tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post4392937452836751459..comments2024-03-22T15:19:36.418+00:00Comments on The World According To Me: 2012 - HD(E)Phil Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12680058800847509275noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-2091580008788579422012-08-17T11:29:16.168+01:002012-08-17T11:29:16.168+01:00Ian, welcome to the Club of Potato Snobs; we are a...Ian, welcome to the Club of Potato Snobs; we are a proud and incredibly fussy bunch of pedants.<br />It's simple really, 95% of all potatoes are shit. The best chance you have of making the perfect roasties is either to find Golden Wonder spuds and parboil them <i>just</i> enough; grow your own in well drained soil or search for extremely floury spuds.<br />Mayan Gold make great roasts, but you have to be even more careful with them than with Golden Wonder. Sainsbury's do their Heritage line of spuds; of which 6 months of the year you will get good variety - avoid Wilja; Red King Edwards and Duke of York.<br />Purple spuds make really good roasts, the problem with these Bartlett produced weird things is they are as bland as tap water. There are a couple of interesting purple and black varieties (sometimes seen in Waitrose) which are okay.<br />Best all round chip, roast and jacket spud potato - Kerr's Pink.<br /><br />In the old days when I used to buy Maris Pipers and King Edwards (even Desiree) by the ½ hundred weight from a local farm, in a bag and covered in dirt, I always had excellent spuds and for a lot longer. There is a correlation between Maris Pipers bought by chip shops and those bought and washed by supermarkets. Chip shops use Pipers all year round and chips are consistent; this is to do with natural light protection. Dirt and earth protects the tuber from sunlight which turns the starch into sugars; washing the dirt off a spud makes them rubbish - simple as.<br />New season Maris Pipers - buy them and keep them in a box in a cellar; they might keep for a week before they start to lose their ability to make floury and crispy roasts or chips; once the sugars get going the crispiness is the first thing to go and them light and golden brown becomes darker, molasses like.<br />Also, don't be put off by new potatoes; if they start top crumble when you boil or steam them, then they will make good roasts.<br />Hope that helps; welcome to my mad world. Keep smiling :)Phil Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12680058800847509275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-47825533240056951512012-08-16T22:15:32.860+01:002012-08-16T22:15:32.860+01:00Sorry to be off topic but, did you ever write a po...Sorry to be off topic but, did you ever write a post about how washed supermarket potatoes, starch, sugar, etc as hinted at here?<br /><br />http://farkynell2.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/glass-potato.html<br /><br />I found your blog because I am obsessed with spuds as it appears you are, but my obsession is with roasting them. I have spent years trying to discover the particular variable that selects whether you get a crisp, golden roast potato or a brown, soggy one. I've tried every type of fat, numerous varieties, different temperatures. I've tried hot fat, I've tried cold fat, I've par boiled and not par boiled, soaked, scraped, roughed the surfaces, left them smooth. But I've never found a consistent answer.<br /><br />I did one batch- the best batch I've ever cooked and- Glory Be!- it was on Christmas Day at my Mum's. They are still legendary. They were the most perfect roast spuds you ever ate, and everyone still remembers them. But I've never repeated that moment of transcendence.<br /><br />Am I boring you? Sorry. Anyway, I've got as far over the years as realising it's a starch and sugar thing; the failed roastie is a mess of caramelised sugar. But how to avoid that? I have never found.<br /><br />So, is it really that simple? Supermarket potatoes are washed and the starch turns to sugar? Why?<br /><br />If you haven't written that post, please do. If you have, where is it?<br /><br />Thanks, Ian<br /><br />(If you're reading this I managed to fathom the incomprehensible captcha thing).Ian Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15436369802742523036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-41229170658874888382012-08-12T21:53:39.067+01:002012-08-12T21:53:39.067+01:00Just what are you suggesting Martin, that I'm ...Just what are you suggesting Martin, that I'm misanthropic and can't make new friends? ;)Phil Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12680058800847509275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-30271307085860483542012-08-12T21:46:48.727+01:002012-08-12T21:46:48.727+01:00I might move to the seaside when the boys have lef...I might move to the seaside when the boys have left home. I fancy life as a beardy-weirdy beachcomber...PeeThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11276086973748585023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-63577492122503295282012-08-12T18:51:52.780+01:002012-08-12T18:51:52.780+01:00You could always try moving to the coast and then,...You could always try moving to the coast and then, when you're there, make some new friends. <br /><br />No, didn't think so.Martin Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15418302788172359916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979663737404474935.post-40798846450234097562012-08-12T17:51:12.247+01:002012-08-12T17:51:12.247+01:00I grew up in Banbury and relish the merest glimpse...I grew up in Banbury and relish the merest glimpse of the sea. My wife grew up by the sea and takes it for granted, although does miss it now we're in delightful Swindon. My potatoes barely happened, but my peas went bonkers and are huge and deliciously sweet. The lettuce also went crazy, so it's not all bad on the veg frontPeeThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11276086973748585023noreply@blogger.com