Chapter 17 · Vegetables
17.4 Potatoes
Potatoes are one of the few vegetables that began in the Americas, most likely in the Andes mountains of South America. The part you eat is the tuber, the swollen part of the stem that grows underground. Potatoes are tough and easy to grow, so they are cheap and easy to find. In the United States people eat nearly 50 pounds of them each a year.
Potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates that are easy to digest, with little or no fat. They also supply vitamin B6, vitamin C and potassium, but cooking them in liquid, as for boiled or mashed potatoes, can destroy much of the vitamin C.
Mealy or waxy: the first choice
The most important choice when buying potatoes is mealy or waxy. Match the type to the dish.
- Mealy potatoes, also called starchy potatoes, are high in starch and have thick skins. They are the best for baking, and suppliers often call them simply "bakers". They are low in sugar, so they can stay in the fryer long enough to cook through without burning outside. They break apart when boiled, which makes them good for whipped or puréed potatoes.
- Waxy potatoes are low in starch and have thin skins. They are best for boiling. Baked, they never turn fluffy, and deep-fried they go limp and soggy because they hold so much water.
Kinds of potato
| Kind | What it is like | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| New potatoes | Small, young potatoes of any variety, dug before their starch develops. Waxy and moist, with thin, delicate skin. A red skin does not make a potato new. | As for waxy potatoes |
| Fingerlings | Mostly heirloom kinds, related to the first Andean potatoes. Small and long, like a finger. Russian Banana is firm and buttery; French Fingerling, streaked with red, is nutty; Ruby Crescent is earthy. All are low in starch. | Roasting, potato salad |
| Purple (blue) | Deep purple skin and bright purple flesh that pales when cooked. Mealy, much like a russet. All Blue and Caribe are the common kinds. | — |
| Red | Thin red skin, crisp white waxy flesh, round shape. Red Pontiac and Norland are common. | Boiling, steaming; not baking |
| Russet (Burbank) | Often called Idaho potatoes. Long; the skin is rough and reddish-brown, the flesh mealy. Falls apart when boiled. | Baking, frying |
| White | Round or long, with thin tender skin and waxy white or yellow flesh. Round whites are sold as all-purpose potatoes. White Rose and Yellow Finn are common. | Moist heat, sautéing |
| Yukon Gold | A white potato: medium, slightly flat and oval, with pale yellow skin, shallow pink eyes and creamy, buttery yellow flesh. First bred in Canada. Keeps its color whether baked, boiled or fried. | Most methods |
| Sweet potato | A different plant family. One kind (boniato, white or Cuban) has dry, mealy yellow flesh; the other (red) has moist, sugary dark orange flesh. Dark-skinned ones are sometimes wrongly sold as yams. | Boiling, baking, puréeing; less sweet kinds can be deep-fried; breads, pies, puddings |
| Yam | A third, separate tuber, less sweet than a sweet potato but usable in its place. Flesh from creamy white to deep red. | As for sweet potatoes |
Kinds of potato, their texture and their best uses.
Choosing, grading and buying
Choose heavy, very firm potatoes with clean skins and few eyes. Pass over any that show sprouts, cracks, cut edges, soft spots, green streaks or a lot of eyes. Size A potatoes are bigger than size B, which must measure 1½ to 2¼ inches (3.75 to 5.5 centimeters) across.
In the United States potatoes are graded under the voluntary system of the USDA (the Department of Agriculture). U.S. Fancy is the top grade, but most wholesale potatoes are U.S. No. 1. Retail potatoes may also be graded U.S. Grade A or U.S. Grade B.
Potatoes usually come in 50-pound cartons, sold by count: the number of potatoes in the box. In a 100-count carton each potato weighs about 8 ounces on average. The usual counts are 80, 90 and 100. Bigger potatoes, which means lower counts, cost more, but size has nothing to do with quality, so buy the size the dish needs.
Storing potatoes
Most produce is refrigerated between 2 and 4°C (36 and 39°F), but potatoes are one of the exceptions that belong somewhere warmer. The best range for them is 50 to 65°F (10 to 18°C), and they are never refrigerated. Below 40°F (4°C) the starch turns to sugar. The cooked potato then tastes too sweet, may turn gray or streaky, and burns more easily in the fryer.
Keep potatoes in the dark. Light makes them build chlorophyll, which turns them green and bitter. A green patch may mean solanine, a toxin that is harmful eaten in large amounts, so peel the green away. Solanine is also in the eyes and sprouts; cut those out and throw them away before cooking.
Stored well, baking and all-purpose potatoes keep for about two months, and new potatoes for several weeks. Leave potatoes unwashed until you need them, because washing makes them spoil faster. Once peeled, keep them covered in water in the refrigerator so they do not turn brown.
Cooked potato dishes and safety
Any cooked plant food counts as a potentially hazardous food. Hot-holding equipment must keep food at 60°C (140°F) or hotter, and food being reheated must hold 74°C (165°F) for 15 seconds or more before it goes into a hot-holding unit. Potato dishes made with cream, butter or custard call for particular care on both counts. see chapter 2: Heat: cooling, holding and reheating
Choosing a method
Potatoes taste fairly neutral, so they go with many savory dishes, and almost every dry-heat and moist-heat method works on them. They also go into braises and stews, soups such as vichyssoise, dumplings such as gnocchi, breads, pancakes such as latkes, puddings, salads and even vodka. Plenty of potato dishes use two methods in turn: hash browns are parboiled and then sautéed, and the best French fries are blanched in oil before the final fry.
Most potatoes are done when they are soft and a knife tip meets little resistance. Fried potatoes should be crisp and golden-brown outside and moist and tender inside.
