Syracuse Salt Potatoes
-Fondant Potatoes
-Pomme Purée (Which is half butter, but I love the method of cooking them sous vide style in milk)
-Tornado Potato

Rym

Nuri said:

Oh my god you are the biggest fucking nerd.

We should make him a medal.

sK0pe

Rym said:

Nuri said:

Oh my god you are the biggest fucking nerd.

We should make him a medal.

Made of potato or in the shape of a potato or both.

1560 what a laugh but so is anglo saxon history, surely there has to be a potato recipe written in Sanskrit but I'm not interested enough to look it up, hence I don't deserve a Potato medal.

Rym

sK0pe said:

Rym said:

Nuri said:

Oh my god you are the biggest fucking nerd.

We should make him a medal.

Made of potato or in the shape of a potato or both.

1560 what a laugh but so is anglo saxon history, surely there has to be a potato recipe written in Sanskrit but I'm not interested enough to look it up, hence I don't deserve a Potato medal.

Well, no one who wrote in Sanskrit had access to the potato. ;^) It was Anglo-Saxons and former Romans who interacted with the New World and found the little buggers.

TheWhaleShark

You'd have been closer if you'd said Visigoths or Moors. The Spanish are the first Europeans to have had contact with the potato. The English got there second but took more of the credit, as is tradition.

Rym

The Spanish were just remnants of the Roman Empire. ^_~

Alex

I suppose they're probably a bit less common in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Southeast Asian cultures maybe?

I believe yams were originally cultivated in Papua New Guinea, and spread from there to the rest of Asia. So not quite potatoes, but pretty close.

Starchy roots are loved the whole world 'round.

Josh Bytes

What do you all like on a baked potato? Butter, Sour cream, Chives, Bacon, Cheese? All of the above?

Rym

Alex said:

Starchy roots are loved the whole world 'round.

Daikun

Josh Bytes said:

What do you all like on a baked potato? Butter, Sour cream, Chives, Bacon, Cheese? All of the above?

Chives and cheese, definitely.

I rarely use sour cream, but when I do, I only use a little bit (those calories really build up), then mix it with hot sauce.

Rym

Josh Bytes said:

What do you all like on a baked potato? Butter, Sour cream, Chives, Bacon, Cheese? All of the above?

All of the above.

Also, if you're going to bake a potato, never use foil. If you use foil, you're not longer baking a potato: you're steaming it.

sK0pe

Josh Bytes said:

What do you all like on a baked potato? Butter, Sour cream, Chives, Bacon, Cheese? All of the above?

I don't have whole baked potatoes all that often any more.
However when I do I like the sour cream and chives or bacon.
Other times I will just have butter.