Potatoes!

vaalea

In Canada I cooked with Yukon Gold potatoes exclusively. Loved the creamy buttery flavour. I was anxious to find them in Ireland, and so was pleased when I came across the Chopin Potatoes at M&S. They did NOT disappoint me! I think they are especially nice for vegans because of the buttery flavour.

M&S plays tunes with its potato range, unearthing the holy grail of potatoes: Chopin
M&S have always sold the best potato varieties, selected to give customers consistently great cooking results. Traditional favourites such as Maris Piper, King Edwards, Maris Peer and others, with pedigrees totalling over 850 years of potato history, are sold evenly-sized for ease of cooking and consistent cook times.
At M&S, however, we always strive to bring our customers the best: something so good that it satisfies the most discerning connoisseur. Since 1996 M&S potato specialists have tasted nearly a thousand potato varieties across Europe and put them through rigorous farm and flavour trials to unearth the best-tasting potatoes. It seems appropriate that only now, in the International Year of the Potato, have we found one so outstandingly good that it has found a place of its own in our range.
So this autumn we are launching Chopin potatoes, available only at M&S¹. Deliciously creamy potatoes, they are fantastic for any use – and no need to add butter! In blind taste tests, lovers of “fluffy” and fans of “moist” potatoes² were finally united in their enthusiastic praise for the creamy, melt-in-the-mouth texture and wonderful buttery flavour of Chopin. “We like to think of it as the ‘third way’ of the potato world”, said M&S potato buyer Stuart Henderson, “as our testers were unanimous in praising it, despite their differing tastes. It’s a potato that will keep the whole family happy”.
Chopin is being exclusively grown by our most skilful potato growers on family farms in the Eastern counties. “I believe that growing Chopin on the most fertile soils, coupled with our growers’ passionate attention to detail, will deliver our customers a truly exceptional potato,” comments M&S potato specialist Hugh Mowat.
http://www.manorfresh.co.uk/index.php?id=132

entropi

Potatoes? where's Tar...should be aaaaaaalllll over this!:pac:

I guess you'll be buying more food in M&S from now on eh! I'm happy to see you found something very similar to what you used back home

Tar.Aldarion

Lead me to these potatoes vaalea! god I love potatoes, we are making mashed here now

Absurdum

you can't beat a good spud AM I RIGHT

Tar.Aldarion

URITE! URITE! Curious to try these now

Rancid

Curiosity got the better of me and I bought a 2.5kg bag of them in M&S this morning.
They were marked Half Price and cost 2.24.

Peeled and boiled and mashed with a pinch of sea salt they were quite delicious.
After boiling, they held their shape perfectly, looked almost waxy but mashed to a fluffy consistency.

They definitely have a smoother texture than, for instance, Roosters and minimal mashing leaves them totally lump-free.
I have to admit that they do taste as though butter (or Pure Soya in my case) has been mashed in!

I can't say I'd buy them exclusively, but for a change, they're definitely a good idea.
Must try roasting them next!

Tar.Aldarion

Good trip report, potato detectives on the case

sponsoredwalk

You probably all know this but I only tried it today & it worked so here goes!

cut 360° around a potato just peircing the skin so as to make a line, i.e.
split the skin into two seperate jackets covering the interior. Boil the spud
for however long & when finished quickly put the spuds into a saucepan of
freezing cold water (or just cold, as I did). Leave for half a minute or
longer (I went longer) then take em out & just glide the skin off with
your fingers. The skin just peeled right off for me today, except 1 which
was all messy. Basically the spuds expand w/ the heat & dunking them
in cold water toughens the outer skin up a bit first before the inside
contracts too & you'll be able to peel the skin off without getting the
spuds cold. Unreal stuff, takes no time at all really, just cut, boil & peel
& you're done with no threat of losing a finger :cool:

AssaultedPeanut

Yay potato appreciation thread. Actually why isn't there a forum....

I love me a nice spud

Absurdum

AssaultedPeanut wrote: »

I love me a nice spud

you make me sick, beating up poor peanuts yet preaching about spuds :mad:

AssaultedPeanut

Absurdum wrote: »

you make me sick, beating up poor peanuts yet preaching about spuds :mad:

Don't look at me, he started it :mad:

Absurdum

Washout

Nothinng beats a mashed humble spud but its jusr got to be oozing butter

Whispered

Huuuuge spud fan here, I even have a best and worse potato experience. My best was coming home after a week abroad. Nothing but pasta for the week so I insisted on stopping at 24 hr tesco on the way back from the airport. We got home at 3am and we made baked potatoes with a side of creamy cheesy mash mmmm and had a 4am potato feast. (would not usually have so much potato together but I was going through withdrawal!)

My worse potato experience - mash and beans on a menu of a little cafe, I ordered it and was suprised when it came out within 2 mins. Eating away, something not right. On closer inspection it was INSTANT MASH :mad: still fecking powdery!

Speaking of mash, I've recently come to appreciate creamed parsnips. Never thought I'd see that day. Fab replacement to mash if you happen to run out. Anybody else?

lancslad

vaalea wrote: »

In Canada I cooked with Yukon Gold potatoes exclusively. Loved the creamy buttery flavour. I was anxious to find them in Ireland, and so was pleased when I came across the Chopin Potatoes at M&S. They did NOT disappoint me! I think they are especially nice for vegans because of the buttery flavour.

You can get Yukon Gold potatoes, but it is in England and adding in the cost of shipping, not cheap. This is not an ad. I have no connection to this Company, except via Yukon Gold Potatoes... Carroll's Heritage Potatoes Tiptoe Farm, Northumberland.. www.heritage-potatoes.co.uk email to info@

---

. We did get some shipped to a relative in UK and now they are growing, four rows of ten plants. We were also near there recently and got two 1.75kg bags for eating, 1 spud left.... So we, too have bought Chopins and are looking forward to trying them this weekend. Good Luck

Corsendonk

Rancid wrote: »

Curiosity got the better of me and I bought a 2.5kg bag of them in M&S this morning.
They were marked Half Price and cost 2.24.

Peeled and boiled and mashed with a pinch of sea salt they were quite delicious.
After boiling, they held their shape perfectly, looked almost waxy but mashed to a fluffy consistency.

They definitely have a smoother texture than, for instance, Roosters and minimal mashing leaves them totally lump-free.
I have to admit that they do taste as though butter (or Pure Soya in my case) has been mashed in!

I can't say I'd buy them exclusively, but for a change, they're definitely a good idea.
Must try roasting them next!

Well different varieties work well with different cooking methods. Roosters are just so popular because they work well as all rounders but Kerrs Pinks IMHO offer better flavour in mash but are in decline because they don't look as good as roosters.. The supermarkets sell a premium line of Roosters selected for higher dry matter so you get a floury potato always popular in Ireland. Maris Piper is the variety that most traditional chip shops use to make chips. A lot of people are growing the Sapro Mira blight resistent variety in allotments and gardens but I have read that the flavour can be very poor.

First New Season Irish Potatoes(Homeguards) are in small Veg shops around the city now. They don't work well as mash but lovely lightly steamed.

diddlybit

Been having some problems with the spuds I've been buying recently. They boil and mash fine, but are horrible baked. (Nothing worse than a bad baked potato.) This is my next potato adventure

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71969152&postcount=14

Yay for new ways of having potato, shall never have to eat another form of carbs again.

lancslad

OK, we tried the M&S Chopins - excellent spuds... boiled in the skins then 'crushed' ie almost mashed was good; also peeled, boiled and eaten in chunks; also mashed (and fried up next morning with whatever you fancy)
Will be buying them until our Yukon Golds are ready.