Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with potatoes

Mashed Potatoes can be your friend

Jon_Evil — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:47:43 -0800

What are some cool/delicious uses for instant mashed potato flakes other than making mashed potatoes? My ex-roommate moved out and left a large box of potato buds, which have been sitting unused for several months. I deplore fake mash, but not as much as I deplore wasting food. I'm a fairly accomplished cook (have run kitchens & written menus in NYC), but can't think of anything to do with this source of starchiness other than to mix them with stuff and fry them up as pancakes or croquettes. Inspire me, hivemind!

Consider the lowly potato... now make it awesome.

1f2frfbf — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:01:58 -0800

Not necessarily my grandmother's potato salad... What are your tips, tricks and recipes for awesome potato salad? I'm a reasonably experienced and equipped chef, I'm open to vegan, vegetarian and meat options.
Kind of previously.

Getting Potatoes Right

Fairchild — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:08:46 -0800

How can I make perfect baked potatoes while roasting other meats? I'm roasting a bone-in turkey breast that will take 1 3/4 - 2 hours at 325 degrees. I want to make four baked potatoes as well. Should I bake them at 325 for the entire time it takes to roast the turkey breast?

Last week I baked four small to medium sized baked potatoes on their own in a 350 degree oven for an hour and they were still undercooked. This method has never failed me, maybe I used to do them at 375 and forgot.

Thanks.

Mashed potato

stenoboy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:55:15 -0800

Why does homemade mashed potato taste like fake mashed potato the day after? Is there a way I can make a load of mashed potato and keep it for a few days without it tasting weird? It always tastes like that horrible powdered stuff when eaten a few days after. In fact, it seems potatoes of any description don't do so well as leftovers. Any tips to make them taste better?

Not sweet potatoes. Potatoes that are sweet.

Orinda — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:10:09 -0800

Is there anything palatable I can cook to use up potatoes that have turned sweet while stored in the fridge? Last summer I bought a bagful of small, white potatoes at my local farmers' market and I stored them in the lower produce bin of my fridge (a mistake I won't make again). A few weeks ago I boiled and mashed some of them. Contrary to O9scar and Cook's Illustrated, I found that the potatoes had a distinct sweet taste. The mash was edible but strange-tasting.

Is there any conventional (or unconventional) wisdom on how to use up potatoes that have turned sweet? They're in perfect shape otherwise, with no green skin, no sprouts, no rot. I hate to throw them out. So far my best guesses are that they might be suitable for making needhams or latkes but then again, the presumably low starch content of the potatoes (whose starch has partially converted to sugar) might make them unsuitable even for those uses.

Ideas, anyone?

Potato salad vodka?

nímwunnan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:37:36 -0800

Would it be possible to make potato-salad vodka? Is there any chemical reason that you couldn't start with potato salad instead of just potatoes? Besides it tasting like ass? These are the questions flying around my post-Thanksgiving household.

Dog Treats

about_time — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:28:23 -0800

My dog loves dried sweet potato chews. They go for $20 a bag in the pet store even though the only ingredients are potatoes. It must be that I can make them at home for the cost of a potato. Do I need a fancy food dehydrator or can I just cut the potatoes up into thick pieces and put my oven on 200F for a many hours? Anyone have a specific recipe or experience making them? I didn't find any recipes on line. Thanks for your help.

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to

kidsleepy — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:06:01 -0800

Which is the healthier option: french fries or potato chips? The cafeteria at work offers a choice between generic crinkle-cut french fries and generic ruffled plain potato chips.

Which option is the lesser of two evils?

(There are healthier alternatives, like fruit and salad, but sometimes a girl just needs something salty.)

I can't believe I'm asking a question about Tater Mitts.

beaucoupkevin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:13:14 -0800

Do Tater Mitts work? Yes, I love mashed potatoes. No, I am not joking. Yes, I'm generally very skeptical of infomercials. (And yes, I know it's better to leave the skins on, but the person I live with hates that with an unbelievable passion.)

What are the secrets of good homefries?

unSane — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:24:03 -0800

I love homefries. Omigod I love homefries. What are your secrets?

