While we’re on the potato subject, the one grocery store that has seed potatoes as two types, Russet and Irish Cobbler. Is anyone familiar with Irish Cobbler?
DuckDuckGo AI started by saying good for mashed and then when I swapped to Irish Cobbler vs Russet, said Russet for mashed or baked and Irish Cobbler of boiling, steamed and new potatoes. Seems the cobblers are creamier and less dry/flaky. Cobbler is closer to Yukon Gold is sounds like and I prefer them over russets. Russets are definitely the better storage potato.
Roasted or pan fried is our preference and both tend to require parboiling which is fine/standard.
If I had a cellar, I would grow russets for storage. Meanwhile, Russets are dirt cheap and Yukons are hard to find and seem to have been replaced by small overpriced bags of other small creamy type potatoes with no named variety. Sounds like maybe Irish Cobbler would be good to grow in place of those small bagged potatoes. It may be what the white ones are.
I was looking at Irish Cobbler. Like German Butterballs and Russets they are indeterminate, so you can use that Amish growing technique mentioned up thread. I am sure it works in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and on Diana's Farm in Wisconsin. I may have to focus on hot weather crops like Sweet potatoes instead!
Whatever you try, Good Luck!
I don’t grow/store potatoes so I have no useful advice on those subjects.
As for potato salad, preferences are all over the place when I was looking at recipes.
Russets are starchy & if over boiled, will quickly turn into mush. If you get them just right (4 - 7 minutes), the edges will crumble a bit which adds to creaminess’. They also absorb flavors well. The recipe I used specified russets.
Yukon Gold seemed to be an all around favorite & hold their shape. I too have not seen them lately - everything is nondescript ‘yellow’ potatoes.
Waxy potatoes (red skin is one) hold their shape, keep sharper edges & don’t absorb dressing all that much. I like the small ‘baby’ reds for some reason, probably just the way they look & they cook fast!
I’m just now catching up on the garden thread. On Wednesday I made pot roast for dinner, and I have some HUGE russets that I got from Costco and needed to start using, so I made mashed potatoes with them. I used my potato ricer that was a Christmas gift, and they were some of the best mashed taters I’ve ever made. Hubby raved over them, but the truth is I often make great mashed potatoes, so his raving was a bit of a surprise. They were soft and fluffy. I don’t usually use russets for mashing, almost always used baby red skins, but I might have to start using them this way.