Potatoes Quotes

“What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”
― A.A. Milne

“Look at that moon. Potato weather for sure.”
― Thornton Wilder, Our Town

“While we’re at it, why don’t we add a third emotion to this list: lust. You are probably unaware that Linnaeus lumped the tomato into the same genus as the potato, a food with a reputation for its widespread availability and easy satisfaction of oral needs.”
― Benson Bruno, A Story that Talks About Talking is Like Chatter to Chattering Teeth, and Every Set of Dentures can Attest to the Fact that No . . .

“I bought a big bag of potatoes and it's growing eyes like crazy. Other foods rot. Potatoes want to see.”
― Bill Callahan, Letters to Emma Bowlcut

“Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. And a potato is a very good thing to be.”
― Massimo Bottura, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef

“what excellent boiled potatoes”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Potatoes make everything okay.”
― Catriona Ward, Looking Glass Sound

“The more we peeled, the more peel there seemed to be left on; by the time we had got all the peel off and all the eyes out, there was no potato left - at least none worth speaking of.”
― Jerome K. Jerome

“It was like putting a bottle cap in the ground and pulling out a coke.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“There are two kinds of crisp potatoes that I prefer above all others. The first are called Swiss potatoes, and they're essentially a large potato pancake of perfect hash browns; the flipping of the pancake is so wildly dramatic that the potatoes themselves are almost beside the point. The second are called potatoes Anna; they are thin circles of potato cooked in a shallow pan in the oven and then turned onto a plate in a darling mound of crunchy brownness. Potatoes Anna is a classic French recipe, but there is something so homely and old-fashioned about them that they can usually be passed off as either an ancient family recipe or something you just made up.”
― Nora Ephron, Heartburn

“Every once in a while at a restaurant, the dish you order looks so good, you don't even know where to begin tackling it. Such are HOME/MADE's scrambles. There are four simple options- my favorite is the smoked salmon, goat cheese, and dill- along with the occasional special or seasonal flavor, and they're served with soft, savory home fries and slabs of grilled walnut bread. Let's break it down:
The scramble: Monica, who doesn't even like eggs, created these sublime scrambles with a specific and studied technique. "We whisk the hell out of them," she says, ticking off her methodology on her fingers. "We use cream, not milk. And we keep turning them and turning them until they're fluffy and in one piece, not broken into bits of egg."
The toast: While the rave-worthiness of toast usually boils down to the quality of the bread, HOME/MADE takes it a step further. "The flame char is my happiness," the chef explains of her preference for grilling bread instead of toasting it, as 99 percent of restaurants do. That it's walnut bread from Balthazar, one of the city's best French bakeries, doesn't hurt.
The home fries, or roasted potatoes as Monica insists on calling them, abiding by chefs' definitions of home fries (small fried chunks of potatoes) versus hash browns (shredded potatoes fried greasy on the griddle) versus roasted potatoes (roasted in the oven instead of fried on the stove top): "My potatoes I've been making for a hundred years," she says with a smile (really, it's been about twenty). The recipe came when she was roasting potatoes early on in her career and thought they were too bland. She didn't want to just keep adding salt so instead she reached for the mustard, which her mom always used on fries. "It just was everything," she says of the tangy, vinegary flavor the French condiment lent to her spuds. Along with the new potatoes, mustard, and herbs de Provence, she uses whole jacket garlic cloves in the roasting pan. It's a simple recipe that's also "a Zen exercise," as the potatoes have to be continuously turned every fifteen minutes to get them hard and crispy on the outside and soft and billowy on the inside.”
― Amy Thomas, Brooklyn in Love: A Delicious Memoir of Food, Family, and Finding Yourself

“The dinner is delicious- the poivre sauce is perfect with the medium-rare duck, which cuts like butter. The potatoes are creamy, well seasoned, and cheesy, the rabe bright green, croquant and garlicky. Gustav has brought along a bottle of Cru Bourgeois, and I'm drinking it like grape juice.
Dessert is an assortment of small tarts- vanilla crème brûlée with a chocolate crust, key lime, and pear.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“My own feeling is that a taste for plain potatoes coincides with cultural antecedents I do not possess, and that in any case, the time for plain potatoes--if there is ever a time for plain potatoes--is never at the beginning of something. It is also, I should add, never at the end of something. Perhaps you can get away with plain potatoes in the middle, although I have never been able to.”
― Nora Ephron, Heartburn

