Potatoes, Mashed (Puree) Variations

Mashed Potatoes- Basic

6 medium-sized

Russet potatoes               

2 Tbsps. butter or margarine

Hot milk or cream

            Salt and white pepper

Pare, and boil the potatoes. Drain, and set the saucepan in a warm place with the cover off for a minute or two to dry the potatoes thoroughly (THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP WHICH MANY COOKS MISS). Mash the potatoes in the saucepan in which they were boiled or turn them out into a warm dish and put through the ricer into the same saucepan. Work quickly so that they will not get cold. Add the butter, season to taste, and beat, adding milk or cream a little at a time until the potatoes are light and moist.

For Potato Cups- Pile into a large teacup and make a hollow with the bottom of a smaller tumbler or bottle. Slip out carefully onto the serving plate (cups can also be made by piping a Duchess Mix onto the plate). Keep hot until filled and served.

Variations

Simply add diced bacon, chives, garlic, raw or sautéed onion; in fact most varieties of herbs, or spices may be added; or even the like of minced olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan). All rights reserved.

The Main VARIETIES and SHAPES of “Deep- Fried” Potato Dishes

Allumette 

Match Stick

  

   French-Fry 

      Pont-Neuf 

    Long-Branch

         Shoe-String   

                       

     Crisp

                                                           (Game Chips)

 And contrary to popular North American belief, as can also be clearly seen in the above illustrations, the French-fry is not a method of cooking; but, as the illustration and the next few recipes show a very specific method of cutting the potato in preparation for cooking

Deep Fried Varieties

In order to obtain a crisper, much more satisfactory product; deep-fried potatoes should first be blanched; and then finished; at a higher temperature.

NB: The larger (more volume) the potato is, the lower the fat temperature for this first blanching must be to avoid over colouring the surface before the potato is cooked inside.

·        Shoe String-This style of potato is very slow to produce and requires a special cutter, used mostly for making ”potato nests” as containers for other foods. The Shoe String potato is very long, about a quarter of an inch wide, about one-eighth of an inch thick, and as the name suggests, looks like a shoe-string.

·        Allumette- matchstick (the American shoe-string). In recent years this style of potato has become very popular as a snack food, originally, like the shoe string potato it was used to make “potato nests” or as a garnish.

·        Crisps –game chips (the American Saratoga chips) - Have become extremely popular as a snack food-originally they were usually crushed and the crumbs used to bread game, fowl, other foods. Using a mandolin, cut potatoes 1/16 of an inch thick; like all deep fried varieties, this type should be first blanched, and then finished at a higher temperature.

·        Gaufrettes Potatoes (Latticed Wafer)-Used as ordinary crisps

·        Pommes Frits (FRENCH FRY POTATOES)1/4x1/4 x3 inches long, with blunt ends were considered to be the perfect size and shape for deep frying-French fry refers to the size and shape of the cut potato-not to the cooking method. Used mostly to accompany sandwiches and lighter meals.

·        Long- branch Potatoes (random length)-were considered to be the mark of a low class, poorly run, car-less establishments. This is the deep-fried potato so common to the fast-food industry. McDonald’s Restaurants, who use this cut exclusively for their deep- fries, have recently been forced to admit that they also use a small amount of milk product in these in order to improve flavour and crispness; this practice can be potentially deadly to people, who are lactose intolerant, or who, like my son suffer from a form of Acute Acrodermatitis Antipathica (As a baby he was inadvertently poisoned (came very close to death) by a nurse-while being treated for an outbreak of this condition-who gave him a Popsicle; which too; often, contain small amounts of milk product. Sandy, my son, would break out in what looked very much like severe second degree burns after the ingestion of even very small amounts of milk or milk products) or other similar diseases.

·        PONT-NEUF (1in.x 1in. X3ins.). This slightly larger size is used primarily with steaks and larger meals.

·        Bataille 3/4 inch dice) - Really a fast and less acceptable variation of Parisienne or Noisette and usually, like Long-branch; usually, considered the mark of a lower class establishment.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Riced Potatoes

Force hot, freshly boiled potatoes through a ricer or coarse strainer. Sprinkle with salt and pile lightly into the serving-dish. Serve at once in an uncovered dish.

Potatoes with Canadian Bacon and Peppers

·        To hot mashed or riced potato add finely diced Canadian bacon and finely diced cooked red pimento.

·        The potato will take on a pink colour.

·        Dress as for mashed  (purée) potatoes

Minced parsley may be added with pimento and bacon if desired for colour contrast.

Princess Potatoes

2 cups cold mashed potatoes  

Melted fat

1 egg

Duchesse Potatoes

Used in many, many dishes: Duchesse potato is a basic (dry) potato puree (mashed potato) mix that has had egg yolk added to it. Duchess Mix is used to make the following potato dishes.

Ingredients:

·        1 ¼ lbs. Canadian russet potatoes, peel boil, and rice

·        1 egg yolk

·        1 Tbsp. butter (1/2 oz.).

