Fork Dork: The Humble Potato Gets the Five-Star Treatment

As potato harvest comes to an end, it is time to demystify this vegetable, the third largest agricultural crop in Washington state for a farm gate value of about $700 million and contributing $4.6 billion and 23,500 jobs to the state’s economy, according to Matt Harris of the Washington State Potato Commission.  

No matter how you pronounce it, and despite any of the recent fad diets, potatoes are good for you, says Harris, the commission's director of governmental affairs.

It is so good and good for you, in fact, that it moved proprietors Ron Zimmerman and Carrie Van Dyck to devote their prix fixe menu to the potato for the next three weeks, from Friday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 13.

Zimmerman, Van Dyck, Chef Chris Weber and Chef de Cuisine Tony Demes will prepare a nine-course menu, dubbed Über Tuber, featuring the potato paired with Northwest wines for $195 per person. The featured potatoes will include: German Butter Ball, Ozette, Russian Magistrate, La Ratte, Bintje, Skagit Valley Gold, Russet Burbank, All Red, All Blue, Austrian Crescent, Cal White, Norland and Yukon Gold.

“It seemed like potatoes would be so versatile it would be fun to explore them,” Zimmerman said of serving a potato-centric menu for the second fall in a row. “The potatoes are so versatile I am not sure there's anything that doesn't go with it.

“Last year, it was received incredibly well,” Zimmerman said. “Some guests thought it was the best menu they've had at The Herbfarm.”

Zimmerman and Harris dismiss current fad diets cutting out carbohydrates such as potatoes.

“The potato is a complex carbohydrate, which your body needs,” explains Harris. “People tend to look at fad diets looking for a quick fix, but diets are not sustainable. You need a lifestyle change. Then you can work any food group into that lifestyle change.”

Harris says potatoes are higher in potassium than bananas. He also said a single serving of 148 grams contains 45 percent of the daily recommended allowance of Vitamin C. At 110 calories per serving, it has zero cholesterol.

(Indeed, the executive director of the Potato Commission spent 60 days eating nothing but spuds last year to prove how nutritious they are.)

Another myth Harris would like to dispel is that peeling the skins removes said nutritional value. Harris responds with an emphatic, “No,” to that myth. Furthermore, he said, cooking a potato does not strip it of its nutrients, either. Frying it, baking it, boiling it or poaching it has little effect on nutritional value.

The team at The Herbfarm will be applying those and many other techniques in crafting their potato-centric menu. Featured dishes include poached S’Klallam Kul oyster with German Butterball Potato-horseradish soup, Ozette Indian Potato chips and Montana paddlefish caviar, rotisserie duck breast with crushed All Red Potato and melted onion pierogies, grilled Ellensburg lamb strip loin and braised Pavé of lamb belly with Austrian Crescent Aligot, and Riesling-poached foie gras with Maple-glazed Cal White potato. And for dessert, fried Yukon Gold potato donuts.

“Potatoes may not sound sexy but they can be great if you prepare them in the right way,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman, Van Dyck and their team have been growing potatoes on their Woodinville property for decades. They have grown Ozette potatoes since at least 1994, Zimmerman said.

Unlike many of the potatoes in the United States that originated in South America, were shipped to Europe by Spanish Conquistadores and brought to this country by Irish migrants in the 1700s, the Ozette potato is purebred migrating directly from South America some 200 years ago.

Most of the varieties in Washington state came through Europe or are hybrids developed in this country, however. Large-scale harvesting of potatoes in Washington state is fairly new. After the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River was completed in 1941, it wasn’t until 1949-1950 that there was enough water to irrigate agricultural fields, according to the Washington State Potato Commission, leading to widespread potato production.

Despite that late start, Washington has become one of the largest growers of potatoes in the country. The state inherently offers ideal potato growing conditions, according to Harris. The climatic conditions, rich volcanic soil, abundant water and long growing season result in Eastern Washington producing the highest yield per acre of potatoes in the world. Washington potato growers plant more than 160,000 acres annually, harvesting an average of 30 tons per acre, twice as much as the average yield in the United States. Washington state produces 20 percent of all potatoes in this country.

Harris, Zimmerman and Washington potato growers say Washington potatoes are here to stay.

“It’s a very economical vegetable,” Harris said. “Pound for pound it is one of the best vegetables in the market for your nutrition dollar. Maybe it’s taken for granted. It’s one of those items that it’s always been there. We need to look at ways of reinventing the potato. We need to look at new ways to consume it.”

Zimmerman and The Herbfarm will be serving potatoes on nine different courses. How’s that for starters?