“In the end, I always want potatoes. Mashed potatoes. Nothing like mashed potatoes when you're feeling blue...The problem with mashed potatoes, though, is that they require almost as much hard work as crisp potatoes, and when you're feeling blue the last thing you feel like is hard work. Of course, you can always get someone to make the mashed potatoes for you, but let's face it: the reason you're blue is that there isn't anyone to make them for you. As a result, most people do not have nearly enough mashed potatoes in their lives, and when they do, it's almost always at the wrong time.”
― Nora Ephron, Heartburn

“ What is Gosetsu Udon, you ask?
Meaning "snowy noodles," it is a local specialty from Kutchan, Hokkaido, one of the snowiest places on Earth!
The Kutchan region is a big producer of potatoes, and one of the most famous kinds they grow is the extra mealy and starchy Irish Cobbler Potato, also called Danshaku.
It's from that potato that Gosetsu Udon Noodles are made!
In fact, Gosetsu Udon Noodles are 95 percent starch!
First, boil the potatoes, and then peel them...
Mash them until they're smooth and fluffy...
Then add water, salt and flour to make the dough!
"There wasn't enough flour left for us to use. But thankfully...
... there were a few bags of this still available!"
Potato starch! That was meant to be used for dusting cutting boards and table surfaces when making handmade noodles!
It's not normally used as an ingredient in noodles... but as it's potato starch, that changes when it comes to potato noodles!
Acting as the glue holding the noodles together, it also adds that extra starchiness for making the finished noodles that much chewier! ”
― Yūto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 21 [Shokugeki no Souma 21]

“This broth! How can it be this rich and mellow?! It's just creamy enough to go perfectly with the noodles too! And this savory flavor! It's so deep and expansive!"
"I grated some potato and added it to the stock. That's what's giving the broth its creaminess.
Believe it or not, the potato is another vegetable that contains the umami compound glutamic acid.
That compound seeped out into the broth, giving it it's rich and savory flavor.
Plus, I only grated the potato roughly, so there are still little beads of potato in the broth, giving the texture some interesting highlights."
"But what about this topping? What is it?!
Hnngh! I knew it! Imo-Mochi Potato Cakes! They're soft and chewy on the inside and crisp and crunchy on the outside!"
Imo-Mochi Potato Cakes are another Hokkaido specialty.
Made with potatoes and potato starch, they're a popular treat with tourists.
The heavy, chewy potato cakes soaked in the creamy broth are a pleasing textural contrast...
... to the light and sleek udon noodles while also giving the dish an extra sense of fullness and satisfaction!
"Unbelievable.
It's almost as if this one dish...
... contains all the expressions of a potato possible in cooking!"
"Exactly! Y'see, this dish---"
"This dish uses all facets of the Irish Cobbler Potato, accenting its starch, its unique texture and its umami goodness.
In fact, it can be considered the ultimate in potato-noodle dishes!”
― Yūto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 21 [Shokugeki no Souma 21]

“She took a knifeful of the butter clinging to the silver paper, so soft it offered virtually no resistance, and dropped it into the holes in the potatoes' skins. It was absorbed mercilessly fast by the granules inside, which soon took on a yellow hue. Rika sprinkled on a few drops of soy sauce, then pressed her hands together. 'Itadakimasu,' she said, and tucked in to the potatoes with a fork. The hot potatoes engorged with butter crumbled apart in her mouth and the steam rose up to the back of her throat. Inside her mouth, the mixture transformed into a smooth-textured cream, heavy and rich, which spread out hotly across her tongue.
The Sado was relatively light in its taste, but had the same warmth and body as the other dairy products she'd sampled in Niigata. The soy sauce drew out the sweetness and texture of the potatoes, and the hand with which Rika held her fork moved incessantly.
The next thing she knew, the two potatoes had disappeared, along with almost all of the butter. She lay down, a delicious sated feeling in her stomach. She had managed to soothe herself, and of that she felt proud.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter

“Zaya set his fingertips atop a book and looked at Col. “One of the commanders turned a whole field of soldiers into potatoes. Then had them crushed underfoot by horses.”

