Posted on 02/28/2021 5:08:01 PM PST by Jamestown1630
In honor of Mr. Potato Head’s ‘transitioning’ - (from what-to-what I’m not exactly sure, as I’ve always understood potatoes to be, in Nature, self-pollinating and containing both sexes in one plant anyway) - I thought we’d do a thread on SPUDS this month.
I like potatoes done certain ways, and despise them other ways. I like baked potatoes (with plenty of butter and sour cream), and home-made potato salad, mashed potatoes, scalloped, etc. I do NOT like potatoes cut up into soups, or store-bought potato salad (in the latter, the potatoes are always undercooked, and the salad is always strangely sweet.)
This video from America’s Test Kitchen presents a way of making baked potatoes that interests me; it involves brining them a little, and I’m anxious to try it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr-o01qiRYI
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My favorite recipe for potato salad, which my Grandmother made the best and one of my co-workers does a close second, is really a sort of ‘dump’ recipe:
Boil a few pounds of thin-skinned potatoes until easily pierced with a sharp knife, but not TOO soft; and then peel them (I usually use red potatoes, and leave about a third of the skin on. )
Cut them into ½ to 1 inch pieces. Make a mixture of about 2/3 Mayonnaise and 1/3 prepared Mustard, a few tablespoons of finely chopped onion and finely chopped celery; salt and pepper, with a little cayenne thrown in. Add more mayo/mustard as may be needed for your quantity of potatoes, taste for seasoning, and then pour all of this over the potatoes. Mix well, taste again for seasoning, and chill. (If you like throwing in pickle relish, you can do so; but that is verboten in my house, just as any ‘sweetness’ is disallowed in a deviled egg, here ;-)
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I’ve only had the French cold potato soup – Vichyssoise – once, in a fancy French restaurant in Virginia; but it was excellent. Here, from the website ‘Mother Would Know’, is Julia Child’s recipe for that soup. (You can eat this warm or chilled, though I think chilled is classic in the so-called 'haute cuisine'):
http://motherwouldknow.com/julia-childs-vichyssoise-html/
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When Rush Limbaugh died, by husband had a birthday coming up in a few weeks.
I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said that he wanted the Rush Revere series of books by Mr. Limbaugh.
I said that I thought those were books for kids; and husband said, “Yes; and I want them”.
So, I ordered; and they are really beautiful books. Very well-bound and high-quality production, with lots of illustrations (including some reproductions of historical paintings) and lots of supplemental information.
The history is told in a very engaging, modern ‘story’ way which incites one to seek out more information on the issues presented.
I would suggest that people order this collection, whether there are young people in their network, or not. Even adults will enjoy them very much and find many references that they would like to follow up further. And the more we order, the more they will have to print – and the more will be in circulation for young people to find in the future.
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(The picture at the top of this post is of the flower of a potato plant; it is taken from the USDA website of John Bamberg, plant geneticist and devotee of The Potato, q.v.)
Cute.
Vegetable Beef Soup
ING 14-ounce can tomato juice 3 14-ounce cans clear beef broth 1/2 cup cooked sirloin steak, in 1/2" long matchsticks
1/2 cup cooked or canned carrots in rounds or matchsticks, chopped celery, julienned potato, chopped tomato; cooked green
beans, canned corn kernels, other fave veggies can be added.
METHOD Add steak and vegs to tomato juice and broth; heat til meat and vegetables are tender (do not boil hard).
Serves 6.
In our house we always triple the garlic saying, “what are we making here, baby food?”
I guess all of us DO wind up in one sort of earthly ‘recipe’ or other :-)
LOL!
Saving that soup recipe, but my steer, ‘Weber’ can’t get into ‘the spa’ until March of 2022!
Yes, even in Cow Country, butchers are still THAT backed up for processing!
I guess everyone and their brother is raising a steer or a hog or two these days. ;)
That recipe is eminently tweakable.
Adding an 8 oz can tomato sauce thickens it up a bit.
Add Italian seasonings to make it spicier.
Add a couple bay leaves, maybe seasoned salt.
Hormel’s ready-cooked beef roasts au jus (refrigerated section) cut up in chunks make a good swap.
You can buy meat in a store? Who knew! Gonna ask Beau if he’s heard of this! ;)
LOL....see....you learn something new everyday.
:)
I AM jonesin’ for some Steak Tartar. Wonder if I just go lick the steer it will be the same?
