Potatoes in Duck Fat

I didn’t know potatoes are not vegetables until I was an adult. That is to say, I understood that they were tubers so not biologically vegetables. But, I didn’t know that the fell into the carb portion of the food pyramid. As a child, I often ate potatoes and bread for breakfast and potatoes and rice for dinner. There demonization of potatoes as party to the fattening of America. But, when I was pregnant and unable to keep anything down, the nurse reminded me that the potato is rich in vitamin C.

All this aside, when I read about a contest for potato dishes. What is the ideal way to showcase this food? I love it as aloo paratha, samosa, gnocchi, pierogi, but in all of those the potato is not highlighted for its flavor but instead for its substance. For me, it must stand on its own to showcase its yumminess.

So, tonight, while the sick ate chicken soup, I dined on hashbrowns browned in duck fat. Yes, I am way off the vegan bandwagon now. Why duck fat? If you must ask, then move onto another entry. I browned the potato so it was crispy. When it was piping hot, I sprinkled it with kosher salt. Then I refrained from demolishing the potatoes for long enough to take the picture.

I probably would have eaten it alone, but decided to make a dipping sauce, just to make it legit. I wanted to create a sort of Thousand Island dressing. The concoction was so haphazard that I wouldn’t say there was even a recipe. I had started out thinking about those French fry restaurants which offer a myriad of mayonnaise-y dip. As I don’t like mayo, I didn’t have it on hand, and while I had just gone through the trouble of making my own udon noodles, I was not committed enough to the meal to make my own mayo. Frankly, I always use plain yogurt as a replacement for mayo, so I did so last night too. To it, I added 1 squirt catsup, 1 smidge tomato paste, some mustard seeds and curry leaves warmed in hot oil, and finally a large dollop of Indian hot lime pickle. The result was creamy, salty and piquant. It held up well to the meaty fries. Writing this now makes me think, why I am writing when I could be eating more home fries.