From Booklist
Potatoes make up a significant part of the Northern European diet. But until recently, they appeared in America's supermarkets in just a few basic forms: bakers and boilers. Now shoppers have choices among fingerlings, purple-fleshed beauties, and ultra-whites, to name but a few of the spud varieties generally available. The perplexed may turn for guidance to Florence Fabricant's
The Great Potato Book . Fabricant provides a photograph of each variety, a description of that potato's salient characteristics, and a recipe or two designed to make best use of that variety's singular advantages. She also assembles lists of substitute potato varieties when the one in the recipe temporarily disappears from the markets.
Mark KnoblauchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Description
Rescued from infamy by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 16th century, the potato has long since become the world's ultimate comfort food. Equally at home stirred into a sumptuous curry in India; boiled, riced, and shaped into delicate gnocchi in Italy; grated and fried into latkes in the Middle East; or cut into wedges and served with sausages as "bangers and mash" in a British pub - the potato is endlessly versatile and always satisfying. In this guide, "New York Times" food critic Florence Fabricant puts the potato on a pedestal, for all to marvel at, and - more importantly - to eat! Fascinating essays place the potato in a historical and gastronomic context, while over 50 recipes feature the noblest of tubers in both classic and innovative preparations.
