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A potato dish unknown to us

A potato dish unknown to us
The domestic harvest in 2020 was exceptionally large – in terms of numbers and shape.
Image: colourbox.de

No food can be prepared in so many different ways and caresses my soul like potatoes. Pureed, fried – or boiled and served with salt and butter. An indispensable dream. Since they are healthy, cheap and organic and can be bought from the farmer around the corner, I give them the rating “particularly valuable”.

The tuber’s history probably goes back 10,000 years. At breathtaking altitudes in the Andes, it was a staple food for the Incas, as grain could not thrive above 15,000 feet. It came to Europe in the middle of the 16th century, but it took another two centuries before it began its culinary triumph. This is also thanks to the French pharmacist and agronomist Antoine Augustin Parmentier (1737-1813), who created an alternative to bread with his writings on growing potatoes during the famine of 1769 – and was thus involved in the spread of potatoes.

The story is often told that Parmentier had soldiers guard a potato field in order to make the potatoes appear particularly valuable. Legend or not, Parmentier was admitted to the Paris “Académie des sciences” and the population created a culinary monument to him with the “Hachis Parmentier” potato casserole.

The dish is a perfect family meal, is easy to prepare and combines the three coveted ingredients of minced meat, potatoes and cheese in one dish. Some replace the minced meat with finely chopped boiled beef. In his restaurant, Reinhard Gorfer from Garsten serves the casserole in a copper casserole with minced smoked meat and tops it with black truffles, which, like potatoes, used to be considered inedible.

If you want to prepare “Hachis Parmentier” in the traditional way, boil 1 kg of potatoes, mash them with a fork and pour the cooking water over them. Puree must not be too runny. Then add 100 ml milk or cream and stir. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Peel an onion, garlic clove and carrot, finely dice and sauté in a pan with olive oil. Add 350 g of minced meat and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Fry and refine with thyme. Put in a baking dish, cover with puree, salt, pepper, sprinkle with 100 g of grated cheese and put in the oven for about 30 minutes. Use the grill setting for 5 minutes at the end. Formidable. Thank you Antoine.

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