Quick & tasty potato recipes

UbuRoivas — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:38:12 -0800

What are some quick & tasty recipes I can make with potatoes? Potatoes are dirt cheap, and easy to cook. What I want to know is: what are some ultra-simple & cheap ways to liven up the humble potato, into a tasty snack or meal? And what ingredients should I try to have on hand in order to do this? (eg + butter & milk = mashed potatoes, + fish sauce & blachan = fishy Indonesian potatoes, + ketchup & American cheese = American potatoes, + sour cream & refried beans = Mexican potatoes). Or, if you have any particular favourite ways of preparing simple potato recipes, let me know! :)

Can I re-freeze thawed french fries and hash browns?

crazycanuck — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 10:58:46 -0800

Can I re-freeze thawed french fries and hash browns? The power was out for approximately 60 hours. The highly processed curly fries and potatoes o'brien in my freezer thawed. The freezer is a stand-alone deep freezer, and other items in the freezer did not thaw. Is it safe to re-freeze these items for consumption on another day?

Reheating Roast Potatoes?

Joh — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 11:19:03 -0800

Travelling with roast potatoes - reheat or part-cook? I am eating thanksgiving at a friend's house this afternoon, and we decided to split the cooking between three of us. I am taking roast potatoes, roast parsnips, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Roast potatoes/parsnips are best straight out of the oven, IMO, while crispy. What would yield the best results - completely cooking them at my house, then reheating them in the oven at her house, or part-cooking them at my house, then finishing them off at her house? I am wondering if reheated roasties will be too crispy, or if something weird will happen if I part-cook, cool, then finish cooking them.

Any experience mefites? Thanks!

Potatoes potatoes everywhere and not a one is cooked

tdreyer1 — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 10:23:21 -0800

QUICK!!! I need help baking about 50 potatoes in 1 oven!!! I need to bake 50 potatoes, to be ready to serve all at once tonight. How can I do this? How long should I bake them.... What temp... I need step by step if possible, including keeping them warm if I need to do more than one smaller batch at a time. I've never cooked this many at once before!!! Thanks for all your help!!

What's funny about potatoes?

interrobang — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:01:40 -0800

What is funny and/or interesting about potatoes? I've been given the opportunity to draw a weekly strip for a magazine with a very limited audience: potato farmers.

The obvious thing to do would be to make a strip about a potato and his adventures. So I'm not going to do that. Off the top of my head, I think the adventures of some sort of personified blight might be more interesting, though that could change.

The thing seems to be completely open—I just need to make a strip that would "give a potato farmer a chuckle". I need to learn about potatoes, I guess; probably the only way to make something that's funny about potatoes is to know a lot about them.

So, does anyone know any interesting facts about potatoes, or little bits of interesting trivia?

Help me quell this smell!

bDiddy — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:12:56 -0800

How do I get rid of the smell of rotten onions? I recently opened a drawer in my kitchen to find that the bag of onions had melted. Of course I mean that they went bad and produced the rotten onion liquid. This liquid caused a mighty stink and I don't know how to get rid of the smell. I cleaned it up with some spray cleaner and currently the bottom of the drawer is covered in baking soda. And yet the smell lingers on. Anyone have any suggestions for egtting rid of this smell? It's killing me!

Also, I had potatoes in the drawer with the onion. Is there some sort of "don't store potatoes and onions together" rule I should have known about? My friend mentioned something to that effect. Anyone know?

Mashed Potatoes

neustile — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 13:24:37 -0800

"Real" mashed potatoes without milk or butter. Recipes? I've tried adding eggs, soy milk, margarine / canola oil, and nothing seems as good as when I do it with milk and butter. I'm making them for someone with dietary restrictions that can't have milk/butter. With just olive oil they fall apart and get crumbly, with soy milk they taste very strange to me, and with margarine they also taste "wrong" or "flat." What's a good non-dairy 'binding agent?'

Slicing and Dicing Mashed Potatoes

adrober — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 14:55:12 -0800

If you were a food scientist, and a chef at a restaurant handed you a bowl of mashed potatoes and challenged you to figure out how many potatoes were in there and what kind of potatoes they were, how would you go about it? (Bonus if you can do it without leaving the restaurant.)

How can I make my potatoes last longer?

Hypharse — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 16:51:42 -0800

Potatoes don't last more than a week in my apartment. There is no cool, dry place to store them - my pantry is just as hot and muggy as the rest of the place. Any tips on creating a potato-friendly atmosphere in there? Would sticking them in a dry Igloo container help? Or am I doomed to a potato-less summer? I feel very silly asking this, since people have obviously been keeping potatoes through the summer long before the invention of air conditioning... of course, what used to be a cellar here is now a laundry room, and I'd probably get funny looks for keeping a barrel of potatoes in it.