What is the difference in potatoes?

 
Q:  Between Yukon and Idaho and such recipes are being much more specific about potatoes, namely yukons are being called for.  It seems like yukons are moister than others.  Is there a reason when to use a certain potato in dishes?  If so, then which should go with which dish?  Which makes the better mashed or better potato in a stew?  I never thought about this until now, and I know that you will be able to help me out with this.

A:  I'm going to break potatoes down into two categories, waxy and starchy. Though each varietal will fall somewhere different in the spectrum of flavor and texture.

Waxy potatoes would be ones like new potatoes and fingerlings.  Typically smaller specimens with tight thin skin, also their flesh is . . . well. . . waxy.  These are tasty potatoes, but because they don't have much starch, they're limited to applications like potato salad.  They also make great roasted potatoes, but don't contain enough starch to be used in something like gnocchi.  And in methods like a mash they produce a very different texture.

Starchy potatoes tend to be bigger with a little less pronounced flavor.  Think of idaho potato (AKA the Russet) which tends to be a little more powdery when cooked.  Because of this they produce silkier mashed potatoes, work better in soups and gratins, and work perfectly for gnocchi.

Yukon gold potatoes, thought starchier, exhibit traits from both ends of the spectrum and also pack a ton of recognizable potato flavor.  A lot of people (myself included) like them for this reason.

Just In: A Report from the Trenches

by Lauren Rauh

Garde Manger, Week One: 

My knees hurt, my eyes burn, my hands are cracked and covered in stab wounds and cuts, my shoulders are permanently stiffened at my ears, and I feel like I could sleep for a month and still be exhausted. No, I am not undergoing boot camp training, nor am I stuck in a Burmese prison. I have just completed my first week of work in a New York City kitchen (a new development since my first post!). In a whirlwind of coincidence and serendipity, I have begun my adventure of grueling work as the Garde Manger at The Fat Radish, a trendy newish restaurant in the Lower East Side. Having no previous restaurant experience and no culinary training it has been both the opportunity and the challenge of a lifetime. In one of those "it must be fate" moments, I happened to meet the Chef de Cuisine of The Fat Radish's sister catering company (Stonesilk) during a night out. Even after hearing my complete lack of professional experience, she told me to come in the next day for an interview. An interview, as I soon found out, in the restaurant world is called "trailing" in which you are simply put to work to see if you are fit for the environment. After holding my own during a 12 hour shift on a hectic Saturday night, I was hired!

As the newest member of an overworked team of chefs, I am burdened with long hours, high expectations, and tremendous pressure to learn quickly and work faster. At the same time, I am blessed with the patience, support, understanding and quality instruction of a kitchen that believes I can rise to the tasks at hand. Those tasks are specifically, a handful of hot and cold appetizers, pickles and condiments from scratch, salads, and two desserts. I must prepare for all these dishes ideally before the restaurant opens it's doors at 5:30pm. On a typical day my prep may include, making a batch of slow cooked chutney, baking a pan of bread pudding (from cutting the bread, to mixing the custard), picking 6 quarts of cucumbers, making 20 apple and butternut squash crisps (from peeling and cutting to making crumble topping), thinly slicing vegetables for salads, selecting herbs for garnish, building 20 sandwiches…and all before customers begin to order! A major part of the job is simply understanding what is needed and managing my time to get it done. As with any job, this takes practice, but when there are 180 reservations on the books and I've just cut off the tip of my thumb with the mandolin again it's easy to get discouraged.

I almost threw in the towel this past Saturday. On my fifth order of oysters that night (shucking oysters is my Achilles's heel) I stabbed myself squarely in the thumb with the shucking knife. Fighting back tears, I managed to bandage my thumb and plate an order of grilled cheese and two scotch eggs, all the while being yelled at for not having prepared vegetables for a specific salad that I had misunderstood to not be on the menu for that evening. At the end of that 15 hour day, I could barely walk home. After washing the smell of fryer oil out of my hair, going back to the restaurant in less than ten hours was the last thing I wanted to do. But through the blood, sweat, and tears (not in the food, I promise) I am getting the culinary training of a lifetime. I want to learn as much as possible and at the very least, I am gathering tremendous material for a memoir down the line (and this blog). At the most, I am learning from some of the very best.

Overcoming the Crust

Lauren Rauh

  It's devastating for me to admit this, so I'm telling you in confidence: despite my general poise in the kitchen, there are certain dishes/foods that intimidate me. One of these elusive items is the pastry or pie crust. Even the most scrumptious pie filling can be ruined by a disappointing crust. This blog however, offers me a perfect opportunity to face my fears head on. For a baby step in overcoming my crust making adversity, I chose a recipe for, what I hoped would be, a forgiving crust. In this galette (French word for free form crusty pie like thing) a yummy caramelized squash, onion, and goat cheese filling is surrounded by a wholesome and flaky, whole wheat crust. The pastry flour is important here since all purpose whole wheat flour is much too dense.

My recipe is inspired by this lovely collection of recipes on www.nytimes.com:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/08/health/20101108_thanksgiving.html

The Crust:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil

The Filling:

1 medium butternut squash or 2 acorn squash, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, sliced in rounds
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves
4oz fresh goat cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Toss the squash and onions with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste (a dash or two) in a shallow baking pan. Place the un-peeled garlic cloves on top of the seasoned vegetables. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the squash is tender and the onions are caramelized. Remove from the oven to cool. Leave the oven on at 375 degrees.

While the vegetables are roasting, you can make your crust. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add the water and olive oil.


Mix by hand or with a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes a cohesive dough. Add more water if the dough feels too dry. The goal is to achieve a dough somewhere between crumbly (too dry) and sticky (too wet). I ended up adding another 1/2 cup of water. Pat your dough into a disk and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.


When the vegetables have cooled slightly, squish the roasted garlic out of its peel and mix it with the other vegetables. Stir in half of the goat cheese, mashing the squash slightly as you do.


When the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove the plastic wrap and place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough in a rough circle, paying close attention to keeping the crust at a uniform thickness. I stopped rolling at about 1/8 of an inch, but I would now recommend trying to get the dough even thinner.


Place the rolled out dough on a lightly greased baking pan. Fill the center of the crust with the vegetable mixture, leaving a 2-3 inch border. Fold the edges of the crust up over the filling, pleating as you move around the circle. Sprinkle the remaining goat cheese on top of your galette and place it in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

The crust should be a golden and the cheese nicely browned. Slice and serve warm.

Reduction Q&A

Q: My question is why when after you've reduced liquid you add more liquid and reduce again sometimes multiple times.  For instance I was watching Anne Burrell making a bolognese sauce.  She reduces it, adds wine, reduces it again, adds water reduces and repeats the water additions and reductions multiple times.
Also, many reciples call for adding wine reducing then adding stock and reducing.  Why not add it altogether and reduce once?

A: I wish I knew the answer to this - maybe it's because their pot isn't big enough.  Science and common sense tell us that these steps would be nearly superfluous.  And deep down, I completely agree.
Adding water to simply evaporate it back out wouldn't seem to affect anything but cooking time, and it doesn't seem as though reducing a liquid in (or not in) the presence of another liquid would change the flavor or manner in which it reduces.

BUT . . .
There are instances where I concede to what I call the "grandma factor"- this is when some ingredients, or cooking step that makes no sense at all is called for in a tried and true recipe.  Bolognese certainly falls under the category of dishes inherited from another generation - along with chili, beef bourguignon, matzo ball soup, etc. etc.

I know this doesn't really qualify as an "answer" but maybe it helps you understand the question itself a little better.