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Potatoes

History

South America
Originally potatoes were native to the Andean mountains of South America. The potato plant, Solanum tuberosum, is a member of the extremely diverse and large family Solanaceae, or the Nightshade family, which also includes peppers, eggplant, tobacco, petunias and nightshade.

Cultivated by the Incas of Peru for over 2,000 years, the potato was then an unprepossessing small and bitter tuber that grew only at high altitudes. The Spanish encountered potatoes first in what is now Columbia. Potatoes proved to be less of an economic boon to the domestic economy that plundered gold, but they were used to provision galleons, where they helped to suppress scurvy.

Europe
Introduced into sixteenth century Europe, potatoes failed to achieve much popular acceptance except as an exotic curiosity. Being a member of the poisonous nightshade family did not help their image. Legend has it that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced them to England, where they failed to generate much interest, but the Irish were more accepting.

As cultivars were gradually improved through selective breeding, cultivation spread gradually to the Low Countries and Switzerland. As is the fate of many expensive and exotic foodstuffs, potatoes gained a reputation as an aphrodisiac.

Perhaps the greatest of the early potato boosters was Frederick the Great of Prussia, who employed a crude but effective marketing campaign on behalf of the tuber. In the 1620's, as a deterrent to the prevalent threat of famine, he ordered his people to plant and eat potatoes, or pain of having their noses cut off. The popularity of the potato in Prussia, perhaps unsurprisingly, was soon established. By the time of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) potatoes were a basic Prussian staple.

France
The French were persuaded by less draconian means. A young French agriculturist and chemist, Antoine Augustin Parmentier, was briefly an unwilling guest of the Prussian military prison authorities. While languishing in jail he became enamoured of the potato rich diet he was fed there. On his release and return to France he set about spreading the potato gospel with a marketing campaign that has a faintly contemporary ring to it. He lobbied the King, the unfortunate Louis XVI, and persuaded his Queen, Marie Antoinette, to wear potato blossoms as part of her corsage. He planted potatoes in a field near Paris and posted sentries to guard the precious crop, withdrawing them at night to give the local peasantry ample opportunity to liberate tubers for there own use. The combination of snobbery and the appeal of a forbidden fruit combined to ensure rapid adoption. The French Revolution, which prompted the demise of both King Louis and his Queen, did not inhibit the spread of the potato's popularity.

More reliable than wheat, and well-suited to the damp European conditions, potato cultivation went from strength to strength. Population increase, the agrarian and industrial revolutions, and the move away from subsistence farming toward profit-driven economies all conspired to further the potato's cause.

North America
Potatoes were introduced periodically to North America by successive waves of immigrants, but with only minimal success. It was only in 1719, when Irish immigrants brought the potato to Londonderry, New Hampshire, that large scale plantings were established. But culinary acceptance was slow to follow; even when potatoes became the second largest food crop in America, they were still used primarily as animal fodder.

The next giant leap for the potato was courtesy of the horticulturist Luther Burbank. Using selective breeding he perfected a prolific, hardy, and versatile variety, which is now known as the Russet Burbank.

Potatoes now soared in popularity, and were soon grown in every state of the Union.

Ireland
The mild, damp climate of Ireland ensured the potato's rapid adoption throughout the island. What emerged was an almost complete monoculture. By 1800 the Irish diet included an average of 10 potatoes per person, 80% of their caloric intake. Potatoes were used also as fodder for livestock, which provided milk, eggs, and meat to supplement their otherwise monotonous diet. The Irish peasant had become almost entirely, and perilously, dependant on potatoes.

In the 1840's Ireland experienced successive infestations of late blight (the microscopic fungus Phytophthora infestans), which, combined with heavy rains, destroyed almost all potato plants. Both peasants and animals starved. The prevalent potato variety, the Lumper, chosen for its heavy yield, was highly susceptible to disease. A valuable, if painful, lesson was learnt of the need to maintain plant diversity.

In an inadvisable adherence to the principles of free trade, the English government refused to offer aid, trusting to a free market economy to redress the balance.

More than one million of Ireland's 8 million inhabitants died of starvation; almost 2 million emigrated. The population of Ireland was reduced by almost one-fourth (and has never regained its former numbers to this day). The Irish love of potatoes has, perhaps perversely, never faltered. The Irish remain the highest per capita consumers of potatoes in the European Union.

One positive outcome of this tragedy, apart from the sudden and welcome arrival of a much needed labour force to North America, was the development of the new field of plant pathology. The complete life cycle of the offending microbe was studied and described, and several methods were developed to control the disease, whose effect was felt, to a lesser extent, throughout Europe.

Canada
The potato got off to a similar sputtering start in Canada. Cultivation was attempted in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1623, but nothing much came of this. It was not until the British gained control of French North America in the 18th century that wide-scale plantings were established.

