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Fluffy potatoes???


spj
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Yest again I have failed miserably to buy potatoes in the supermarket that will make decent roast or mashed potatoes. As usual they are solid waxy lumps!

So I'm wondering about growing a few next year if I can get anything locally that is the equivalent of King Teds or Roosters. NB: we're in Lot et Garonne - maybe only waxy potatoes grow well here. I would love to be told otherwise.

Anyone any suggestions please?
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I've just read that Bintje and Caesar are both varieties considered "farineuse" which is what you're looking for in a good roaster. Personally I don't know either of them, but sounds like they're the mainland European equivalent of King Edward. The first is apparently a Dutch variety, as the name sort of suggests.

HTH.
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After over seven years in Lot-et-Garonne I have never yet found a French potato that makes nice soft fluffy mash. At the risk of being sneered at by some on here I confess I now buy White potatoes and King Edwards from Waitrose/Ocado via GB Shopping (as well as Bramley apples!) PM me if you want some for Christmas!
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I like the pink potatoes for roasting, you can get them in France. They're nice and sweet.
I put some olive oil and a little salt in a roasting tin, wash the potatoes, don't peel, cut up a bit and toss in the oil in the tin.
Then into a hot oven until nicely browned.
For mash I bought those which said for puree.
We did grow them too, but mostly firm ones for salad. Can't remember the name.
Go to the garden shop or agri coop and they have seed potatoes with info on type. But not now, wait until early spring. This was in the Gers.

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I used to buy several big sacks of Agata each autumn. I have a recollection that one year they were not so good, and my friend who also used to get them from the farmer, put it down to a very wet, or a very hot summer......... cannot remember now, but bearing in mind I bought them every year, I was quite happy with them.

I hate roosters, never managed anything in any way decent with them.

My current favourites in the UK are Marabelle, the BEST potatoes I have ever bought.

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Spy: is the problem in the mashing. We bought over a proper manual masher rather than the L shaped things that bend with the minimum of force. Use milk not butter and plenty of elbow grease.

For roaster then surely it has to be duck fat! OH swears by it. However we have bought one of these low fat fryers and the results are good both in France and the UK. Add some nice spices too.

Tins of confit du canard are available in aldi france though the price has risen gradually to just under 10 euros for 5 pieces. Plenty of fat left to roast potatoes with. Crazy price for the fat in the UK.

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Thanks for the extra thoughts guys. No it's not the cooking, it's the raw material. Waxy yellow potatoes are too dense and don't break up enough or get dry enough for either mashing or roasting properly. Yes, you can mash waxy potatoes but they stay heavy, nothing like the milky white light fluffy texture of a good masher. Just needs beating with a fork and him indoors doesn't like milk, makes them too wet. Creme fraiche is better.

And for roasting, parboil king teds or roosters til their flesh breaks slightly, toss them in fat, salt, pepper and rosemary in the saucepan and tip the whole lot into a hot pan. Delicious!

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Another vote for Mona Lisa here. They're infinitely better than Agata which seems to be the most common variety on offer. It's a bit of a faff but scoring par-boiled potatoes all over with a fork before tipping into hot fat results in lovely, crispy roast potatoes. Cooking in an Actifry comes a close second.
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Has anyone ever made this? Supposed to be a classic french veg. dish
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/french/aligot-mashed-potatoes-with-garlic-and-cheese
Delia suggests english potatoes, but I couldn't find a recipe with the french equivalent.
ps maybe idun can give us her famous ptdts Lyonaises.

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I have a potato masher I bought in Germany, it is BRILLIANT, of very simple design and beautifully engineered.

How do I make mash, well, if say I use three large'ish potatoes which I usually do, when they have  boiled in salted water, I drain them, then  put the empty pan back on the heat and put the equivalent of a rounded tablespoon of butter and into the pan and let it melt, and I add about another tablespoon of milk to the butter and let it all just come to the boil and turn it off. I add the potatoes, and mash in the pan. We all love mash.

If it is a little firm, I add a little more milk. And I taste for seasoning. Certainly in winter I make mash about five times a week and I make good mash, it is smooth and creamy and just right.

As I said, I used agata in France, and they were my best all round potato. I did occasionally use Mona Lisa, but personally prefered agata.

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Patf wrote the following post at Tue, Nov 20 2018 18:27:

Has anyone ever made this? Supposed to be a classic french veg. dish

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/french/aligot-mashed-potatoes-with-garlic-and-cheese

Delia suggests english potatoes, but I couldn't find a recipe with the french equivalent.

from https://www.aligot.info/pomme-terre-aligot.html

Quelle variété de pomme de terre farineuse choisir ?

Bintje : LA patate à choisir si vous devez n’en retenir qu’une,

Caesar : si vous ne trouvez pas de bintje…

Manon,

Marabel,

Vitelotte : pour cuisiner un aligot mauve/violet très tendance,

Institut de Beauvais : pour un aligot clair,

Agria.
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I had forgotten about Bintje, yes I have used them.

I sometimes made pomme puree a la francaise, that runny stuff and if made with proper potatoes and butter and milk and a dash of cream in it, is OK.

And boy did some dishes need it what with the 'dry' dishes that get served up. And jus, don't get me started about that awful stuff, what on earth possesses a country that is capable of making a decent 'sauce' dishes up something like water on a plate will forever be beyond me.

And I reckon that is why every single french person I know loves that 'jus' made into proper gravy.

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I agree that reduced jus can be tasty, but I have never been invited to anyone's home where it has been tasty, it has just been watery or watery and fatty, and awful.

In general my friends could cook, but this was something that I found surprising and very very disappointing.

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