A man with a fine grasp of Irish history.

Aye, potatoes am super!

I live in the southern part of the U.S. so potato salad in the summer is big here. Is it big in other parts of the world? It seems that I only see it in American quisene.

New Potatoes make the best potato salad

Just get the desired amount of potatoes and boil them until tender all the way through along with one egg to hard boil. Then let them cool to room temperature or even put them in the fridge for a while to firm them up a little again.

Get some good mayo, a little bit of mustard, salt peeper and FRESH dill and mix with the potatoes and egg after you have quartered them or otherwise cut them into small pieces. Then serve.

It is that simple.

Another example of the potatoes power is the introduction of the potato to New Zealand which was no less important than that of gunpowder in enabling effective resistance to colonial forces. Lazy cropping enabled larger bodies of men to be deployed in the endemic-inter tribal warfare that existed at the time (or be used for labour purposes) meaning by the time the British arrived a Darwinian process had occurred among them ensuring the tribes which had most effectively developed gunpowder strategies for large formations had devoured those who hadn't placing even more land and people under the control of those who could militarily deploy them most efficiently; several chiefdoms evolved toward proto-statehood in this way with freakish speed.

The potato, in this way, directly enabled and empowered one of the most successful campaigns against a colonizing power in history and deserves a one-third part of the credit. The other two thirds were the endemic inter-tribal conflict extant at that time and of course firearms themselves but neither firearms nor constant struggle would have been enough alone. Many other native groups have come to possess firearms, and even appreciate their value to a degree in advance of colonial forces in history, but almost none learned how, or had the demographic or political means to deploy them effectively - cultures who were materially and politically far, far wealthier and more advanced in many cases.

Quote from MikeT

Anyhow, let's hear of your best potato experiences.......

My husband's baked potatoes. That is all.

I make a pretty mean red-skinned potato salad.

A great series of adverts for a horrible product - 'instant' mashed potato.



Mashed is probably how I mostly eat potato. Since I discovered that my microwave can quick "bake" a potato, I've been doing that quite a lot: the result is not quite as good as from a conventional oven but it takes 10-12 minutes instead of an hour (?) so it has advantages for a bloke who only thinks about cooking when he's already hungry.

Recipe for the humble spud..

Bake spud in oven with skin on (180-220C depending on how crispy you want the skin)
When cooked, cut open and lob in a good serve of garlic butter, crisply cooked bacon pieces, sour cream, grated cheese, finely grated/chopped raw carrots and cabbage.
Salt and pepper and a sprinkle of either spring onion or chives..

the USA received many Irish emigrants when the Irish potato harvest failed for some consecutive years in the mid nineteenth century ! so potatoes have a demographic influence too beside filling innards; I have a taste for mashed potatoes with gravy

Try this one.
Bake a potato or three.
After 50 minutes at 180C, cut them in half.
Scoop out the insides of the potatoes into a bowl, place the casings aside.
Fry some onions, garlic and after the onions are glazed add some cream, turn down the heat and reduce.
After 2 minutes, add a cup of creamed corn and the potato you took out of the potato's in the first place.
Mix well.
When it has rendered down well, fill the potato skins with the mixture.
Top with cheese of your choice, put under the grill to heat through.
You could even have 2 layers of cheese, something like sweet marscipone and parmasane on top.

Anyone got a decent spicy wedges recipe?

I love to accompany my grilled steak with a good side dish cooked right along side the steaks,
In aluminum foil, add 1 onion, sliced
add two sliced potatoes raw
add 1/4cup chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
some parsley
pepper
Other spices of your choice. Close aluminum foil into a package. Slip into the barbecue 15 min before starting your steaks, when you start the steak flip the foil packages, taters and steaks will be done at same time.
Bonne appétit

Recipes?

Quote from shaazam

I have a taste for mashed potatoes with gravy

Yeah mate, although it needs to be decent gravy, that shit they sell in the packets that you mix with water, isn't gravy in my opinion.
Gravy is thick and tastes of meat, not chemically made taste.
I have a fondness for mashed spud with Tasty Cheese, fried garlic, Beef sausages and gravy, aka Bangers and Mash.
Mmm, I know what I'm having for tea tonight.