In the 1760's Colonel Charles Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, ordered that potatoes should be provided for settlers in Lunenburg. There is little evidence of the Acadians growing potatoes in the Maritime provinces, but after the "Expulsion" in 1755, Governor Lawrence indicated that potatoes should be grown on the land taken from the Acadians in Nova Scotia. The potatoes proved to be more popular than the British who introduced them.

The Potato Plant

The potato plant - the portion visible above ground Â bears a close resemblance to its close cousin, the tomato. The fleshy tuber is the only edible part; all other parts are poisonous due to the presence of the alkaloid solanine, which acts as a natural defense against predators.

Potato seeds are not used to propagate field potatoes, in fact some varieties produce no seeds at all. Today potato plants are raised from seed potatoes, usually a piece of tuber with an "eye", a small indentation on the surface of all potatoes. When the plant is full-grown flowers begin to form and root stems, "stolons", branch out. Surplus starch from the leaves is stored in the swollen tips of the stolons, which become enlarged into tubers, or potatoes.

After the plant dies the tubers live on, breathing oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. New plants will sprout from the eyes; the starch in the potato supports the growth of the new plant until leaves appear, and the cycle repeats itself.

The success of the potato plant around the globe, with the exception of the Far East, is due to its unique botanical properties.

It is easy to cultivate: it can be grown at any elevation from sea level to 14,000 feet. It matures faster, in 90 to 120 days, and will provide more energy per acre per day than any other staple crop.

It is a supreme source of nutrition. Potato protein is absorbed and retained with more efficiency than any other foodstuff except eggs. Potatoes contain many essential minerals and vitamins; the British drive 30% of their vitamin C requirements from potatoes.

Added to this, potatoes can be prepared in a bewilderingly assorted number of methods.

In The Kitchen

Potatoes have a pleasantly neutral taste that makes them the ideal accompaniment to a massive range of dishes. Since their introduction to the kitchens of Europe countless potato recipes have been created around the world. There are 132 potato recipes listed in French classical cuisine alone (La RÃ©petoire de la Cuisine, 1972. L.Saulnier. L. Jaeggi & Sons Ltd. London). Potatoes can be baked, boiled, fried, mashed, grilled, made into gnocchi, rÃ¶sti, soup, croquettes, or hash browns. In fact, potatoes are almost as versatile as pork!

Whenever possible bake, boil, or steam potatoes in their skins where valuable nutrients are concentrated. If you do peel, use a vegetable peeler and peel as thinly as possible. Soaking potatoes in water will also cause nutrient loss.

Choosing the Right Potato to Cook

Russet
Use baked, fried, or mashed.

Red
Use baked, roasted, fried.

White and Yellow
Use baked, fried, boiled, or roasted.

New
Use boiled, steamed, or roasted.

Baking

Do not wrap in foil; this will lengthen cooking time and make the skins soggy. Advice on precise cooking times is impossible; there are too many variables: the size and shape of potato, oven type, number of potatoes being baked simultaneously, and so on. Potatoes bake in about one hour, on average. The best way to test is to squeeze the potatoes gently, using a cloth to prevent burnt fingers. If the potato feels squishy, it's ready, if it feels hard and unyielding, pop it back in the oven for another ten minutes, and then test again.

Microwave Baking
Wash and dry medium sized potatoes. Pierce with a fork in several places. Arrange on a paper towel at least one inch apart and microwave on high. Turn potatoes once halfway through cooking time. Cook until potatoes just begin to feel soft when pressed. Wrap in foil. Let stand 5 minutes. Four medium potatoes will take about 12 minutes to cook.

Serving
Before serving a baked potato, use a fork to pierce the skin in the form of a cross. Do not cut with a knife, as this flattens the surface and prevents the potato from being fluffy. Open the potato just before serving by pressing the ends toward the center and lifting and fluffing the meat of the potato with a fork. Top with your choice of butter, sour cream, plain yogurt, with fresh snipped chives.

Boiling

Start them in cold water.
Unlike other vegetables, potatoes should be placed in cold water for boiling. Whereas the point of boiling, or blanching, vegetables is to cook them as fast as possible to retain their texture and nutritional qualities and then to cool them rapidly, the whole approach and rationale to boiling potatoes is completely different, and perhaps counter-intuitive. Potatoes are thick and dense when compared to other vegetables, which tend to be slender and delicate; think of snow peas, broccoli, green beans, or any vegetable you care to mention.

If potatoes were to be placed in hot or boiling water the outsides would be cooked before heat has the time to be conducted to their interior. This would result in the outsides being cooked when the insides were still raw. Most cooks are probably familiar with this phenomenon; the potatoes' skin starts to slough off, the first quarter inch or so of the potato's flesh is over-cooked and crumbly. But when the interior is cut into, it is still in its raw state.

Placing potatoes in cold water slows down the process sufficiently to allow the heat enough time to complete the journey to the centre of the potato before the outermost layer is reduced to a peeling, sodden mess.

