For more forbidden food history, check out my video "The Poisonous History of Tomatoes" where I made Pomodori Farciti all’Erbette - ruclips.net/video/beBQgxdu2eY/видео.html
I'm so glad you suggested using bread crumbs for this. I was thinking of using Japanese bread crumbs & adding some monterrey jack cheese & jalapenos as well.
Little fun personal story: Before my English was good enough for conversations I had only passing encounters with it, and always wondered what this seemingly ubiquitous "ground beef" might be. Beef that was stored on some floor for some time? Beef cut from cattle that was laying on the floor? A "basic" kind of beef? It only occured to me embarrassingly late that ground is just the past tense for to grind, and it's nothing else than my beloved Hackfleisch after all! (I blushed for a few minutes after realizing and never told anyone until this day.)
Corn beef doesn't have anything to do with corn either :D The English language has some really strange artifacts considering food, and it is pretty hard for me a lot of the time to find out what ingredient should be actually used in an English recipe/cooking video. It's actually really hard to find a proper translation in your native language (if its an obscure language ofc) for food, because there are a lot of cultural, and processing differences in the available ingredients and their name/usage, a direct translation doesn't cut it most of the time.
@@fenrirr22 To be fair, it is properly "corned beef", which is slightly potentially more parsible, in that it is "corned" with grains, in this case of salt. Not that most people have reason to be familiar with that use of corn.
I don't know how ANYBODY learns to speak English...it makes no sense at all. "Hey, here's a bunch of rules...now we're gonna go violate them all! But only sometimes." ...wait...what now...? And it's the only language I *do* speak!
It's like the joke about an old couch: Nobody will touch it if you have a sign on it that says "free" but slap one on it that says "$100" and it'll be gone overnight.
Some things will just last forever. The common man's reliance on potatoes, the French's mistrust of their officials, and Max's love of using the hardtack clip.
After time in Peru, potato history is always welcome. The Peruvians eat potatoes with almost every meal. And the variety is almost always specific to the dish. They know potatoes like we know apples. It’s really a cool part of their history and culture.
So, this inspired me to try a beef-filled potato ball. By the time I was done forming the first one, I realized I basically made cottage pie balls w/ panko coating.
@@PhotonBeast They turned out alright. The major difficulty is making sure that the potato sphere is big enough to get a bunch of filling inside, but not so big that it slowly collapses. I just couldn't get the exterior crispy enough to form a more solid shell.
When my grandmother was going to school in the 20s, her mother would give her a hot potato to take on the walk to keep her hands warm in the winter. When she got to school, it was a great breakfast. Of course, they were Polish going to a primarily Polish school.
@@PurpleSurple um...I'm not sure we see him the same way. But I understand what you mean. He is just a good at what he does, is what I wanted to say...
It's amazing how many French recipes outright state themselves to be cheap. "Pommes de terre de l'économie" basically means "potatoes on the cheap". Another classic is the Québec treat "poudding chômeur" i.e. unemployed cake.
A lot of french great classic were actually "poor people meal", take Boeuf Bourguignon for example. Today you a bourguignon in a Parisian bristrot is expensive as hell but Bourguignon was way to took "bad piece of meat" to be tender and way better, red wine isn''t expensive and even a bad wine can make a good Bourguignon since it's cooked anyway.
@@willywonka7812 lol... wut? What bougie overthought argument is this? You clearly live in a neighbourhood with zero fast food joints bragging about their low low deals.
That man had some serious dedication. Forced to eat potatoes in prison for 3 years straight, then came out and spent the rest of his life telling everyone how awesome they are.
My great grandpa was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in wwii and he stayed alive eating Spam (from the Red Cross). For the rest of his life he LOVED spam. I guess Ma Ingalls was right when she said “Hunger is the best sauce”
its weird the Natives of All the Americas told europeans how amazing potatoes were and it took europeans 400 years to figure it out. Thats hilariously sad.
In fairness, the nature of French agriculture was always on the verge of famine because the population was always far too high for French farmland. The French were cautious because while their existing crops were only barely adequate, they were adequate more often than not, while a new crop, be it maize or potatoes, was difficult to prove superior without taking risks few were willing to take. Bear in mind, maize and potatoes take away labor from the grains, grains which are high-labor to start with. It is not like potatoes are purely grown on marginal land with no effort. People have to actually plant them, ensure drainage, and otherwise spend many hours cultivating them. It may end up yielding more calories per hectare in the end, but the only certainty in the 1750s was that you were diverting manhours from the known grains on the chance that these dirt apples might be better. In the end, the French found out it was worth it, but I am not shocked they were so loath to change.
