Potatoes

Souness

Hi...its been a long time since I have been able to find a tasty spud..I have just boiled a pot of kerpinks...the outcome was a pot of a tasteless, watery white substance. I remember back in the day getting spuds that were full of flavour and could be boiled without disintegrating...rooster is the closest Ive gotten lately...have our spuds changed?...any suggestions on a flavoursome tuber?...cheers..s

Tar.Aldarion

Well, kerpinks are usually quite nice. Potatoes are breaking up all over the place because they are new potatoes I think. It will change again.

Do you boil with skin on or off? At least with it on, you can hold em together.
I really hate when potatoes disintegrate.

Souness

Hi tar..skins on but they still fall apart...maybe I need to get a steamer or something! But the flavour issue is still a problem, they just taste of nothing:( .

Tar.Aldarion

Hmm, well if kerr pinks aren't working out, I would try what I just got, some roosters in dunnes, they have been turning out great in comparision for some reason.
Maybe if you left the skins on and boiled them slowly?
I find that there is a few minute period where all your potatoes are fine and then bam, they dissipate.
I've been leaving the skins on and chopping them in half recently, oh and adding salt so they will cook faster.

I donn't know how to help about taste, as I always add something to teh potoatoes and never really taste them on their own anyway.

The Hill Billy

OP - Where did you buy your Kerr's Pinks? I ask as maybe they are not actually Pinks at all. Pinks don't usually fall apart as they are particularly suited to boiling.
Some of the less-scruplious potato sellers sometimes pass off really sh1te varieties (normally used for making chips) as more well known varieties.

Tar.Aldarion

I don't know about his but I know mine definitely were Kerr Pink's, it is odd that they were falling apart as they haven't let me down in years.

The Hill Billy

Yeah, they were passing off a crap variety of spuds that wholesale at, say, €35 per tonne as Kerr's Pinks/Roosters/King Edwards that would be valued at €120.

A few of the larger supermarkets got stung, & the forensics guys got called into DNA-test the spuds. I'm not sure if anyone got done over it though.

Know your spuds.

Souness

Thanksall. Been buying in Dunnes always, rooster and kerr pinks(or so they say) in the 5 kilo bags!. Will try boiling a little slower, but they already take 30mins to cook:(

The Hill Billy

Do you keep the water boiling constantly when cooking them?
When the water boils - turn down the heat so that the water is lightly simmering. Better still - steam them.

Tar.Aldarion

I would second the simmering there mate, good luck with your potatoe woes.

The Hill Billy

That sounds like a line from a really bad pop song...

Ah-one, ah-two, ah-one-two-three-four!

For 30 minutes the water simmers, so
Tar.Aldarion says
"Good luck with your potato-woe-woe-woes..."

Tar.Aldarion

"Potatoe woes", coming to all good retailers soon!
Woe-woe-woe-woah!

The Hill Billy

The next time you're talking with Avril - you can tell her that I'll gladly let her use my lyrics in return for a couple of backstage passes to her next gig in Dublin.



/goes to "strain spuds"

Tar.Aldarion

I'll see you at the gig, I'll probably be listening to my own music staring at her though. God help anybody that tries to interact with me.

I am going to make this thread about bad potato jokes now!
(Pictures of avril lavigne give bonus points to all)


Why did the potato cross the road?
He saw a fork up ahead.
Why didn't the mother potato want her daughter to marry the famous newscaster?
Because he was a commontater.


An old Arab lived close to New York City for more than 40 years. One day he decided that he wanted to plant potatoes and herbs in his garden, but he knew he was alone and too old and weak. His son was in college in Paris, so the old man sent him an e-mail explaining the problem: "Beloved son, I am very sad, because I can't plant potatoes in my garden. I am sure, if only you were here, that you would help me and dig up the garden for me. I love you, your father."

The following day, the old man received an e-mail from his son: "Beloved father, please don't touch the garden. That is where I have hidden 'the THING.' I love you, too, Ahmed." At 4pm the FBI and the Rangers visited the house of the old man and took the whole garden apart, searching every inch. But they couldn't find anything. Disappointed, they left the house. The next day, the old man received another e-mail from his son: "Beloved father, I hope the garden is dug up by now and you can plant your potatoes. That is all I could do for you from here. Your loving son, Ahmed."


