Tony Fawcett’s potato variety guide for the best chips, mash, roast spuds
When it comes to cooking potatoes, not all spuds are created equal. Tony Fawcett lists the varieties to look for to suit each method, from roasting to the humble chip.
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HERE is a guide to the best potatoes to grow for specific kitchen duties.
SEBAGO
High yielding, this American general-purpose, white-fleshed spud is perfect for baking, boiling and comes up beautifully crisp fried as chips.
DESIREE
Long and oval shaped, it is Dutch bred and rosy coloured and is a winner for roasting and slicing. Yellow and firm fleshed, it mashes well, but avoid frying it.
KENNEBEC
If you’ve a taste for chips and crisps, this American potato is your go-to. White skinned and white fleshed, its oval-shaped tubers also roast well.
BINTJE
A fine kitchen all-rounder, flavoursome and boasting smooth flesh, this Dutch heirloom spud is yellow fleshed with medium-size tubers.
DUTCH CREAM
Waxy, creamy, it is a boiler and excellent roasted, fried and mashed.
KIPFLER
Long and thin, this prolific German variety is right for boiling, steaming and roasting, but avoid frying or mashing. There’s too little starch.
SPUNTA
A Dutch all-rounder, its light yellow tubers are delicately flavoured and a treat in potato salad. Long and oblong in shape, it bruises easily.
RUSSET BURBANK
Long tubered, it is a dark-skinned mutation of the Burbank potato and is ideal for chipping. Plant seed potatoes well apart to encourage large tubers. Give a miss to boiling.
PINK EYE
A Tasmanian heirloom, this creamy skinned, purple-eyed and waxy spud is best boiled, mashed or roasted. Its elongated tubers are tasty in potato salad.
RED PONTIAC
Sublimely flavoured when used as a “new” potato, Red Pontiacs are thin and red skinned with deep eyes. They cook well most ways except when fried.
YOU ASKED ...
Can I use supermarket potatoes as seed potatoes? Not advisable. You run the risk of disease and also can infect tomatoes, which belong to the same family. Use certified disease-free seed potatoes.
Can I eat seed potatoes? Yes, but it defeats the purpose. Get them in the ground and increase your rewards.
When do I lift potatoes? When flowers appear and leaves yellow and flop. If doubtful, get dirt on your hands by “bandicooting” into the soil to check.
Are green patches in potatoes a worry? Yes. A poisonous cyanide compound has formed and must be cut out.
Can I cut seed potatoes in two? Yes, but ensure each section has an eye or dormant bud.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
PLANT beans, brussels sprout, cabbage, carrot, celery, parsnip, peas, silverbeet, squash, sweet corn and turnip.
START early tomatoes, sowing seeds in cardboard toilet paper rolls filled with potting mix and placed vertically on saucers on a warm windowsill.
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