“Dirt” is not a good translation of “terre.” “Ground” or “earth” is more appropriate. Peanuts were once called “groundnuts”. Imagine if we called them “dirtnuts.”
I am currently sick and I have been playing your videos the last two days. Whether actively watching it or playing in the background as I’m sleeping. It is a great comfort to me. Thank you so much!
@@stationplaza4631 Also the acid can cause some of the lead from certain kinds of plates to leech out into the food. And lead poisoning has its own issues.
No matter how often I see it, the hardtack clip will always be funny :D Also, this reminds me very strongly of what we in Germany call "Knödel" - as far as I can tell, it's pretty much the same. Some are made with breadcrums, some with bacon, some with onions. But all the variants I know of are made with potatoes.
I always cackle when Max manages to slip in yet another hardtack reference (and then ofcourse obligatory video clip with the sound) into an otherwise totally unrelated episode. Glorious! 🤣
Ah yes the Hachi Parmentier, I've quickly learnt as a kid it was a fancy name for "Pot au Feu leftovers with instant purée on top". As a student I've learnt even faster that mom's food wasn't so bad after eating those cheap instant meals from the discount super market.
My mother always lamented the fact I didn't like her cooking that much. Last year I moved out and my mum is very happy because I keep turning up at home wanting food. Last week my mum asked if I wanted to come home for a few days because it was half term for my brothers and she wanted all her kids together. I had been planning on eating ramen and tinned soup until I got paid and very happily went home for the week. My dad swears I didn't eat half as much when I lived at home lol.
the south american potato balls are called "bombas de papa" (potato bombs) where I live, and although I'm not sure about their particular history, they are a great way to repurpose leftover mashed potatoes. the filling is usually cheese but also can include meat, cubed ham or any other empanada-like content cheers from Argentina!
Hey, I know this is a late comment but I just wanted to say that I tried that cucumber ice cream recipe and I absolutely loved it. The only change I made was that I replaced the ginger brandy with regular brandy since I didn’t have any It’s genuinely one of the best ice cream flavours I’ve ever had
@@TastingHistory funnily enough I’m Tasmanian so it’s winter here ^^; Still amazing though Also funnily enough, this video brought up Parmentier and in Australia, one of our celebrity chefs was a guy called Parmenter
@@hilotakenaka When Max mentioned him, the first thing I thought of was Consuming Passions with Ian Parmentier. I wonder if they're related ... I'm sure Antoine Augustin would approve of Ian's show
People still leave potatoes (instead of flowers) on Frederick the Great's humble tombstone today, as a "thank you" for promoting potatoe agriculture in Prussia's rather sub-par fields, and saving countless lives.
This dish brings back memories from my childhood, being served “Lappskojs” in school and whilst it wasn't the most popular dish due to it's looks it was one of the better. As a child and of sami origin I couldn't really understand why the dish was named “Lappskojs”, the derogatory term for Sami being Lapp in Sweden ( but let's not go down that rabbit hole. That's a whole other story ). What “Lappskojs” is, as the dish is called in Sweden, is just what you see being done here except for the fact that it's not rolled into balls and fried, instead it's mixed and served as is with beetroot on the side. I've since learned that “Lappskojs” has it's comparative dishes in Finland ( lapskojs ), Denmark ( Skibberlabsojs ) Norway ( lapsakus ) and Germany ( labskaus ). You see where this is going, don't you? The origin is there in the name, it's really derived from lobscouse, the traditional sailors dish made with meat, vegetables and hard tack. Now, replace the hard tack and vegetables with potatoes and you basically end up with the dishes named above. What the dishes has in common apart from the name is the view of the hard tack and potatoes as both ingredients had that, well let's s say a skeptical air about them. The dish lobscouse more or less a dish developed out of necessity in order to being able to digest the hard tack and the potato? Well, it's an old dish and the potato hadn't really caught on, so mixing it with meat as seen here was one way of serving it.
Hey Max, my husband and I (and our cat Turkey) love watching your show! We stumbled across your show early last week and have now binged every episode. I learned a super cool trick for boiling potatoes that I thought you might find helpful. If you slice them into rounds instead of chunks, they cook more evenly.
You had my attention once you mentioned Porto's stuffed potato balls, they are a staple of Cuban cooking as are French croquettes. My first job in the kitchen was crushing soda crackers to make the coating for them. Thanks for another wonderful episode. :)
In Nicaragua, it was called “papa rellena” and it’s served with cabbage salad, ketchup and cream. They are sold in small stalls called “fritangas” and they are really with cold beer.