·        Salt and pepper to taste

·        1 Tbsp. or so parmesan cheese to taste

1. Boil 3 medium russet potatoes in lightly salted water until they are easily pierced by a knife. Peel them and rice them. If you do not have a potato ricer, mash them well or rub through a China cap. You want 1 lb. riced potatoes, about 2 ½ cups.

2. Mix in the butter (1/2 oz. =1 Tbsp.) first and then the egg yolk. (Save white for another use). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Some people like a pinch of nutmeg.

3. These can be put through a pastry bag with a star-tube to use as a boarder, piped back into potato skins, or can also be piped onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet and baked in a 400 F. oven until nicely browned. If you are going to put them under a Salamander and want them to brown quickly, beat an egg yolk with a pinch of salt and a Tbsp. of water. Brush lightly with this egg wash

Pommes Au Gratin (Mashed Potatoes Au Gratin)

6 potatoes riced

2 eggs

3 Tbsps. fat 

¼ cup grated cheese

½ tsp. salt               

½ cup buttered crumbs

½ tsp. paprika

Add fat, seasoning and eggs to the hot riced potatoes. Beat until light and mound on a baking-dish. Cover the potatoes with grated cheese, and then with buttered crumbs. Bake (400 F.) ten minutes, or until the crumbs are brown.

Pommes à la Crème (Creamed Potatoes)

·        Prepare a soft (dripping consistency) Duchesse potato and dress in  service dish slightly domed in the center

·         Pour a cordon of heated thick cream around the potato.

Croquette Potatoes: presently very popular in “American” Fast Food Chains

      Croquette Potatoes: presently very popular in “American” Fast

    Food Chains

The mix can be chilled and rolled into a broom stick shape (or balls, pears, or whatever shape you like); placed on a floured board, and cut into 2 inch lengths, then dipped into beaten egg and then bread crumbs (3 slices of very stale bread coarsely cubed) corn flakes, corn meal, or slivered almonds and deep-fried at 350 F. till golden brown. Makes 12 pieces.

Note:-If you add 6 ozs. pate a choux per pound of Duchesse Potatoes and mix well, you can bag this out into deep fat for

Pommes De Terre Lorette (Potato Puffs). As you squeeze the pastry bag with one hand, use a knife dipped in the fryer to cut lengths off as they exit the bag. Pommes Lorette has become very popular in some American fast food chains on recent years.

Pate a Choux

1 tsp. butter          

1 egg

2- ½ tsps. milk

Salt

¼ cup flour

Heat butter and milk together. When at the boiling-point, add the flour and a pinch of salt, stirring constantly. Remove from the fire, beat in the unbeaten egg, and continue beating until the egg is well mixed with the other ingredients.

Note: the mixture must be the correct ratio or potatoes may break up in the fat. If the choux paste is too wet (too much egg) it will also affect the potato shape and frying process.

Pommes Amandine (Almond Potatoes)

As for Croquette potatoes but replacing bread crumbs with crushed almonds

Pommes Bercy (Bercy Potatoes)

As for almond potatoes but adding chopped truffle to the basic Duchesse mixture.

Pommes Marquise (Marquise Potatoes)

·        Pipe the prepared Duchesse mixture through a half inch star tube into a nest shape

·        Fill with a tomato concasse mixture

·        Place in oven or under the salamander to set the potato (don’t over colour). Finish through the oven until hot.

Tomato Concasse

Ingredients:

3 lbs. ripe red tomatoes

Kosher salt to taste

Instructions:

Peel a tomato by placing it on the tines of a long fork and holding it over a gas flame, rotating the fork constantly so that the flesh doesn’t cook but the skin is seared; or dip the tomato into boiling water, you will need about 5 to 15 seconds by either method depending on the tomato size. Repeat until all the tomatoes have been seared. Set the tomatoes aside to cool. When they are cool enough to handle remove their skins. Cut them in half horizontally (through the equator) cut out the core and gently squeeze out seeds and gel. Dice them fine and put them in a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Let them drain for at least 20 minutes; reserve the liquid for another use. Transfer the tomatoes to a non-reactive bowl, and season with salt. Use immediately or store covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Yield: about 3 ½ cups.

Pommes Mousseline (Mousseline Potatoes)

To soft Duchesse potato fold in lightly whipped heavy cream.

St. Florentine Potatoes

 ·        Add diced ham to Duchesse mixture

Shape in oblong pieces (2 oz.) Flour, egg-wash and pass through broken vermicelli mixed with breadcrumbs.

General, Cooking Hints for Baked Potatoes

Baked Varieties

All the baked variations stem from the Baked Jacket potato ie. Pommes au Four-“four is the French for oven.

·        For best results, always use Canadian, Russet, baking potatoes if available.

·        Heat oven to 425 F. Pierce potato in several places to allow steam to escape and to make a fluffier potato (also, if this is not done, potatoes have been known to explode).Place potato on oven rack or baking sheet. Bake 40 to 55 minutes.