“They couldn’t feel much when they were potatoes. It was less cruel, really.”
― Molly Ringle, Sage and King

“Red and white wine/Manischewitz cocktails
Apple cider challah/homemade date honey
Potato and apple tart with horseradish cream
Old-Fashioned braised brisket with tomatoes and paprika
Tzimmes duo: Honeyed parsnips with currants and saffron,
sweet potatoes with dried pears and prunes
Stuffed cabbage
Mini Jewish apple cakes with honeycomb ice cream

"What's the difference between 'Jewish apple cake' and regular apple cake?" Rachel asks.
I shrug. "Not sure. Maybe the fact that it's made with oil instead of butter? I think it's a regional thing.”
― Dana Bate, The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs

“Slushy spiked lemonade/beer
Boiled peanuts/homemade pickles/kettle corn
Mini corn dogs with chili ketchup, curried mustard,
and cheese sauce
Turkey leg confit
Deep-fried Brussels sprouts
Poker-chip potatoes
Ginger-pear sno-cones and cotton candy
Pumpkin funnel cake

"What the hell are poker-chip potatoes?"
"I'm going to slice the potatoes paper thin- like poker chips or carnival tokens- and line them up in a baking dish, accordion-style, with thyme, shallots, and garlic, and bake them until they're crispy around the edges but tender in the middle.”
― Dana Bate, The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs

“Gloria's soup is the same creamy white as her mousse, and dotted with crispy haggis croutons arranged in a half-moon shape. The "tattie scone" isn't the classic tattie scone, which is a flat potato-and-flour pancake fried crisp in a pan, but more like the risen scone you have with afternoon tea. Susan picks up the spoon and dips into the soup.
"Ohhhhhhh. The soup is perfect, smooth and luscious, with a slight tang from the turnips (the "neeps" of the title) that keeps it from being too heavy. The finishing flavor is smoky, peaty. A little whisky, perhaps? The haggis croutons crunch as she bites into them, and the burst of spice further tames and complements the velvety richness of the soup. She devours every bit, sopping up the last of it with the scone, which is surprisingly fluffy for something made with potato. Like that morning's amuse-bouche, she's sorry when the dish is finished.
But then Gloria appears, whisks the bowl away, and replaces it with a plate of seared trout with a lime-green sauce. On the side is rainbow chard and a small potato, split open, insides fluffed, topped with tuna tartare- a cheeky nod to a favorite Scottish meal of tuna salad-topped baked potato.
"Trout with a lemony samphire sauce”
― Brianne Moore, All Stirred Up

“Crispy Potato Tots Filled with Cheese, Bacon and Green Onion. Served with Sour Cream and Sriracha Mayo”
― Factory, The Cheesecake

“During all this, Mary had been extracting eyes from potatoes with such energy that they had been flying around the kitchen like hailstones. At this moment, one hit me in the eye and caused a momentary pause in the conversation.”
― Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage

“Is this a potato? It's so smooth! It doesn't have that muddy, earthy smell to it! It's not fluffy or dry, and it just melts away in my mouth!"
"This is 'potato stewed in butter.' It's a dish I learned from Ajihyakusen, an izakaya in Sapporo.
For the soup, you use the ichiban-dashi of a katsuobushi. That way you won't waste the scent of the potato.
And for ten potatoes, you place half a pound of salted butter into the dashi...
...flavor it with a very slight amount of salt and sugar, and stew it over extremely low heat.
In about forty minutes, the potatoes will start to float in the dashi. If you keep boiling the potatoes, they'll sink again and then come floating back up in two and a half hours.
All you need to do after that is to boil it for about thirty more minutes, and it's done."
"Then you boil it for almost four hours total?"
"Right. It takes a whole day to cook this, so even though this dish only costs 600 yen, you have to order at least a day in advance to eat it at the izakaya.
The dishes Kurita and I made the other day were all made to your order. They were dishes that avoided the true nature of the potato. But this is a dish that draws out the full taste of the potato in a very straightforward way.
By cooking the potato for several hours over low heat, the flavor of the potato seeps out into the dashi, and when that happens, the unique muddy smell of the potato disappears. The potato can be easily broken apart in the soup, and it melts away on your tongue."
"That's the biggest difference from the other potato dishes."
"You can taste the true flavor of the potato with it.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“I loved these little teasers before a meal, things I didn't have to order but just came to me like gifts from heaven.
These amuse-bouches actually looked like little gifts; they were small pouches of dough that twisted at the top and came to a gleaming golden-brown ruffle. They actually looked kind of familiar. "These were on Chef Supreme!" I said. I took a quick picture. "I wonder if they've got a sauerkraut and potato filling, like the ones Chef Sadie made on the show." I bit into it. The wrapper crunched and then relaxed into a nice doughy chew, almost like a very thin pizza crust. Sure enough, the interior was plush and buttery with a smooth potato puree but also zingy with fermented cabbage, the sour shreds of leaf providing a perfect contrast to the richness of the potatoes and the crust. "Remember when I told you there was no such thing as too much potato?" A mustard seed popped between my teeth, spicy. I finished with the ruffle on top, brown and shatteringly crunchy. "It's still true.”
― Amanda Elliot, Best Served Hot