*SMIRK*
‘Weber’ is awfully cute right now, but he’ll grow up to be a big, burly BRUTE, so a year from now, I won’t be sad to see him in the freezer. ;)
THAI CHILI PASTA / PEANUT SAUCE
SAUCE Mix cup smooth p/butter, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 tea chili paste, 2 tb br/sugar,
2 juiced limes, 1/2 cup hot water, minced gar/cl, tea ea rice vinegar, grnd ginger,
1/2 tea sesame oil. ASSEMBLY Layer in bowl cooked thin spaghetti (or fave pasta),
cooked chicken option, blanched carrot slivers, chp water chestnuts, chp cilantro.
Pour sauce over; toss to coat. SERVE topped with chp scallions.
A cross between classic Caramel Creams and salty Pay Day bars. Stores airtight one week.
ING CENTERS--7 oz marshmallow cream 5 cups conf, tsp vanilla
COATING 1/2 c unsalted butter, 2-11 oz bags caramel bits, cup chp salted peanuts
STEP 1: Use a silpat silicone baking mat for kneading the marshmallow centers for a smooth center.
STEP 2: Divide centers into 6 equal portions. Roll into 7-8" long log (inch circumference). Wrap in parchment; freeze firm 2 hours. Can freeze overnight.
STEP 3: Melt butter/caramel; will be very thick; butter will separate. It’s OKAY. W/ hands, press cooled caramel into dish; knife into 6 equal slices.
STEP 4: Unwrap frozen log. W/ hands, spread caramel to cover centers completely. Then press in chp peanuts. Re-wrap and refrigerate. Repeat for each log.
STEP 5: When ready to serve, slice logs into 1-inch pieces. Serve on wooden cutting board, with several pieces sliced.
No-Bake Coconut Cream Pie
Ing Crust Crust 25 shortbread cookies, crushed 4 tb melted butter. Ing Filling 14 oz can sweet/condensed milk, cup milk 2-3.4 oz boxes instant coconut cream pudding mix 1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut 8 oz tub frozen Cool Whip Ing Toppings cup toasted coconut garnish whipped cream or Cool Whip.
HOMEMADE CRUST Press combined shortbread cookie crumbs/melted butter into bottom, up sides of pie plate. Refrigerate; make filling.
FILLING stir/combine sweetened condensed milk, milk, pudding mixes and coconut. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into the pie crust. Refrigerate 2 or more hours.
SERVE Garnish with toasted coconut and whipped cream before serving.
MANAGE MY RECIPES
Just found a new on line site to help manage those recipes
in any “when I get around to it” drawer, box, or any other hide-y-hole,
The site is Copy Me That.
https://www.copymethat.com/features/recipe-manager/
A free site which you can upgrade for a price. You might
want to check it out.
https://www.copymethat.com/features/recipe-manager/
Happy Feasting!
Love the crispy peeling. Drizzle melted butter, a bit of sour cream. The peeling is the most nutritious part of the
potato (according to Gayelord Houser, IIRC).
As a child, a small potato, washed and eaten like an apple, (salt shaker in hand for a few sprinkles) was a common snack.
I’ve always loved potato skins, and even eat the eyes - though I’ve read that they can contain poison...
I guess I won’t make it to my three-score-and-ten in a few years...
No eyes eaten. They’re removed when washing the taters.
Interesting... on Google:
Solanine and other glycoalkaloids are present in potato plants. It’s most concentrated in the eyes, sprouts, and skin, but not the rest of the potato. These compounds are toxic to humans and can lead to a headache, vomiting, and other digestive symptoms. Hummmm...Gayelord (a nutritionist), don’t remember his ever mentioning that fact and he lived to a ripe old age; 1895 - 1984.
No matter. Spuds are a staple in this house and served in some fashion at every meal. If there are no potatoes on the table, the meal isn’t a ‘meal’. Must be those German, Irish ancestors.
That is why you have a liver and kidneys.
Sola dosis facit venenum or the dose makes the poison.
Now if you have liver or kidney problems you have be a lot more careful but usually your body can deal with the small amount of toxins you take in.
Tonight for example I knowingly and with aforethought ate "8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide" which can cause vomiting and diarrhea. Since I did not quite finish off the whole jar of my homemade pickled jalapenos I will probably be ok but it is still toxic.
Certainly happy to know these organs seem to be in fine shape. Nothing goes better with pork than a bit of Jalapeno jelly! :-)
Reminds me of the heart-rending scene in Dr Zhivago..... peasants crammed into a boxcar, fleeing the revolutionary chaos.
All they had to eat was raw potatoes.
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