Potatoes or Pommes?????

Potatoes have long been one of the quiet heroes of French and European cookery. They appear everywhere and have traditionally been served as a side dish to many or most main courses. They are versatile, affordable, and able to take on an incredible variety of flavours, and be cooked using most cookery methods.

In French cookery, these side dishes of potatoes have specific names such as Pomme Frites, Pomme croquettes, Pomme Duchess, Pomme Lyonnaise and so on.

But here is the interesting part:

In French, Pomme means ‘Apple’ and not ‘Potato’. So ‘Pomme Frites’ literally means ‘Fried Apple’. That should get you confused, but let me explain. In French, the full word for potato is ‘Pomme de terre’, literally meaning ‘Apple of the earth’. To the French of the of the late 1700’s, when potatoes started to become popular thanks to the work of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, potatoes looked like apples that grow underground. As a side note, wherever you see the word Parmentier on a menu or in a dish name, that also means potato. As in ‘Potage Parmentier’ or ‘Potato Soup’.

The top 10 classical potato side dishes

v  Pommes Frites – Deep fried potatoes, thick cut – Chips

v  Pommes Allumettes – Deep fried potatoes, thin cut - French Fries

v  Pommes Dauphinoise – Thin sliced potatoes baked with cream and garlic.

v  Pommes Duchess – Mashed potato with egg yolk to hold it together when piped into a tower shape and baked.

v  Pommes Chateau – Potatoes that have been turned into a barrel shape and boiled.

v  Pommes Anna – Thin sliced potatoes layered into a circle shape, coated in clarified butter and baked to be crisp on the outside but tender in the middle.

v  Pommes Purees – Fine mashed potatoes.

v  Pommes Boulangére – Thin slices of potato and onion are layered in an earthenware dish and just covered with white stock. After seasoning, the dish is baked in the oven.

v  Pommes Sauté – Boil whole potatoes with skin on and allow to cool, remove skin and slice to 5 – 7mm and then sauté in a pan with butter, oil and finish with chopped parsley.

v  Pommes Lyonnaise – Pommes sauté with the addition of onions. 

Potatoes earned their place in French cuisine because they are:

·         Adaptable: They can be roasted, fried, boiled, pureed, gratinéed, or shaped.

·         Neutral in flavour: Perfect for carrying herbs, butter, stocks, and sauces.

·         Comforting: Associated with warmth, family cooking, and traditional dishes.

·         Affordable: A staple ingredient for both home cooks and professional kitchens.

·         Visually supportive: They complete the plate without overpowering the main protein.

Learning all the classical cuts and preparation of potatoes will be one of the early learning tasks at culinary school or in a person's first real kitchen job.