Baking and roasting
Potatoes roasted beside meat or poultry pick up the fat and juices that run from the roast. Mealy or waxy, peeled or not, both roast well. see chapter 8: What roasting is
For a true baked potato, use a mealy potato such as a russet and leave the skin on. Do not wrap it in foil or cook it in a microwave: either one steams the potato, and the skin will not crisp. A good baked potato is white and fluffy inside, not yellow or soggy.
- Scrub the potatoes well.
- Prick the skins with a fork so steam can escape.
- If you like, rub them with oil and salt. Leave them unwrapped.
- Bake until a paring knife slides in easily.
Baking en casserole means baking raw or parboiled potatoes in a dish with a sauce, cheese, meat or other flavorings. Scalloped potatoes bake in béchamel sauce; potatoes au gratin are topped with cheese. Both should form a crisp brown crust, hold their shape when cut and have a smooth sauce. Layer the potatoes with the other ingredients, or mix everything and turn it into a buttered pan, then bake until done. These dishes can be baked ahead and held loosely covered in a steam table, then browned under a broiler or salamander at service.
A gratin dauphinoise shows the method.
- Cut russet potatoes into thin slices, keeping them in water as you cut so they do not darken.
- Lay them in a buttered dish in layers, seasoning each with salt, white pepper and nutmeg and sprinkling it with grated Gruyère.
- Whisk egg yolks into simmered half-and-half and pour it over.
- Scatter the rest of the cheese on top and bake at 350°F for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and golden.
Sautéing and pan-frying
Waxy potatoes, red or white, sauté and pan-fry best. They are often parboiled or fully cooked first, which is a good use for leftover boiled potatoes. Choose the fat for flavor: oil, lard, bacon fat or clarified butter. Heat the fat before the potatoes go in, so they form a crust instead of soaking up fat. Good sautéed potatoes are crisp and well browned outside, tender inside, and never soggy or greasy. see chapter 8: Sauté and pan-frying
There are two ways to do it. In the tossing method, small pieces cook in a little fat and are flipped against the sloped side of the pan so they brown all over. In the still-frying method, shredded or sliced potato covers the base of the pan and is left alone until the underside is well browned; then the whole cake is turned to brown the other side and cut into wedges.
Deep-frying
▶ Lecture 1▶ Lecture 2Top-quality russets are the potato to deep-fry. Peel them or not. Peeled potatoes should wait in clean, cold water until you cut and cook them. The water draws off some starch, which keeps them white and crisp and stops small pieces sticking together. see chapter 8: Batters and breadings
Fried potatoes are cooked twice.
- Wash, then peel or trim the potatoes, and cut them into pieces of even size.
- Blanch them in a fryer basket in oil at about 250°F (121°C) until tender and translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Blanching oil may run anywhere from 250 to 300°F (120 to 150°C).
- Drain them and spread them in one layer on a sheet pan or hotel pan until service.
- At service, fry them again at 350 to 375°F (about 177 to 191°C) until golden brown.
- Drain briefly on paper, salt to taste and serve at once.
Boiling and mashing
For every moist-heat method, waxy potatoes do best. "Boiled" potatoes are really simmered. Water is usual, but stock can be used or milk added for flavor. see chapter 9: Moist heat: poach, simmer, steam
- Wash, peel or trim the potatoes, and cut them into even pieces. Do not cut them too small, or they take up water and turn soggy.
- Start them in cool liquid that covers them by several inches, so they cook evenly. Bring it to a boil, then lower it to a simmer.
- For a slightly firm result, drain them just short of done and let carryover heat finish the job.
- Drain in a colander. Unlike other vegetables, potatoes are not refreshed in cold water, which makes them soggy.
For basic mashed potatoes, start with 2½ pounds of mealy potatoes such as russets, and work fast so they stay hot.
- Peel them and cut them into large, even dice.
- Simmer them in salted water until a paring knife goes in easily, taking care not to overcook.
- Drain them well and whip them for 30 to 45 seconds.
- Beat in warm milk and melted butter, and season.
Yukon Golds can be mashed another way: cut in ½-inch pieces, simmered 15 to 20 minutes and passed through a food mill into hot cream and butter.
Classic potato dishes
Many classic potato dishes start from duchesse potatoes. To make them:
- Cook mealy potatoes until fork-tender and dry them on a sheet pan.
- Press them through a ricer while warm.
- Blend in butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper, then a whole egg and two yolks.
- Pipe the mixture into spirals, brush with clarified butter, and bake at 375°F until the edges brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
| Dish | How it is made |
|---|---|
| Marquis | Duchesse mixture with tomato concassée |
| Croquettes | Duchesse mixture shaped, breaded and deep-fried |
| Berny | Duchesse mixture with chopped truffle, coated in almonds and deep-fried |
| Dauphine | Duchesse mixture combined with pâte à choux |
| Lorette | Dauphine mixture with grated Parmesan, piped and deep-fried |
| Anna | Thin slices layered in circles in a buttered round pan, baked until crisp, cut in wedges |
| Boulangère | Potatoes and onions sautéed in butter, then baked uncovered with stock, sometimes under a roast |
| Château | Tournéed potatoes sautéed golden in clarified butter |
| Parisienne | Small balls scooped from raw potatoes, sautéed in clarified butter, tossed in meat glaze, finished with parsley |
| Rösti | Shredded potatoes pan-fried as one round cake, cut in wedges |
Classic potato preparations, with and without the duchesse base. see chapter 4: The classic cuts and their sizes
Sources
This chapter is written from these open textbooks:
- Fruits, Vegetables and Farinaceous Products — Thibodeaux & Bienvenu, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Nicholls StateCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Basic Scientific Food Preparation Lab Manual — Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State UniversityCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Food Safety, Sanitation and Personal Hygiene — BC Cook Articulation Committee, BCcampusCC BY 4.0