“Po-ta-toes,’ said Sam. ‘The Gaffer’s Delight, and rare good ballast for an empty belly… if you turn over a new leaf, and keep it turned, I’ll cook you some taters one of these days. I will; fried fish and chips served by S. Gamgee. You couldn’t say no to that. ‘

The Lord Of The Rings’ Samwise Gamgee knew the score about spuds, whether he was having another funny feeling in his tummy about Frodo, or the orcs were giving him the terrors, he knew what he needed to fill the void with a big hit of starchy love in the form of potatoes.

All cultures seem to need something bland and carby (and relatively cheap) to do the heavy lifting and to carry the salty, buttery, herby and spicy flavours around them. Bread and pasta, rice and roti, yams… you name it, every country has their favourite.

My love affair with potatoes waxed and waned as my eyes and stomach were diverted for large periods by pasta. I was brought back into the fold by marriage to a woman who makes eating baked potatoes sound like a treat to look forward to: We can have it with salad! They are regular dollops of joy in our household, with a magic ability to turn a bad day good.

While Europe has had potatoes only in since the late 1600s they’ve been cultivated in South America, in what’s now Bolivia and southern Peru from somewhere between 8000 and 5000 BCE, which explains South America’s 1001 ways of cooking them. In comparison, we’re still in amateur hour.

Back in the early 1700s, taters were treated as something to be scared of as they are part of the deadly nightshade family and considered the be evil or from the devil. They would generally be kept away from regular crops, grown with herbs and used as cattle feed by the absolute poorest in society.

The ‘Little Ice Age’ and encroaching famine saw an end to that, due to the vegetable’s ability to grow in colder climates, and the fact they produce three times the calories per acre compared to grain. By the 19th century potatoes had relegated the previous staples of swede and turnip to bottom of the root vegetable league, and we haven’t looked back.

Some advice: always cook more potatoes than you need that day. Potatoes are still relatively cheap, power isn’t. Whenever our oven is on, some potatoes are going in.

I won’t give baked potatoes the same talismanic joy-bringing power that my wife does, but I do like them. They’ll last for a few days in the fridge and if you’re busy you can microwave them to make some good dinner/tea choices that you wouldn’t otherwise. They’ll heat up in five minutes and they go with anything savoury.

More importantly perhaps, baked potatoes make the best mashed potato, either from just cooked or reheated. Cut them in half and push through a sieve with a 50/50 mix of butter and milk (cream if you’re feeling a bit Kardashian). Add salt and pepper and mix together. Everyone will think you are the Mashed Potato Don, because, quite simply, you are the Mashed Potato Don. You’ll be serving up soft, whipped, creamy, salty goodness. Add something savoury to top it off then consume in a contented daze until the coma hits…

If you’re boiling them, as above, make more than you need, but fish out those extra potatoes while they’re still firm, say after 6 or 7 minutes, and whack in the fridge, because we’re going to turn them into potato rosti!

Recipe

Potato Rosti

INGREDIENTS
Parboiled potatoes; butter, duck fat or sunflower oil; salt and pepper

OPTIONAL
Smoked salmon, bacon or fried egg

METHOD
A heavy frying pan really helps with this recipe. The parboiling thing is highly controversial among some of the self-appointed rosti elite, but I find chilled, partly cooked potatoes loads better to grate, hold less moisture and cook through faster.

Coarsely grate the potatoes, wrap them in a tea towel or muslin cloth and squeeze out the excess moisture – you’ll be shocked at how much comes out – then season generously. Heat some of the fat (or oil) in something heavy bottomed until sizzling, but not smoking. Add the grated potato, cook for a couple of minutes and then shape it into a flat cake, pressing down as lightly as possible. Allow to cook for another couple of minutes, then gently shake the pan to loosen the potato. Tapping the pan against the edge of the cooker helps to unstick unhelpful pieces of spud. Continue to cook for about ten minutes until golden and crisp, then hold a plate on top of the pan and flip both over so the rosti sits, cooked-side up, on the plate.

Add the rest of the fat or oil to the pan and, when hot, slide the potato cake back in, browned side up, and cook for another ten minutes or so.

Delicious on its own, but you can add bacon bits to the pan before the potato, and salmon or a fried egg on top when served. Amazing.

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Words: Matt Letch Photos: Vic Whitaker
First published in Issue 2 of Bother Magazine, August 2024.
 

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