Random Tater Pic of the Day #140

A montage of vintage 1960s Betty Crocker potatoes ads from Look magazine, enjoy.

National Potato Day 2013

August 19, 2013 is National Potato Day!

Potatoes have been popular parts of diets around the world for centuries.

Did you know that more than 45 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested in the U.S. each year?

We use them to make baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, home fries, French fries—the list is endless!

Potatoes are not only tasty - they’re good for you!

They contain high levels of important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, potassium, and iron.

Today, enjoy potatoes prepared your favorite way to celebrate National Potato Day!

How will you be celebrating today?

Source: Punchbowl.com Reason To Celebrate Daily Mailer, and the Just Potatoes Yahoo! Group.

French Fry Diary 476: Nature's Way Microwavable Russet

There are more than a few of these do it yourself baked potatoes out there recently. Probably the one that most folks think of is the Bakeables from Simply Spuds. This is the same concept but by Nature's Way, a company that inexplicably seems to have no internet presence.

This plastic wrapped potato just goes right in the microwave as is. Don't even take off the wrapper. It does whistle a bit as it cooks, but don't be alarmed, the sparse directions indicate that's normal. It will be hot when you take it out, so watch out. It makes getting the hot potato out of the plastic quite the trick without burning yourself.

However, once you do get the wrapper off, get the potato on a plate, and start with the fork mashing, it's terrific. Good deal, Nature's Way.

French Fry Diary 412: Ian's Alphatots

Now I've talked about Ian's Natural Foods before, specifically their wonderful Panko Onion Rings. This time I'm looking at another of their products - Alphatots.

Alphatots are one of those potato products that are shaped, sort of a hybrid of extruded or formed potato mash, but with a crisp shell. In the case of the Alphatots from Ian's, they are formed into small letters.

Allergen free alphabet shaped Potato Fries. No wheat or gluten, no milk or casein, no eggs, nuts or soy. Ian's has no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives... ever. And yeah, that's their trademark after that snazzy but true slogan.

This is a fun way to eat your fries, and maybe a fun way to teach young kids their letters, but much like alphabet soup or Alpha-Bits cereal, it's almost impossible to find enough, or the right, letters to spell anything specific for a cute effect. I'm sure it would have taken several bags to spell out 'French Fry Diary' if I wanted to.

They cook at a very high heat, 475 degrees, the highest I've ever seen for a frozen fries product, and they actually cooked quite quickly, some overdone by the time suggested in the directions. Crispy on the outside and soft and hot on the inside, they were very good. Eat 'em while they're hot though, they're not so great when cold or reheated.

Like Ian's Onion Rings they definitely required seasoning and were good for dipping. As usual I did barbecue sauce. They are a nice change of pace for fries from a quality company.

French Fry Diary 411: Ore-Ida Grillers

These new for the summer frozen fries from the fine folks at Ore-Ida - Grillers, Golden Thick Cut Potatoes - not only promise to give you that right off the barbecue grill flavor, but can actually be cooked on the grill. While this is no easy trick, it is a tricky statement.

There are directions on the bag for cooking these extra thick crinkle cut natural cut potato slices on the grill, but it's a gas grill, where you can control the temperature. As I have no gas grill, I had to skip this attempt.

As tempting as grill marks on a potato slice are, I baked them instead. The directions were pretty standard, 450 degrees for 14-16 minutes, so I was worried they might not cook through. As I said, these Grillers are very thick, almost a half inch thick. Time will tell, I guess.

I do like one of the two topping suggestions made on the bag. The Jack Daniels BBQ sauce I'm down with, the shredded cheese, bacon bits and sour cream for a loaded baked potato taste, not so much. But that's me, I'm sure it would work for those that dig that. I did get my BBQ sauce out however.

Once done, the slices look very crisp almost crunchy. But that is just on the outside, inside they are soft, hot, and almost mashed potato-like. Most of them are very good but some of the bigger slices have the same problem as a medium rare steak, the middle is raw. But as I said, most of them are well cooked and very good. And the BBQ sauce definitely helped. Good stuff.

Happy National Potato Day

Today, Sunday, August 19th is National Potato Day.

"It’s National Potato Day! Potatoes have been popular parts of diets around the world for centuries.

"Did you know that more than 45 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested in the U.S. each year? We use them to make baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, home fries, French fries — the list is endless!

"Potatoes are not only tasty — they’re good for you! They contain high levels of important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, potassium, and iron. Today, enjoy potatoes prepared your favorite way to celebrate National Potato Day!"