“Pan haggerty wasn't dissimilar to a gratin dauphinoise (she could almost hear Freddie crowing that the English had got there first), but was fried in a pan in hot dripping. Singing hinnies were griddle cakes, it transpired, enriched with lard, flavored with currants and eaten spread with butter.
"They sizzle and sing on the girdle," Mrs. Birtley explained and smiled.
There was much use of potatoes in these recipes, Stella noticed, as she turned the pages, lots of dumplings, leeks, dried peas and oats, and a wholesome sense of economy. These recipes suggested that the region had always been thrifty, but Stella heard pride, not complaint, in Mrs. Birtley's voice, a care and a particularity.”
― Caroline Scott, Good Taste

“I’m talking mashed potatoes. Roast potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Potato casserole. Those thinly sliced potatoes with that cheese sauce on them. Potato salad, even.”
“Jimmy?” Dallas says with a startlingly sweet smile. “Yeah?”
“Shut the hell up about potatoes.”
“But they’re the best part of Thanksgiving dinner! Everyone knows that.”
“It’s my Irish blood, makes me love the things. Can’t get enough of ‘em.”
“Binge-watching Collin Farrell movies while youeat Lucky Charms doesn’t make you Irish, dumbass,” he grouches.
“I dress up for St. Patrick’s day, too,” Triple J responds, defensive.
I swivel from where I’m removing my shin guards to peer at him. “What the hell do you dress up as for St. Patrick’s day?”
He shakes his head at me like I’m incredibly stupid for asking this. “A leprechaun, of course.”
Dallas grins. “Surely you don’t even need a costume for that one.”
― Katie Bailey, Season's Schemings

“Alexander's selected the best potatoes they have in storage, a medium-sized white onion, a hearty block of Reblochon-style cheese, a slab of fatty bacon, and has even retrieved a dry white wine from the downstairs pantry.
Eden's mind races. The ingredients are simple, but there are hundreds of different possible outcomes. She can't even begin to fathom what Alexander has in store for her.
He handles his knives beautifully. His grip is strong, but just light enough to offer the most flexibility. It isn't very long before he slices up generous bits of bacon and has it sizzling in a hot pan, fat melting away and frying all around the meat to leave it nice and crisp. In goes finely minced onion, and then a good cup or so of white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Then it's the potatoes, which he's skinned and sliced with mind-bending accuracy.
Alexander pops everything into an oven-proof dish before covering the top with a hefty layer of cheese. He places it in the oven, but doesn't bother setting a timer. He's a skilled enough chef to know when it's done.
"Are you going to tell me what this mystery dish is?" Eden asks.
Alexander smiles. "It's a tartiflette," he explains. "My father used to make it all the time. Comfort food, for when I wasn't feeling well.”
― Katrina Kwan, Knives, Seasoning, & A Dash of Love

“The fat was bubbling in a pot on the stove. The potatoes went in, were snatched out, then plunged back in. They emerged crisp and golden; Richard sprinkled them with salt and piled them on a platter, then set a heap of tiny marinated fish on the side. They ate with their fingers. The potatoes were burning hot, the insides nearly melted, making the contrast with the cool, slick anchovies almost erotic.”
― Ruth Reichl, The Paris Novel

“I'd parboiled potatoes for too long and wrecked my plan to roast them and serve them alongside prime rib. But I'd thought fast, crushing the potatoes and frying them into little cakes topped with sour cream and salmon roe, then scattering everything with fresh dill.”
― Sarah Chamberlain, The Slowest Burn