How to cook with potatoes

In most parts of the world, potatoes are a staple food thanks to its versatility while cooking. There are hundreds, and probably thousands of ways to cook potatoes. Similarly, you can combine potatoes with other ingredients to produce unmatched and mouthwatering recipes.

So how can you prepare potatoes at home? There are quite a few different ways. You can fry them, you can bake them you can simply cook them and then use a mashed potatoes recipe, you can prepare them in a stew or you can make chipped potatoes. Depending on the preparation it is wise to choose the right sort of potatoes for each preparation process. For instance russet potato is great for baking, frying, mashing and roasting.

For starters you can try and make whipped potatoes. You will need 8 potatoes, milk (1/3 cup), butter ( cup) and some salt and pepper.

The preparation is quite simple. First you need to peel the potatoes, cut them into a few big pieces and put them into a saucepan. Add water and bring them to a boil. Then turn the heat down a bit and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. How do you know if potatoes are done? Try and pierce them with a knife of fork. It should go in very easily and you must feel that the potato is really soft. If it's not you need to cook it some more. Then drain the water and melt the butter in another saucepan, mix it with milk and beat the potatoes. Then add milk and butter and use mixer on hight speed to mix the potatoes so they become fluffy.

Next I will give you a recipe that you probably all know. but there is a little secret to it. French fries, you know them. You need to peel the potatoes and cut them into stripes. Choose the size that you like for your French fries. Now comes the trick. Soak the potatoes in ice cold water. Leave them there for at least on hour. This way you will get rid of some of the starch and your fries will be much more crunchy. Next you need to heat the oil to 375 degrees and then fry the potatoes until they are golden brown. Make sere that you drain them and dry them before you put them in oil. Otherwise you can get burned. Add salt at the end and they are done!

There are general tips while cooking potatoes that will help you come up with those great recipes. For example, for a crispier skin on your baked potatoes, rub some little oil, bacon drippings or butter on potatoes before baking. If you want to have mashed potatoes that have extra richness, cook them in milk. The milk should be evaporated skim milk as a replacement for whole milk.

A great thing about potatoes is that almost everyone likes them. There are not many people that do not eat potatoes so if you make a meal out of potatoes you can not go wrong.