That hard tack GIF (clack, clack) never gets old! This looks amazing! I would love to add cheese to it. I know that's not historical, but cheese and potatoes is a match made in heaven!
From the description, these really sounded a lot like croquettes (specifically, the style popular in Japan, which as far as I can tell they borrowed from the French in the latter part of the 19th century); adding breadcrumbs would seal the deal.
It's pretty important to learn about things like this in history. It really gives you the perspective that even in that time period, folks were opposed to something that we now regard as an essential. Even the government and people considered to be intellectual leaders opposed the potato in France. This is why when folks tell me that we are more divided than ever, or that the world is getting worse, I tell them we are just repeating the generational cycle.
Vincent Van Gogh made a painting "The Potato Eaters", showing an ordinary noon or evening meal of peasants: boiled potatoes with some salt if available. Therie s much much more to it and please dig into it when you have time available.
I love that painting. And potatoes, roasted in the embeds of a fire, and eaten wirh salt and a bit of butter if you have it, are just awesome. Especially if you are camping and hiking , they just taste so good!
When I travelled to Amsterdam regularly on business, I'd sit for hours every time, just gazing at that painting, and every time I'd see something new in it. Must've seen it a couple of dozen times at least!
The potato, like other starchy things, is so wildly useful in the kitchen its always nice to have a sack of them around. Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew doesn't cover even a small bit of all the things you can use them for. Savory potato pancakes with green onion made from left over mashed potatoes has to be my favorite.
I'd add a caveat to check on them often and don't store them in sunlight. There have actually been ppl who've died just from the gas rotten potatoes make, mostly in countries where storing and eating a lot are common. Although rarer today that yesteryears.
In Central America, we call them “croquetas” and they are oval or round in shape with the meat inside, covered by mash potatoes and fried, just as you said. We use breadcrumbs for crunchiness.
@@EtherFox Yeah, I saw the video and even included the phrase “just as you said” in my post. Do you have a problem with my comment? Do you thin it’s redundant? Because to me, this is engagement and interaction, which is good for the video and the channel.
I normally am disinterested by cooking shows but this one is so much more. U tie the history into the cooking making both "digestable" for my entertainment.... Thank you. Keep being u
This is hilarious. I actually sent the following poem by Ambrose Bierce to a colleague yesterday: To Parmentier Parisians raise a statue fine and large: He cooked potatoes fifty ways, nor ever led a charge. 'Palmam qui meruit'-the rest you knew as well as I; And best of all to him that best of sayings will apply. Let meaner men the poet's bays or warrior's medal wear; Who cooks potatoes fifty ways shall bear the palm...de terre. The bronze 'palm' Bierce mentions decorates Parmentier's tomb in Paris, which is surrounded by...you guessed it...potato plants.
@@gardnerhill9073 For anyone not seeing the pun, "pomme de terre" (earth apple) is the French phrase for potato. The palm a reference to victory prizes, I think, and of course is pronounced very similarly to "pomme".
Wow, a story set in the French revolution that doesn't end with the main character getting relieved of his head? Seriously, I spent the whole video waiting for the "...and then they sent him to the guillotine" line.
Honestly the French Revolution is a gaping hole in my history knowledge, I've got a pretty decent hold on most of history but never really committed that part to memory. But anytime I see a quote like that first one about sending the potatoes to the "common people" because they'll eat anything that can satiate hunger I wonder how someone could be so tone deaf and it's no damn wonder the revolt began.
@@Goldenkitten1 I recommend Mike Duncan's "Revolutions" podcasts. It's a good quality listen if you want to learn about the French Revolution among others.
@@HellecticMojo I'll look into it when I get the chance. I think the issue is that I was a major history buff when I was a kid. And it's a known fact that your first 20-years or so your brain is more malleable and that information just kinda sticks for life. Whereas nowadays I hear bits and pieces of certain events like this one and I've long forgotten them by the time I hear something else, so I never put a timeline to remember in my head.
I always love when I find documents dated with the French Revolutionary calendar in the archives. They had different names for the month and even for each day of the year, to replace the catholic saint days. The Wiki article even features a chart with the dates, conversions and names, so you can play “Revolutionary horoscope” and look up which plant, revolutionary virtue or farming implement you are.
I happen to be born on the day of something I enjoy eating, although it’s way too early in the summer for those berries to be in season (where I’m from) on my birthday.
