Potato potato potato

I think some irony was involved, bags!

Nonsense, bananas! Butter is a deeply good food, which you would know too if you read this book.

Another vote here for the humble spud.
I think if I had to choose just one meal to have for the rest of my life it would be new potatoes (boiled) with some butter, salt and pepper, with spring greens on the side.

Anyone remember when potatoes were just 'potatoes' and not any specific kind? I am still learning the differences!

Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple are great!

Lona I think you should wash your mouth out before the cholesterol police come round to prescribe you a week of eating cucumber au naturel! Butter is a deeply wicked substance, just thinking about it should be forbidden unless you are bordering on skeletal, quite simply it's food of the devil. You should know this because you will find no mention of it either of Gwyneth Paltrow's worthy cooking manuals! You will also find no mention of anything else you would either want to eat even if you could a) afford it or b) know where to buy it!

I wish you hadn't mentioned salmon, BAnanas, I've just eaten a delicious soft 'sub' with smoked salmon and cucumber. It had so much butter on it that the cucumber kept skidding out!

Yes Greatnan thank god we've got a bit of Irish that's why we love our potatoes!

I wonder if my Irish ancestry makes me so fond of potatoes?

Back to the ubiquitous potato. I second Annodomini, Maris Pipers are excellent bakers, sublime with grated cheese, or I like them with humus sometimes. Personally I hate Marfonas which Marks and Spencer try to foist on us, god knows why they're horrible. As far as new potatoes go once Jersey Royals have disappeared, Charlottes are great particularly for potato salad as Nelliemoser has posted above, dressed in a little mayonnaise mixed with creme fraiche is nice sprinkled and with either fresh chopped chives or fresh mint, lovely with cold salmon and a glass of of white wine. Sadly a summer dish, and summer disappeared yesterday! Still might get an Indian one if we are lucky.

Are potatoes as versatile as eggs? Almost I'd say, shame some people are only familiar with them as chips.

How about potato salad with chives?

Stop this now! Please! I have some leftover cooked Charlotte potatoes in the fridge and some mayonnaise and they are calling me.

No way, Micelf - I just look like a rather healthy old woman!

Greatnan your description of yourself now (no boobs, hollow cheeks and thin arms) makes you sound like a top model!

Feetle - I didn't set out to lose weight, I just started taking very long walks when I came to live in a very beautiful place , but my health has benefited greatly. My bp and cholesterol are down to
healthy levels and I no longer suffer from arthritic pain in my knees, hips and lower back. I don't know how much of this is due to the actual walking itself and how much is due to the weight loss. I don't care - I just know that I feel so much better for not carrying around five 5lb bags of potatoes around with me!
I have to say that I don't look better, though - my arms are scrawny, I have no bosom to speak of and my cheeks are hollow. Fortunately, I don't give a toss about my appearance these days, only my health.

We love 'em really!

You lot talk about calories as though they are toxic!

"I met this woman last night, and oh boy! She was so.... thin!" said no man, ever...

Maris Piper is often recommended as a good baking potato.

Thanks for that, bags - I love my vegetables, carrots, sprouts, leeks, smothered in butter and black pepper! I have given up using low fat spreads - I was not happy with some of their ingredients.

Butter is good food. Vegetables with butter are even better both as to taste and as to nutrition.

Not enough to justify the loss, as far as I am concerned! Which type of potato is best for baking?

I don't worry about calories either - if anything, I'm probably slightly underweight for my height!

I just wondered how many calories would actually be 'saved' by scooping out a bit of baked potato...

I don't worry about calories as I can always walk them off (or climb 1,000 feet up a mountain path). If I have a baked potato with a lovely filling, that is my main meal, so it doesn't matter if it is about 500 calories.
I don't eat many 'empty' calories, in things like cake, biscuits, crisps or sweets, so I am happy to eat really good, healthy food. Hm....I have had a long walk, and now it is time for lunch!

Well yes, as absent said, there are 77 calories in the average potato, which is what I was asking.

Even a fairly modest 1oz portion of butter will add another 77!

(89 calories in a banana, BTW )

There are quite a few calories in the humble potato Ana, particularly if you add lashings of butter which can have a leaden effect on the body turning the consumer into their very own sort of potato known commonly as the "couch potato" I'm having a couch potato moment which is why I am here on GN typing drivel! I have been for a brisk walk and I've a yoga session later so that's my excuse for an interlude of "couch potatoing".

Sweet potatoes are I believe less calorific but they're for wimps! I quite enjoy them but they don't have quite the same euphoric hit of starch to the brain affect, guess that's why they are healthier, but in my opinion, less satisfying.