Annabel Langbein

THE PEOPLE’S TRUFFLE

A tuber with chameleonlike abilities to suit a variety of cuisines — and be the ultimate comfort food

Is there any vegetable — or food, for that matter — that can compare with the versatility of potatoes? Imagine life without potato chips, luxurious creamy whipped mash, those waxy new potatoes that turn up right at the start of the season, hearty rib-sticking potato gratins, spicy Indian potato curries, potato salads, croquettes, potato bread, potato flour ... I could go on. Over the ages, a great many people would have starved without this nutritious starch. In Ireland between 1846 and 1851 — when potatoes failed as a result of blight, causing the devastating Potato Famine — more than one million people died.

When potatoes first turned up in Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, no one had any idea what they were or how important they would become globally in our diet. The “Colombian exchange”, which saw the worldwide transfer of plants and animals around the globe following Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the West Indies in 1492, grouped potatoes together with two other American arrivals, sweet potatoes and jerusalem artichokes, a practice that went on well into the 18th century.

The first reference to potatoes in any form of a recipe turns up in the German cookbook, Ein Neu Kochbuch, published in 1581, where chef and author Marx Rumpolt provides a recipe for “earth apples”, instructing readers to “peel and cut them small. Parboil them in water and press well in a fine cloth. Chop them small and roast with bacon cut in little pieces. Add a little milk and cook it together. This way it is tasty and good.” It was another two decades before French chefs and cooks began to embrace potatoes in their cooking. The French considered the tubers to be a new kind of truffle and recipes started to appear for roasting them whole, like chestnuts, and braising them with wine and butter.

I can’t imagine cooking without potatoes and, unlike actual truffles, they come with a price tag that’s well within everyone’s means.

Perhaps because of their chameleon textural characteristics, potatoes are one vegetable our palates almost never tire of. Potatoes get a lot of bad rap for being fattening but actually they are great food to eat if you are counting calories — you just need to skip the fat, butter and cream. An average sized potato of 150g yields only 110 calories — 3.8g of useful, filling fibre if you eat them with their skins on, 50 per cent of the daily requirement for vitamin C and useful amounts of vitamin B6, niacin and iodine.

Around this time of year most of the potatoes we buy are main crop potatoes — their skins are hard and their flesh will be softer and more floury: ideal for baking and mash but not for making any kind of waxy potato salad. Be sure to store them well away from the light as this turns their skins green and poisonous.

Here are some easy recipes when you need a fix of the world’s favourite tuber.