Q. Can you give me any hints on coming up with some recipes for Idaho® potatoes that will impart a smoky flavor?
A. Happy to do this, although I admit that for my personal tastes, a little smoke goes a long way. Back in the day, chefs used to just add a product called Liquid Smoke to achieve a smoked flavor profile to just about everything. When I owned a fresh pasta restaurant, the chef used one of those Lil’ Smokey units and would put flavored wood chips inside to smoke lots of different items. My favorite was the subtle smoked shrimp, which was lightly smoked, then chilled and added to a sauté pan with a trio of scallions, garlic and green onions, olive oil and then cream (until reduced) along with vegetable flavors (red peppers, mushrooms, black or Kalamata Olives). This mixture was then tossed with pasta. I digress. Here are some recipes to try, you’ll notice that a couple don’t require smoking the potatoes but add a smoked paprika for the smokiness:
Q: When I was in South America years ago I had something called “Papas Huancaína”. Do you happen to have a recipe on your website of this recipe?
A: We currently don’t have a recipe on our website but the link below will give you a recipe for the sauce. We will try to identify a chef to share the recipe with us on our website.
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/saladssidedishes/r/huancaina.htm
Q: When making potato salad the outer layer of my potato often flakes. I’ve tried different types of potatoes but usually end up with chunks that are “tight”. Also, do I cool the potatoes before dressing them? If I dress them when they are warm they tend to absorb the dressing. Tastes ok but looks dry. Any suggestions?
A: You did not mention cooking procedures, but I usually recommend peeling the potato and cutting into large chunks when using a russet, as it has high solids (starch) and will tend to overcook the outside before the inside is done when left whole and boiled. Leaving smaller reds whole seems to work fine (they are more waxy potatoes and a Yukon Gold is about somewhere in between, so it also benefits from being cut into chunks and then boiled). If you add the dressing when the potato is warm it will absorb more liquid and may become soggy as the expanded warm potato cells absorb the liquid. As you suggested, it may turn out better to let the potatoes cool and then add the dressing.
I used to own a fresh pasta restaurant and for salads we often found that we had to re-add dressing as the pasta would absorb the liquids overnight and become dry. So we always made a little extra of the dressing and did a test before sending a salad out to a customer. Often we had to add some liquid to make the salad creamy enough to be able to actually taste the spices and flavors properly. Hope these suggestions help.
Q: I have noticed that a lot more recipes do not state how many potatoes are needed, they only state the number of pounds needed. How do I figure out the number of potatoes to use in my recipe when only given pounds?
A: Good question. Here are some of the reasons we are not as specific about the number of potatoes to use. In foodservice, No. 1 Idaho potatoes are packed in a 50 lb carton and the sizes (which chefs often specify) vary by approximately how many potatoes fit into a box. So, a 50 count is about one pound for each potato. No. 2 potatoes sold in foodservice can vary too, some chefs order a 10 ounce and above size, especially if doing French fries. In retail, the produce manager may stock loose potatoes which they order from the same foodservice cartons. The loose ones are often purchased by consumers that want a baked potato, so they are bigger than what you find in a 5 lb bag. A retailer often orders a 70 or 80 count potato for their displays. The bags available at the grocery store can contain multiple sizes, from 2 ½ ounce and up. And finally, the USDA specs are based on a 5.3 ounce potato, about 100 calories. On average, if fixing the recipe at home you could buy about 5 loose potatoes from the grocery store for this recipe.
Sorry I can’t be more exact.
Q. I own an ice cream shop and would like to add hand cut french fries to our menu. I have been following the french fry prep tips on the foodservice section of the website, and for the most part, our test batches have been coming out ok, but I still have some questions, such as:
I’ve heard of soaking in a brine solution. Do you know what the purpose of that is? Also, I am trying to locate a french fry cutter that does the crinkle cut, but the only one I have found costs over $3,000. Do you know of any that might be less expensive? Any information you could provide would be most appreciated.
A. The brine solution is an old wives tale to try and get some of the moisture out. The added salt will actually speed up the oil breaking down prematurely so we don’t recommend it. Unfortunately, I am not aware of a low cost crinkle cut machine. Mighty Fine out of Austin Texas uses the fancy one, check out this video:
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