Bittman blogs basted potatoes

What could be simpler or more perfect?

Credit: Kerri Conan

Perfect for Yukon golds: Turn the oven to 400dg, using the convection roast setting if you’ve got one. Pour a thin film of olive oil into a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Trim about 1 pound of potatoes, remove any icky spots, and cut them in half crosswise. Once the potatoes are in the pan, rub them all over in the oil, and put them cut side down. Roast, brushing with the salted oil every 15 minutes or so, until they release easily, 30 to 60 minutes, depending on their size.

Hey! Teacher! Leave our spuds alone!

Potater haters.

"Just like Magritte's picture of a pipe, a potato is not just a potato," says Romain Cools, head of Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade body. "You cannot compare bintje with other varieties."

The bintje, as you probably already know, is the world's most widely grown potato cultivar. But size, as it turns out, does indeed matter and demand for the smaller shorter bintje is... well, down.

Local potato heros

Right here in Madison, Wisconsin!

Geneticists Dennis Halterman (left) and Shelley Jansky

Does this potato chip make my bean look big?

You look smashing!

"We make potato cakes, latkes, garlic roasted red potatoes and we've seen no push-back whatsoever"

"Experts defend bashed potato"

Mashed potatoes might make the ideal modified carbo-loading pre-event meal for some athletes.

Potato walks into a bar.

All eyes were on him.

"Potato's in the Paddy Wagon"

"One night mama went to fetch herself a sweet potato fell down the cellar stairs,
Stork dropped in while she was on the floor, so my sister was born down there.
Daddy said this one will be nothing but a misery, never will be worth a damn..
But mama just loved her little sweet potato baby, with a face like a parboiled yam."

Welcome, smart and funny commenters from a blog, the name of which, we dare not mention!

But, okay, "guns" is in the title. That's right: GUNS!!

Have a look around, make yourselves at home, leave your misguidedly liberal calling card if you like, and, HERE, have a taste of potato-y/pasta goodness.

Dismissive federal judge railroads potato flakes settled on big wheels after low-speed derailment damages dispute

Mash up, mash down.

Potato-y planetary gravitas

Oh, so Madison, Wisconsin isn't ground zero after all.

"la illaha illala"

Allah ha ha ha ha ha!

Potatoes

Poached.

The real deal.

DSC00372, originally uploaded by Ann Althouse.

Last night, I had the experiential pleasure of this delightful little Lithuanian dish.

Un-beet-lieve-ably divine!

"One of the varieties that will be stored in Svalbard is known as the 'bride's potato'"

Its unusual name, it is said, dates back to Incan times, when a bride was expected to peel this potato in order to display that she had the necessary skills to be a good wife.

Peruvian potato samples stored in Svalbard.

"An Irish dicktator is a french fry."

Pogo, being funny at Althouse today.

P1070076, originally uploaded by Ann Althouse.

Norma-ly, you wouldn't grow potatoes in a bag

But I dunno, Idaho - hey, grab that hoe, kick off the mud, put on your normal jeans, and try tubers a new way, Spud.

You don't mind if I call you Spud, do you, Idaho?

"...with slices of hard boiled eggs (haha),"

laughs Irene, impishly, while bringing it all back home from Lithuania.

Gražus.

"Beet and Potato Salad"

"Make sure the potatoes are cool before dressing, or they'll soak up all the good stuff."

"Purple potato plant a perennial pleasure"

Yeah, perennial if you live in southern Florida or California. Otherwise, an annual one better pot up and protect through frost. Pretty, huh?

Image from here.

“This is no longer just a seed certification problem. The problem now affects all aspects of potato production.”

“We’re at a tipping point. We don’t see a lot of necrotic strains when we do our surveys but they are there. If we do nothing, we will end up in the same situation as Europe.”

Potato-disparaging metaphor alert

"Hot, greasy potato"

See what they're doing there? Corporate misbehaviour, bribery = Hot, greasy potato.

Shameful.

"We found out that majority of potato growers also has projects on growing of traditional borsch vegetables."

Borsch vegetables: onions, cabbages, beets, and carrots.

"Potato and Vegetables of Ukraine-2011"

All That Meat And No Potatoes