I can't wait until I can turn my oven on, I'm ready for some oven baked comfort food. Plus I'm tired of A/C bills...winter is when I save on my gas and electric.
My Mother often made "potato pancakes"; my Dad loved them, I did not. She grated the potatoes into string-like pieces, thinner than French fries, and shorter, and used something to make batter, flour? And grease, likely butter, knowing her cooking preferences. Fried the concoction up, until somewhat crispy-brown. With no added topping, they tasted, well,......salty, and oily. With syrup, UGH, as far as I was concerned. But, I was never forced to eat, encouraged, yes, but never under any kind of threat. My Folks believed when a kid got good and hungry, he'd eat. They were right! Frank
Have you noticed that baked potatoes absorb far more butter than it seems like they should be able to? Usually, that's not a problem because I am eating it with more than just butter. Sour cream, for example, isn't so completely absorbed into the potato so as to disappear without a trace. But if all that I have to go with it is butter, I can use a half a stick of butter and still not be able to taste it in the potato.
If potato flesh is warm, it can absorb an incredible amount. Keep that in mind when making potato salad. We started digging our potatoes today.
I guess I don't understand the problem, LOL!!! Growing up we had potatoes at every meal and these days I only have them every couple of months. It seems really strange to buy potatoes one at a time when I grew up surrounded by burlap bags filled with them. On those rare occasions when I do eat a baked potato I like to top it with Marie's chunky blue cheese dressing and save the butter to put on the empty potato skins.
I'm glad to hear that you use hot potatoes when you make potato salad! I was taught to sprinkle the hot potatoes with apple cider vinegar before adding the mayonnaise to a potato salad. I don't really think that it reduces the absorption of the mayonnaise but it does make the salad taste better.
I really love baked potatoes, too, and I don’t mind using a lot of butter and sour cream when I have a baked potato. I don’t eat them very often, but I always enjoy them when I do have them. I make potato salad with warm potatoes also. I chop dill pickles and onions and let them marinate together while the potatoes are cooking. After the potatoes are peeled and chopped into smaller pieces, I dump the pickles and onions with a bit of pickle juice over the potatoes and mix them to let the pickle juices soak in, which is similar to what you do with vinegar, @Beatrice Taylor . When it has cooled to where it is more warm than hot to the touch, then I add the mayonnaise, a little mustard, and sometimes a bit of sour cream, as well as the himalayan pink salt, and let that all mix together while I chop celery, eggs, and olives to add in. Radishes when I have them. More pickles and onions if it looks like it needs more, and then see how it tastes. When my kids were growing up, we only rarely had cold potato salad because I couldn’t hide it, and they always ate most of it while it was still cooling down. (I made it with a 5 lb bag of potatoes ! ) If they had already eaten dinner before I made the potato salad, it kind of had a chance to chill overnight, so making it just before bedtime was what I tried to do if we wanted to keep it overnight.
I think it depends on the type of potato. The kinds they use for baking tend to be dry. I guess that is preferred by most people. I like potatoes dripping, not sopping, in butter. It's a subtle difference. lol.
Give me a potatoes and beans, and we will never go hungry. We eat potato salad cold,as we both grew up being told cold was the best way because of possible food poisoning. Have eaten hot german potato salad., very good. I do let the potatoes cool down some before adding the other ingredients. Red onion is best, sweet pickle relish, mayo, a tad of mustard,only only one boiled finely chopped egg, on occasion sliced black olives.Salt, pepper, and red hungarian paprika.Tasty. I have used different potato types to make the salad, and like red potatoes best. White skinned potatoes seem to make the best whipped potatoes, very creamy;The thicker brown skinned Idaho potato is perfect for baked- to us. Mother use to make stewed potatoes, with pinto beans and cornbread, umm perfecto
Oh, Ken, you definitely done a thread on one of our favorite foods........potatoes! Love, absolutely LOVE baked potatoes. Buy sometimes at Wendy's, covered with melted cheese. Love potato skins also, but only at a sports bar. But, when it comes to potatoes, it's...…..baked, fried, French fried, potato salad (which I help my wife make), sweet potatoes. I like mashed potatoes more than my wife does, and any left over, I will fry up the next morning for breakfast as potato pancakes. By the way, did I say "we love potatoes?" Yep! Oh, and potato chips also. Really like the deep fried potato chips sold at fairs. Of course, there are those that won't eat potatoes, because of the starch content and that they can put weight on, but hey, like many Seniors, one of the privileges of getting to this age (70) is still eating some things we really like...…..like potatoes.
I like potato salad cold, sweet, and simple. Add chopped hard boiled eggs, a little chopped onion, sweet relish, mustard, and ... Miracle Whip!
Potatoes were a cash crop that my dad planted every few years. He had a crop rotation plan that was probably fairly standard, but that I think he would sometimes adjust due to anticipated profits, but I didn't pay that much attention. When he grew potatoes for sale, for some reason, the very large and the very small potatoes were rejected, and ended up in our potato cellar. Plus mom had a garden that was probably about an acre, and she would plant different kinds of potatoes along with whatever else she was planting, so we always had potatoes in the cellar. By spring, these potatoes were sprouting, growing ghostly stalks, for lack of light, and many of them were getting soft. I don't think very many of them were thrown away, though. Some became seed potatoes for mom's garden and she had things that she did with the softer potatoes that made them edible.
When I order a dinner that's normally served with Fries, I'll tell the waiter that I would rather have a Baked Potato or Mashed Potato. I like my B.P. with Butter and Sour Cream, and my M.P. with Brown Gravy. Hal
I order my potato side dish usually baked with butter only or mashed, with hot brown gravy. I eat the entire potato, including the skin. Fries are for kids. Hal
I wait until my leftover baked potatoes are cold, then fry them with diced onions. Always a favorite.