March 31 National Tater Day

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
May 12, 2010
Location
Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
National Tater Day is a day set aside to celebrate the potato. Potatoes can be baked, boiled, steamed, roasted, fried , grilled and scalloped. They are used in stews, soups, dumplings, and pancakes. Actually they are used in or with about everything.

Potatoes came to America in the early 17th century. They were shipped from Europe to the early colonies.

In Kentucky there is a Tater Day in Benton,Kentucky. This was started in 1843 as a celebration of spring. It was also the oldest continuous trade day in U.S. They swapped or sold goods, such as guns, coon hounds, tobacco and livestock. The potato traded and celebrated was the sweet potato slips used to grow the plants.

Now they still celebrate the potato and have a festival and parade.
 
Potato Biscuits

1 cup mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Stir butter into potatoes. Dissolve soda in buttermilk, add honey. Mix baking powder, sugar, flour, adding in mix as you go. Press into 1/4 inch pad, cut biscuits. Bake at 400 degrees.
 
Fried Sweet Potatoes

Peel and cut sweet potatoes. Put fat in skillet, keep turning potatoes. When almost done, add 3 to 4 teaspoons brown sugar and 3/4 cup sweet milk. Place on low heat, let simmer until done. Serve hot.
 
Potatoes were first cultivated by the Incas but you're right, they did come to the American colonies much later. Their introduction into Europe was, according to legend, Sir Frances Drake's fault. He intercepted a Spanish galleon, anticipating a boatload of gold, and instead found their hull full of potatoes! Drake didn't know what they were and asked the captain, who said yes, that's a pile of taters - we've been eating them and haven't gotten scurvy, going to see how they grow in Spain. Drake was dubious and said, ok, we'll cook up a plate-load of these things and YOU eat them. If nothing happens, we'll take the cargo to England. Nothing happened to the Spanish captain and so Drake presented the vegetable to Queen Bess. She was dubious about starting something strange in England and suggested...Ireland... Drake is also credited with starting the fish and chips national dish of England. Aboard his ship, his cook was frying fish in hot oil and Drake had him toss in a few potatoes while he was at it - viola!
 
Roasting the garlic beforehand gives this dish a delicate sweetness that goes very well with just about anything!
Serves about 8

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

6 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
7 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place garlic cloves in a small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, cover, and bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender but firm. Drain, and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
4. Place roasted garlic, milk, Parmesan cheese, and butter into the bowl with the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Beat to desired consistency with an electric mixer.
 
Potatoes are great! Especially like home-fries, baked, mashed, potato pancakes, potato tots and potato salad! (MrsMRB makes fantastic potato salad!) Had a Mr. Potato Head when a kid.
74137034_01cc5dd039_o.jpg
It was the kind where you used a real potato, not plastic.
My hero! I love Mr. Potato Head and all of his family! Do they make a Civil War Mr. Potato Head? I will have to investigate!
 
One of my favorite potato dishes is one of the simplest (as little as 2 ingredients) : Pommes Anna:

2 ingredients: Potatoes, butter. Optional: seasonings.

You need an ovenproof pan. Here is what you do:

You slice the potatoes chip thin (a mandolin might be your friend here). You melt the butter in a saucepan. You lay a single layer of potatoes on the bottom of the pan, then pour enough melted butter to cover. Repeat (at least 3 times, depending on your potatoes, and the pan size). Cook on stove top on medium heat for 20-30 minutes or until the bottom is nice and crisp. Invert on the pan with a spatula, cover and put on a 375 over for 15 minutes covered. Uncover and bake until the top is nice and crisp.

Should look something like this:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What is it? Tater tots on top, but what's that disgusting looking (but, I'm sure, delicious) stuff underneath?

IIRC, Minnesota Hotdishes have 2 staple ingredients: Cream of mushroom soup, and a can of vegetables. This looks like peas. Added ground beef and cheddar and tater tots on top. There is a variation with Cream of mushroom soup, square cut green beans and crispy onions on top that haunted me on picnics for a while...
 
We've been all over the continent with potato recipes. Here is one from Africa:

Chipsi Mayai (Swahili for French fries with eggs) is a common street vendor food in Tanzania. It's also a wonderful way to use leftover French fries (like from those giant bags from Five Guys!). Start by heating vegetable oil in a wok or skillet. Add enough fries to loosely cover the bottom of the skillet. Pour beaten eggs over it. Cook until the bottom is brown, flip, and cook until the top is brown. Some of your fries and eggs should be crispy and some should be soft and eggy.

Serve with ketchup and hot sauce. The traditional side dish is kachumbari, a spicy salad which can be made many ways. Here's one traditional kachumbari recipe:

http://www.lafujimama.com/2014/04/tanzanian-cucumber-salad/

I usually make a kachumbari-like dish with sliced cucumber, carrot, and onion, with jalapeño salsa, lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
 
Potato soup! There are so many varieties of it. Mom used to make the very simplest because we were always short of money - she'd boil the potatoes then just dump in a can of evaporated milk. We'd have it with salt and pepper, and chopped onions. I still make it that way when I'm feeling sickly - Mom's penicillin!
 
IIRC, Minnesota Hotdishes have 2 staple ingredients: Cream of mushroom soup, and a can of vegetables. This looks like peas. Added ground beef and cheddar and tater tots on top. There is a variation with Cream of mushroom soup, square cut green beans and crispy onions on top that haunted me on picnics for a while...
Can you remember when literally every recipe involved cream of mushroom soup?
 
Back
Top