I've been watching youtube videos since the founding years but I've only discovered this channel recently. This is one of the best original, entertaining, educational, and well produced channel in the youtubeverse ever. Max deserves more credit for his amazing work! I am so happy to be able to enjoy years of contents you've created and also look forward to new videos! I've never donated to a channel before beyond watching ads but I am going to donate to this channel for sure!
I’d squash these into patties and pan fry them, partly because I’m not into deep-frying and partly because I’m lazy and partly because a frying pan is my favourite way to cook anything. Also, please can we have an episode on “more edible” French hard-tack *click-click*? I am fascinated by the different styles of essentially the same survival food developed around the world. I would also love to see more about how the diet of French sailors was improved.
When potatoes were first introduced to Britain, at the same time as tobacco, it was thought that potatoes were injurious to health, and tobacco was excellent for the lungs. How times change... Though they were not quite wrong; potatoes are mildly poisonous if uncooked, being as they are a member of the Nightshade family.
My understanding (and I can't cite a source) was that the potato plant was mildly poisonous but not the tubers. Grateful if anyone knows more definitively.
I can't blame them, the entire plant is poisonous especially the berries that it grows, only the potato is edible ( if its not green, then it is also poisonous, that's why they need to be kept in the dark )
@@PeterWasted The raw tubers are also very mildly poisonous (they contain a substance that gets metabolised into cyanide), but the lethal dose is 2-3 kg, and cyanide gets metabolised pretty far as long as the body isn’t overwhelmed with it, so you’re unlikely to even _manage_ to poison yourself with raw potatoes.
@@Cora.T Yeah the only sources I'm finding for "potatoes are poisonous" with any scientific studies attached are saying not to eat an entirely green potato which would taste bitter anyway. Also, tomatoes are also in the nightshade family and are indeed nightshade berries. Europeans thought tomatoes were poisonous for years*. Tomatoes are not poisonous even when raw, unripe, or overripe. *The current story that "well they were eating acidic food on lead plates!" is sus too. You don't get lead poisoning that easily and most people didn't have metal plates. More likely they saw bright red nightshade berries and thought they were unsafe.
TBF, they thought that because the cooks in Britain had no idea what to do with a potato plant, so they cooked up the potato greens, used the green potatoes, etc. and got a lot of people sick. It took a while for proper info on how to use a potato made it around.
French aristocracy really were the epitome of haughty. Guard the field just during the day. Like putting stuff on the curb and it sits there. Put a price tag on it and it's gone that night.
Legal potatoes, There is a pleasure A true word tornado. A economic treasure. Cookbook written in autumn, Shepherd's pie is a descendant, The revolution in full blossom. The right oil temperature dependent.
To keep with the "potato" theme, you could roll the balls in a mixture of flour and potato starch (corn starch or arrowroot would also work). This will make them extremely crispy with a nice bite!
When I’m feeling blue or I’ve had a challenging day I watch your videos. Thank you for this amazing content and for being yourself. Sending you a huge hug from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
"windy and indigestible" Would it be possible that the potatoes at that time met a populace whose digestive system was not (yet) accustomed to the potatoes of the time that may have had higher contents of solanin?
If they didn’t know that you generally need to add more soil over growing potato plants to prevent them from getting exposed to sunlight and turning green, that’s quite likely.
3:58 At least in Scandinavia and Finland, during most of the history of eating potatoes there, peeling and cutting potatoes, before cooking them, was considered the ultimate luxury and indulgence. Something you only did at occasions of utmost celebration, otherwise it was considered a sinful waste of resources. During more normal feastivities, like celebrating a wedding or a baptism, you could get a bit fancy and peel the cooked potato before eating it. But during normal, everyday, meals, you ate the potato with the skin on. This didn't just apply to poor people, it was a sign of piety and virtue, among all classes, to not waste food by eating peeled potatoes. On the other hand.... Most of the potato grown in Sweden until WWII, was used to make brännvin (schnaps, brandy), or when it was in à la mode, to make powder for wigs. Which I consider to be the opposite behaviour, of not wasting any of the potatoes by always eating them with the skin. Potatoes only became popular, in Sweden, after Countessa Eva Ekblad (née De la Gardie) invented a method to make potato brandy. This was as an admission to a royal contest, about how to lessen the amount of grains used for making spirits. Most other contestants, suggested methods to make people drink less. She didn't win the contest.
