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“You almost can't say potato without putting the word 'humble' before it,” says Adam Liaw, host of the SBS series “‘Oh, I'm making the 'humble' potato’.
The truth is that potatoes are a lot more fabulous than humble. The spud has an enormous global following thanks to there being so many kinds of potatoes available for cooking.
According to the organisers of the in NSW, there are at least 20 different types of potatoes grown in Australia alone. From shepherd’s pies to chips, gnocchi to a gratin, there are multiple different ways to feature spuds in a dish. “You can mash them, you can fry them, you can boil them, you can stick eyes on them and create an iconic toy,” says Liaw.
chef and TV presenter best known for , tells SBS the secret to making great potato dishes is to do the right thing by the ‘not so humble’ potato. Recognise the diversity in potato varieties and cook each spud accordingly.
Paul West's potato pave Source: Benito Martin
“Don’t use the wrong potato for the job,” says West, a chef aligned the Robertson Potato Festival. “For the best results it’s good to know your waxy potatoes from your starchy potatoes, and what works best in any given recipe.”
It’s for this reason you wouldn’t use a floury potato in a salad or a stew because it would fall apart, but they make for nice and fluffy mashed potato.
Know your potato
So how do you tell one potato apart from another? Jon Hill of is an expert in the field. He grows 12 varieties of potatoes and three different kinds of crispy varieties (used for crisps/chips) in the famous NSW region.
“We shouldn’t class potatoes by colour, but rather by the job they do,” Hill tells SBS. “At one end of the scale you have a floury potato, and at the other end is a waxy potato. A floury potato, like a Pontiac, King Edward or a Sebago, won’t hold together too well, whereas a waxy potato, like a Desiree, Dutch Cream or in particular a Kipfler, will hold together really nicely and hold its bite.
A floury potato is good for mash Source: Chris Abbott
“It’s for this reason you wouldn’t use a floury potato in a salad or a stew because it would fall apart, but they make for nice and fluffy mashed potato.”
How many other ingredients do you know that can give you such a diverse array of textures like the potato?
The right cooking method for the right spud
West advises that if you want to cook potatoes in a pot of water for mashing, you should always peel the potatoes first. Next, cook them gently in salted water whole on a low temperature but do not boil them. “Vigorous boiling will make the outer parts waterlogged while cooking all the way through.”
He adds that floury potato varieties like King Edward, Russet and Sebago can be used to top a shepherd’s pie while Dutch cream, Nicola or Nadine potatoes will shine when featured in a gratin or stew.
“How many other ingredients do you know that can give you such a diverse array of textures like the potato?”
Sichuan stir-fried potatoes are best made using waxy potatoes Source: Kitti Gould
Let’s not forget roasted potatoes that are crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle - the same boiling rule applies. Good roasted potatoes are best achieved by using starchy potatoes like King Edward, Sebago or Russet.
