Time To Celebrate Danish Potato Week!
Talk about learning something new every day!
Did you know we are in the midst of “Danish Potato Week”, all because of these industrious tykes?
Meet The Originators Of This Annual Danish Tradition!
Time to head to ancient Denmark, where these “farmers of the future” created a tradition that con inures today!
- Agricultural Roots: The tradition started in the 19th century when Denmark schools closed in October so children could help their families harvest potato crops before winter.
- Standardization in 1899: Because different rural families harvested at different times—causing chaos for teachers with unpredictable student attendance—Denmark officially standardized the school break to Week 42 nationwide – which is this week!
So, to honor these Danish kids and their dedication to potato harvesting, here is the recipe for the most decadent potato dish in the world!
That’s the legendary Chef Joel Robuchon, showing off a massive bowl of this most famous dish – the decadent “Puree de Pomme!”
The great Chef and Cookbook Author Patricia Wells presented Chef Robuchon’s cuisine in this terrific collection of recipes – including his legendary mashed potatoes!
Look at those – they look like butter! That may be because of what’s inside them!
Chef Robuchon once said this:
“The mashed potatoes, it’s true, made my reputation. I owe everything to these mashed potatoes.”
So, how much butter does it take to turn regular spuds into a creamy delicacy? We are about to find out!
Making Joel Robuchon’s Decadent Mashed Potatoes – With Patricia Wells!
There are very few ingredients for this dish – and it’s all about the ratio!
2 pounds potatoes
1 pound butter
1-1/4 cups milk
sea salt to taste
That’s it, and no that’s not a typo – a whole pound of butter! Let me explain with Alex’s terrific camerawork and prompting:
Get Your Potatoes Into Boiling Water!
The first step is to rinse your potatoes and get them boiling!
Chef liked to slow boil his potatoes with the skins on – you will peel them afterwards…he felt the skins gave the potato a richer flavor during cooking. You should be able to put a knife easily through a potato to ensure they are cooked…about 20 minutes or so.
The Chef’s “Two-To-One” Ratio!
Here’s the reason these are such decadent potatoes!
Chef Robuchon’s creamy mashed potatoes contain an crazy amount of butter.
It’s a two parts potato to one part butter ratio!
Yes, you read that right; the recipe is a 2:1 ratio of pure, comforting heaven. A full pound of butter is used for the two pounds of potatoes in the recipe!
When the potato are done, drain them and let them cool – then remove the skins. Meanwhile, melt your butter…I like to do it slowly in a pan but you can microwave it as well.
Once the potatoes are peeled, put them in a pan, smash them a bit, then pour your melted butter into the pot:
Mashed them up a bit so bring the two ingredients together…
Now, put your milk into a sauce pan and slowly warm it…I added a bit of heavy cream as well because why not?
Once warm, you simply pour the milk in to the potato/butter mixture…and it sure seemed to me like a LOT of liquid was being added!
Potato Soup!
I was immediately shocked at how the warm milk/cream mixture turned my dish into soup!
I took a deep breath and told myself that Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon must know what they are doing, so I slowly began to stir it together by hand for a minute, then grabbed a handheld blender and used that on low as well – and do you know what happened?
A Perfect Puree!
Little did I know just how “thirsty” these potatoes were!
After two minutes of blending, they were velvety smooth – a perfect puree!
Robuchon’s “purée de pomme” exemplifies his love of flavor, and highlights his legacy as a chef.
With just four ingredients — potatoes, butter, milk, and salt — he created an incredibly rich, luxurious, silky dish that was completely unlike any mashed potatoes the world had seen before!
Alex got to do the first taste test – check out her reaction!
As you saw, Alex approved of this recipe – because they really were incredible!
According to The Guardian newspaper, critics have described eating Robuchon’s potatoes as an “emotional” experience.
These potatoes are to die for: a full, rich potato flavor but the added milk/cream/butter provide an incredible, mouth-watering richness…I used just a bit of salt, not wanting to distract from the flavor…using just the right amount of salt actually helps the potatoes pop even more!
We love creamy mashed potatoes, and no one did it better than Robuchon!
Staying with the French, remember the “potato pie” we had at the famous restaurant Chez L’Ami Louis?
It was so good I made it at home!
See the recipe here:
And finally, how about potatoes this way?
Scalloped!
Here’s a classic recipe from “The Joy Of Cooking!”
Finally, my wife Alex is a certified “lover of potatoes”, so imagine how excited she was when this dish showed up at our table:
Oh yes! a caviar-topped potato cake!
See that and all of our Paris potato adventures here:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Recipes, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Hi John, I remember these very decadent potatoes. I mentioned this dish to my father today when I made mashed potatoes and here is the recipe again. Amazing!