To peel, or not to peel.
Potatoes do not necessarily have to be peeled. Nutrients are at their highest concentration in the potato's skin. New and white-skinned potatoes in particular are better left unpeeled, although this may offend some cooks' aesthetic sensibilities.

Method

Scrub potatoes if they have visible dirt adhering.
Remove discolorations, especially green-tinted skin, and eye buds, if present.
Try to select potatoes of roughly the same size to ensure that they cook at the same rate.
Select a vessel of sufficient proportions to accommodate all the potatoes with a generous amount of headspace to spare.
Place potatoes in pot, and cover by at least an inch with cold water.
Bring to a boil, gently. Once boiling point is reached, reduce to gentle simmer.
When potatoes are cooked, they can be easily pierced with a skewer. Pour off hot water and cover with cold water; place potatoes, still in their pot, in the sink with a dribble of cold tap water for about five minutes. This will ensure that the potatoes are cooled all the way through.

Deep Fat Frying

Use a neutral fat with a high smoke point Â soybean, safflower, or canola are all good choices.
Hot fat is very hazardous, employ great care at all times when handling hot fat.
Russet-type (floury) potatoes are best for deep frying. Leaving the skin on is an option.
Cut potatoes into desired shape, French fry style, or cubes.
If peeled, soak in cold water; this will keep them crisp and soak away some starch, preventing the potatoes sticking together while frying.
Heat fat to about 275F (135F)
Blanch (cook until soft, but not coloured) potatoes in this oil and strain.
When ready to serve, raise oil temperature to 375F (190C) and fry potatoes until golden brown. Strain and drain on absorbent paper. Salt and serve immediately.

Scalloped Potatoes

"Scalloped potatoes" is just one way to cook sliced potatoes in the oven. There are many versions that vary considerably, but they all involve sliced potatoes cooked in the oven with milk or cream. "Gratin Dauphinois" is the French, much richer, version.

Method

Peel potatoes and slice thinly.
Place a single layer in a well-buttered 1.5 quart casserole.
Add sliced onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cheese.
Repeat until casserole is almost filled.
Add milk or cream.
Top with cheese.
Bake until potatoes are tender and cheese is brown.

Mashed Potatoes

Use Russet-type (floury) potatoes.
Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into uniform-size pieces Â roughly one inch square.
Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer until potatoes are completely cooked.
Strain and return to pot. Add hot milk, butter, salt, and salt and pepper. A dash of ground nutmeg adds a rather nice touch.
Mash with either a whisk, vegetable mill, or hand potato masher.
Serve immediately; mashed potatoes do not reheat well.

Roast Potatoes

Use Russet-type (floury) potatoes, but other varieties will work.
Cut potatoes into large chunks, peeled or with the skin left on.
Place in salted cold water and bring to a boil.
Pre-heat oven to 425F (220C).
When the potatoes are just about half cooked (a sharp skewer will meet resistance only near the centre of the potato) drain them in a mesh colander.
One minute before roasting, place fat in roasting pan. The choice of fat is a rather personal one. Some prefer a neutral vegetable oil, perhaps with a bit of butter for flavour, or for more flavour yet, bacon grease, beef dripping or olive oil. Lard is wonderful, if not from a nutritional point of view.
Toss the potatoes around in the strainer until the surfaces are nicely roughed up.
By now the fat should be almost smoking hot.
Add the potatoes to the roasting pan, very carefully avoiding getting splashed by the hot oil, and shake them around to coat with oil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Turn them over every 20 minutes or so and roast until golden brown and crispy. If potatoes are to accompany a roast, the simmered potatoes can be added to the roasting tray about one hour before the roast is ready. Baste potatoes occasionally with roasting juices.

Varieties

The choice and availability of potatoes varies according to country, sometimes even county, and season.

New varieties appear periodically, but introduction to the marketplace of a new variety can take between 8 and 20 years, and involve the screening of millions of plantlets.

Although only a very limited choice is typically offered at the supermarket, there are thousands of distinctive types of potato. From a culinary point-of-view, the important distinction is between "floury", "mealy", or "starchy" potatoes and "waxy". Russets and bakers in general fall into the former category, Yukon Golds the second.

Floury potatoes are excellent for baking, fries, and for mashing, but will disintegrate when boiled. Waxy varieties maintain their shape when boiled, but become gluey or pasty when mashed. The difference is due to the amount and natural of starch molecules contained in the potato's cells.

Grading

Potatoes sold in Canada are graded according to size and cleanliness. No. 1 grade potatoes must be reasonably free from dirt, with minimum sizes for long and round varieties. No. 2 potatoes can have an "appreciable" amount of dirt adhering. Minimum sizes are about half those for No. 1 grades.

Choosing your Potato

As a general rule, potatoes with a rough and dark skin will be floury, those with a smooth, light shin will be waxy. The Russet Burbank is the most common and typical floury potato, whereas the Yukon Gold is a waxy variety.

Common Varieties
In most shops and supermarkets varieties are seldom identified, except sometimes for Russets and Yukon Golds.

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