·        To test the potatoes, do not pierce them with a fork, but squeeze them with the hand wrapped in a towel. If a soft skin is desired, potatoes may be wiped with fat and sprinkled with salt, do not wrap in foil. The skin on baked potatoes should be broken immediately after cooking, in order to prevent their steaming and becoming soggy. Note: Restaurants now steam potatoes days ahead of time, wrap them in foil; and then simply reheat at time of service; which is why they are usually either very soggy, or yellow and dried.

·        To serve, use small knife to cut a cross on top Push sides and ends gently to fluff. Mix potato with milk, sour cream, or butter, if desired. For more variety, add crumbled bacon , or diced ham, and snipped chives (or green onion ) to potato filling

Do Not- I repeat again- Do Not wrap potatoes in aluminium foil which will trap steam and give them a soggy, steamed texture, and an entirely different flavour.Potatoes wrapped in any material are not baked- they are steamed or braised

Many restaurants now use this practice (claiming the potato keeps better    

Truthfully, only establishments that are, placing the potato in a steam table, or reheating precooked potatoes for later service should have this concern.

The number of potatoes being baked does not change baking time in a conventional oven.©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved

Galette Potatoes

Using a little flour, shape the Duchess mixture into potato cakes approximately 2 inches in diameter.

Shallow fry in hot butter and oil until golden brown on one side. Turn over carefully and fry other side.

If the potato is cold and firm, cut into strips two inches long, one inch wide and one-half inch thick, otherwise shape into flat cakes one-half inch thick. Dip the strips or cakes first into the melted fat and then into the egg, which has been slightly beaten, and lay them carefully on a greased pan. Cook in a hot oven (400- 450 F.) until brown.©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Chateau Potatoes

Château Potatoes

·        Peel and turn the potatoes barrel shape approximately 2 inches by 1 inch.

·        Place in water and bring to the boil for about 10 minutes

·        Drain immediately and let dry.

·        Using a light pan, sauté, in hot fat, until an even golden brown and soft to the touch (they should be fully cooked).

·        Serve brushed with melted butter for added glaze and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

BROWN SAUCE OR ESPAGNOLE

Quantities Required for Four Quarts: 

One lb. of brown roux dissolved in a tall, thick stock pot with six quarts of brown stock or estouffade. Put the saucepan on an open fire, and stir the sauce with a paddle or whip, and do not leave it until it begins to boil. Then remove the whip, and put the stock on a corner of the fire, letting it lean slightly to one side with the help of a wedge, so that boiling may only take place at one point, and that the inert principles thrown out by the sauce during reduction may accumulate high up in the stock pot, whence they can be easily removed as they collect.

It is advisable during reduction to change saucepans twice or even three times, straining every time, and adding a quart of brown stock to replace what has evaporated. At length, when the sauce begins to get lighter, and about two hours before finally straining it, two lbs. of fresh tomatoes, roughly cut up,
NOTE: Remember, Espagnole is a derivative of Demiglace-the basic brown sauce-it is NOT the other way around; but tomatoes were not an ingredient of the original Espagnole sauce either.

Glace de cusine is any rich stock that is used as a glaze.
The basic, Demiglace is actually any rich stock or broth that is reduced by half or three-quarters to enrich it; it is normally still a relatively thin liquid.

Glace de Viande is made the same way, but it is normally reduced by a factor of 8-10, has a thick syrupy or paste-like consistency, and is much richer. Glace de viande can sometimes be purchased, but is expensive, $30-40 per pint.

Espagnole sauce, which, unlike the other two, now contains tomato and is often, incorrectly[US], referred to as gravy; might be thought of as half way in between.
SEE: Demiglace, Espagnole, Glace de Cusine, Glace de Viande, 

should be added, or an equivalent quantity of tomato purée  and about one lb. of Mirepoix. The sauce is then reduced so as to measure four quarts when strained, after which it is poured into a wide tureen, and must be ‘finished” and kept in motion until quite cool lest a skin should form on its surface.

The time required for the reduction of an Espagnole varies according to the quality of the stock and roux. We saw that one hour sufficed for a concentrated stock and starch roux, in which case the Mirepoix and the tomato are inserted from the first. But much more time is required if one is dealing with a roux whose base is flour. In the latter case six hours

Lenten Espagnole:

Practical men are not agreed as to the need of Lenten Espagnole. The ordinary Espagnole being really a neutral sauce in flavour, it is quite simple to give it the necessary flavour by the addition of the required quantity of fish fumet. It is only, therefore, when one wishes to conform to the demands of a genuine Lent sauce that a fish Espagnole is needed. And, certainly in this case, nothing can take its place. The preparation of this Espagnole does not differ from that of the ordinary kind, except that the bacon is replaced by mushroom parings in the Mirepoix. This sauce takes the place of the ordinary Espagnole, for Lenten preparations.

                  © Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights Reserved.