tweed_wearer

I’ve not had a decent baked potato in Canada since I arrived. The potatoes here seem very mealy and dry. I had one in England and thought it was loaded with butter it was so delicious but there was nothing on it.

Am I buying them from the wrong place or cooking them wrong? Anyone else noticed this?

Oink

Potatoes were invented in Ireland and the UK is quite close so I think that's why they're excellent but Canada is a very long way away so it's probably why they're not very good at them. Have you tried spaghetti
as an alternative? With some nice sauce it can be very tasty.

calman014

Maybe you have to sneak over the border to Idaho which is famous for it's spuds!

BristolUK

I find Russets can often be very dry. Reds are my favourite and are "officially" versatile.

Jingsamichty

It's not the potatoes, it's the ovens. You're used to having them baked British-style at 220V, and they don't come out the same in Canada because they've only got 110V. If you really want proper baked potatoes you should bring your old UK oven and get a transformer.

CanadaJimmy

Just like in the UK, produce varies where you buy it. Here Superstore and Walmart have the worst produce. Your best bet is to go to an actual produce store to get the nicest potatoes, here we have Kin’s Farm Market which is pretty good. I agree about russets being dry, might be better to try Yukon Gold or Kennebec (though the latter can be harder to find)

Personally I microwave my potatoes (5mins at 70% power, turn potato over and repeat) and they taste pretty much the same to me.

Stoves in Canada also run on 220V, just like clothes dryers they have a special 220V circuit and outlet. It’s just regular outlets that are 110V, so I think you are confused here, unless you mean toaster ovens, but no off the shelf transformer is going to be able to handle that high of a power draw anyway.

Oink

Jacket potatoes are great, as not only is the flesh tasty and nutritious, unlike burger style restaurants you can eat the wrapping. In this era of liquid modernity and fear, these things can be quite comforting. As to the oven controversy, I sidestep that issue by cooking my jacket potatoes in a campfire.

Atlantic Xpat

The more pertinent problem seems to be finding large spuds to bake in the first place. Here, the general bags of potatoes consist of all small ones, none large enough to bake. Alternatively you can buy a shrink-wrapped pack of 4 decent sized spuds already wrapped in foil for an easy $4.99 or so. My, that nice Mr Weston looks after us, doesn't he?

I buy the 15lb bag of Russets from Costo which are all big enough to bake and also seem to do Ok mashed or cut up smaller and roasted to go with les roastbif. They come from Quebec but of course at this end of the country, PEI is pretty much an entirely potato based economy. That and Anne of Green Gables.

BristolUK

Be fair...he did back down at the public outcry about 50% off pink labels dropping to 30%

Who would win?

Atlantic Xpat

But now, if you are insured by Manulife, you have to get your cancer drugs through loblaws pharmacies rather than the local operation you've been dealing with for years. Courtesy of preferred pharmacy arrangements (just like 'merka), manulife and that damn Galen Weston again...

Lychee

This is not a Canada problem. This is a "you're buying the wrong potato at the wrong store" problem.

Or it could be a Canada problem, depending on where you are in Canada. Some parts of Canada aren't well serviced by local farms due to a host of reasons. Many parts of Canada only offer large supermarket chains which typically import rubbish industrial potatoes from the US. If you want quality potatoes, you source them locally from local farmers (or from stores that source their produce from local farms), ideally when in season, not from supermarkets that import potatoes that have been sitting in warehouses for an eternity. Generally Russet potatoes are the latter and generally taste and feel like dust. A locally-grown potato from a local farm is vastly superior.

Finknottle

Or the OP needs to remember to actually cook the spuds!

Rete

I'm and American married to a Canadian so in Canada often. The best potatoes, even surpassing Idaho potatoes, are grown in PEI and New Brunswick. Love the texture and taste of these spuds. Of course they are best if purchased straight from the farm and not the supermarket.

Rete

Potatoes originated in South America, not in Ireland.

Where is the potato originally from? The potato is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. It was cultivated in South America by the Incas as early as 1,800 years ago. The Spaniards who colonized South America introduced potatoes into Europe during the second half of the 16th century.

British Columbian

Didn't you just know it.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/fo...ato-all-wrong/