More Simple Cooking
On recipes and things to do with potatoes
(July 30, 2009) A previous column introduced the newsletter Simple Cooking and the writing of John Thorne, whose book Pot On The Fire won a 2001 James Beard Award, and who has been called the best American food writer by both Gourmet and Connoisseur magazines. Based on the newsletter’s success, John and his wife Matt have published six books, the first of which, Outlaw Cook, set the tone of his oeuvre.
John enjoys presenting himself as an artless product of the New England soil, a conceit I allow him. In fact, he is the most erudite scholar of gustatory pleasures since the legendary Waverley Root. He has traced the origins of most American foods, and his articles often give regional variants. Such studies can span the globe. Here, for instance, from 1994, is his citation for “champ,” a classic 19th century Irish peasant meal of potatoes:
“In a farmhouse, two stones [28 pounds!] or more of potatoes were peeled and boiled for the dinner. Then the man of the house was summoned when all was ready, and while he pounded the enormous potful of potatoes with a sturdy wooden beetle his wife added the potful of milk and nettles, or scallions, or chives, or parsley, and he beetled it until it was smooth as butter, not a lump anywhere. Everyone got a large bowlful, made a hole in the center, and into this put a large lump of butter. Then the champ was eaten from the outside with a spoon or fork, dipping it into the melting butter in the center. All was washed down with new milk or freshly churned buttermilk.”
— Florence Irwin, The Cookin’ Woman (1947)
He then gives a more modest and practical recipe using Yukon gold potatoes, cooked unpeeled for more flavor.
Contrast that with a 2004 dish of sherry-infused potatoes from Spain:
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