Irish version:


An aging man lived alone in Ireland. His only son was in Long Kesh prison, and he didn't know anyone who would spade up his potato garden. The old man wrote to his son about it, and received this reply, "For HEAVENS SAKE, Dad, don't dig in that garden, that's where I buried the GUNS!"

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen British soldiers showed up and dug up the entire garden, but didn't find any guns.

Confused, the man wrote to his son telling him what happened and asking him what to do next.

His son's reply was: "Just plant your potatoes."

brianthebard

Souness wrote:

Thanksall. Been buying in Dunnes always, rooster and kerr pinks(or so they say) in the 5 kilo bags!. Will try boiling a little slower, but they already take 30mins to cook:(

How big is each piece that you boil? If a potato is big enough to fill the palm of my hand I cut it into quarters at least or even eighths if I want to mash them... Anything bigger than a quarter just takes ages....Also adding a pinch of salt raises the boiling point of water which means it cooks the food quicker...

boardsdotie

Souness wrote:

Hi...its been a long time since I have been able to find a tasty spud..I have just boiled a pot of kerpinks...the outcome was a pot of a tasteless, watery white substance. I remember back in the day getting spuds that were full of flavour and could be boiled without disintegrating...rooster is the closest Ive gotten lately...have our spuds changed?...any suggestions on a flavoursome tuber?...cheers..s

Tastiest Potato is the Maris Piper It's the one Chip shops use.

Perfect for boilling and roasting.

OSiriS

I used to eat Roosters exclusively, probably bought nothing else for 10 years or so, but lately they had gotten rather bland. A few months ago I started getting Whites from Tescos and they have restored my faith in spuds. They taste great boiled or baked.

The Hill Billy

boardsdotie wrote:

Tastiest Potato is the Maris Piper It's the one Chip shops use.

Perfect for boilling and roasting.

Sorry there boardsdotie - While the Maris Piper is truly one of the finest spuds for making chips it is quite expensive. The spuds used by chippers are ususally far inferior in quality & as "cheap as chips" compared to the revered Maris Piper.

Shabadu

A lively simmer is much better than a rolling boil for floury potatoes. You could boil the living daylights out of a waxy potato with no ill affects.

@ brianthebard, regarding the salt in water thing, in the amounts we use it, salt has practically no effect on raising the boiling temperature of water. Our Grannies lied!

The Sweeper

Anya potatoes - boiled in skins, crushed, butter, sea salt and parsley. [Drool.] It feels nigh-on impossible to get decent potatoes over here. Before the appearance of the Anya, which is a gnarly, finger-sized spud with a nutty-potato taste, I'd near given up.

The Hill Billy

Here's a useful link for all you need to know about potatoes (& more).

Regarding the OP's original issue, the site provides the following tip:
"To prevent a peeled potato from falling apart during cooking, soak in cold salt water for 10-15 minutes prior to cooking."

Beruthiel

I never boil potatoes.
Peel them, steam them, add sea salt, pepper, finely chopped onion, parsley and a heart attack inducing amount of butter.
Devine.

Tar.Aldarion

Shabadu wrote:

@ brianthebard, regarding the salt in water thing, in the amounts we use it, salt has practically no effect on raising the boiling temperature of water. Our Grannies lied!

You clearly don't use one part water to one part salt!

brianthebard

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

You clearly don't use one part water to one part salt!

Lolz it's the only way. The reason I said that is because my physics teacher for the leaving cert (one of the most intelligent people I've ever met) told us that.

Shabadu

It's true, it does raise the boiling point, but you need to use something like 6 tablespoons per litre to make the temperature raise by only 2 degrees. Mmm... seasoned =D

Tar.Aldarion

I only heard of people doing this two weeks ago when I complained about potatoes like the OP, then my girlfriend cooked them and did it.
"Trust me, I do chemistry"
She didn't add nearly enough it seems, I'll never trust chemistry again.

paulmallon

youse are all on the wrong track, forget about buying in the supermarts.
go to a local farmer or a farmers mart. theres a world of difference in the taste. the spuds for supermarkets are pumped with far too much fertilizer so that theyll grow in as short a time as possible. I grow about 2 acres every year ,usually kerrs pinks. The whole secret is not to force the growth too much.