Spuds in the spotlight: potatoes are more than tasty - they're revolutionary - includes recipes

Vegetarian Times, Feb, 1995 by Diana Shaw Clark

I DON'T THINK IT'S TOO BOLD to assert that everybody likes potatoes in one form or another. But though the tuber is popular now, it certainly has had its foes in the past. Cultivated in Peru since Neolithic times, potatoes weren't welcome in Europe when they arrived with Francisco Pizarro on a return trip from the New World in 1534. The French thought they caused leprosy, the Spaniards called them "edible stones," the Germans fed them only to livestock and the Scots denounced them merely because they aren't mentioned in the Bible.

The lowly potato finally gained prestige in Europe during the French Revolution. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette put their potato patch under guard so that thieves, assuming the crop was precious, would make off with the spuds and sell them to the desperately hungry mobs. The pair hoped that, once full, the masses would lose their appetite for revolution.

The starving subjects didn't need a royal ruse to get them to eat potatoes; they needed a good recipe. In their desperation for bread, the French used potato flour in place of wheat flour. But potato flour has no gluten, and the results were awful. When people finally gave up on baking potato bread and resorted to preparing potatoes in other ways, they found that far from satisfying their hunger for power, potatoes gave them the strength to seize it.

Not only does the recipe determine how good potatoes can taste, but also which type is cooked. We're all familiar with the anonymous spuds sold in plastic bags, but there's actually a wide variety of potatoes. We have Russian banana potatoes, Katahdins, Kennebecs, Alleghanies, Caribes, red Dales and ruby crescents. We also have yellow Finns, blushings, blossoms and a tasty little number called Desiree.

What gives these potatoes their distinct flavors and textures is their varying amounts of starch. You'll get the best results if you use starch content as your guide when cooking them. High-starch potatoes such as russets are dry and mealy when cooked; they're best baked or used in potato-based doughs. Medium-starch potatoes such as Yukon golds are dense, rich and smooth, and are wonderful baked, mashed, steamed, or used in stews or soups. Lowstarch potatoes such as red boiling potatoes are moist and light, making them great for salads and gratins. True new potatoes are potatoes that are picked before maturity, meaning before their starch has fully developed. They are the lightest potatoes of all, available only briefly, around November.

This isn't to say there aren't multipurpose potatoes. Yellow-fleshed Yukon golds and white-fleshed red Dales steam and bake beautifully; small, brown-skinned, white-fleshed Kennebecs and golden yellow Finns work most ways. You'll find the more you know about potatoes, the more you can fine-tune your cooking to get the results you want.

Potato Rye Bread with Caraway

Potatoes make this dense, hearty bread uncommonly light and moist.

1 tsp. dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 3/4 cups unbleached white flour

1 Tbs. salt

1 cup mashed high-starch potatoes,

such as russets (about 3

medium potatoes)

2 cups rye flour

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tbs. caraway seeds

Coarse cornmeal

IN A LARGE MIXING BOWL, combine 1/2 teaspoon yeast and 1/2 cup water. Let sit until yeast dissolves, about 1 minute. Stir in 3/4 cup unbleached white flour, cover with plastic wrap and set aside 2 hours.

Gently stir in remaining 2 cups water, remaining 1/2 teaspoon yeast, remaining unbleached white flour and salt. Add mashed potatoes, rye flour and wheat flour, incorporating flours 1 cup at a time until you have a dough that is soft and pliable, but firm enough to handle.

If you're kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. (It helps to moisten your hands while you knead.) If you're using an electric mixer with a dough hook, knead by machine until the dough pulls away from bowl and forms a ball around the hook.

Add additional flour only if absolutely necessary to prevent sticking. Let dough rest while you wash out mixing bowl. Lightly oil mixing bowl, place dough in bowl and turn over to coat both sides. Cover with kitchen towel; set aside until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Punch down dough and knead lightly to press out air. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Sprinkle dough with caraway seeds and knead until dough is springy and seeds are well distributed, about 4 minutes.

Shape dough into round loaf about 9 inches in diameter; place on baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise about 40 minutes. Slash an "X" into top of loaf with a sharp knife.

Bake until top is browned and bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 1 hour. Cool 40 minutes before slicing. Makes 1 loaf, about 16 slices.

PER SLICE: 188 CAL.; 6G PROT.; 1G FAT; 39G CARB.; 0 CHOL.; 403MG SOD.; 5G FIBER. VEGAN

Potato Frittata

This is a soothing supper for a cold night. If you use organic potatoes, you don't have to peel them.