That's fascinating, because I was told in Germany growing up to never peel potatoes before cooking them, the reason being that if you peel them AFTER boiling you can remove the peel without taking any of the potato with it. Germans (at least in that region of the country) hate potato skins, but if you peel before hand you invariably waste some. I was told this was a hangover from famine during the war and the period after. People were horrified by my American mother peeling uncooked potatoes, and also baffled by us roasting them with the skins on. The standard way they were served for meals at friends' houses was to pile up a big bowl of boiled, unpeeled small potatoes in the center of the table, which you would peel with your fingers while they were still very hot, then crush a little with a fork and dip in the sauce from a meat stew.
@@jajsem1109 awesome! I hope you enjoy your first harvest! Don't forget to save some seed potatoes for next year. Potatoes have memories! They will adapt to their growing conditions the more years they are grown in the same ground. The first year you might not get the best yield; they might have some 'scarring' on the skin. The second they will be bigger and in better condition and every year they will just improve after that. My Dad started growing his own potatoes about 25 years ago and the first year the potatoes were small and covered with scars. The second they were a bit larger and fewer scars. By the third he had huge plump potatoes with no scars that tasted divine.
I once wrote a lengthy series of comments on RUclips about the history of potatoes and to this day it is one of my favourite things I've ever done. I love checking back on then every once in a while to see people get excited about potato lore. Not many people realize that it originates from South America, and is actually a member of the nightshade family- same as tomatoes and Deadly Nightshade. This, in addition to certain cinpounds present in raw potatoes which get destroyed during cooking, are probably why people thought they were poisonous for so long. And in fact, mature potato vines can produce fruits- small tomato-like berries, and these ARE poisonous.
Looks like they might be really good with a cornmeal breading instead of flour. Excellent video as always Max. My kids and I have been trying some of your recipes ourselves, a fun new way to hang out and learn together. Well done my friend!
I'm so glad you suggested using bread crumbs for this. I was thinking of using Japanese bread crumbs & adding some monterrey jack cheese & jalapenos as well.
look up croquettes, thats what this dish is, just an old version. you can fill them with pretty much anything. panko is absolutely a wonderful coating for them and how they are done in japan and elsewhere and by far my favorite version. also if you want to, look up chef john's potato puffs, they are great too and work well with diced up jalapenos in them.
I can't believe he didn't say "Let them eat 'tates" in place of "Let them eat cake", but, thankfully, the video is still great Also: his continued use of cutting to that clip of him smacking the hardtack together whenever he mentions it gets me every single time 😆
One of my neighbors at my old apartment complex, Salvadorean, made fabulous *papas rellenas* (stuffed potatoes) very much like this. It seems that wherever the potato grew, people started mashing them and wrapping minced meat in them.
another great episode. This reminded me of a old danish cartoon called: "The Tale of The Wonderful Potato'. It is on youtube with english subtitles. Funny to watch and the night time raid is also mention in it
Biggest take aways from this video: -The literal CHURCH said that eating potatoes was sinful because they were not mentioned in the bible 😭 -I have to go to Porto's and try their potato balls -A dude named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier spent years on his life dedicated to getting the French to eat potatoes
Maybe someone should have told the Church potatoes weren't mentioned in the Bible because they are native to the Americas, which aren't mentioned in the Bible either, but apparently did exist at that time.
I'm rather skeptical of the clergy claim as, "They're not in the Bible," isnt the go to argument of Catholics. Also, he said clergy, not the Church. Clergy have done plenty of things not listed in Church teaching.
I can sympathise with potatoes being illegal. When I was a boy, we had boiled potatoes with every meal. I got thoroughly sick of them, and went on a potato strike. No more potatoes! I kept that up for six months. I'm much older now, and I've come to terms with them. I have several really interesting recipes which include potatoes.
I like potatoes in general, but not plain boiled potatoes. To me, boiled potatoes are an ingredient that needs to be combined with other ingredients and/or cooked further.
Did you grow up in Germany or Denmark, by any chance? :) I have several friends and acquaintances from these countries that, to this day, cannot stand potatoes - especially boiled. My Danish acquaintances will eat brunede kartofler, though :)
I once read a list of diet ideas in a magazine, one was: Potato day, eat the equivalent of 1500 kcal in boiled potatoes with all the green vegetables you like + a cup of cottage cheese. I still do that sometimes because I love potatoes so much. Not sure I lose weight from this but I always feel like it sets my digestion right.
My husband occasionally does what he calls a 'potato week' where he eats nothing but potatoes for a whole week. He loses a bit of weight, but you can't keep going on it indefinitely.
@@vickiekostecki That's a lot of carbs and some people are far more sensitive to carbs than others. It's why Keto works for some people and not for others (that of course is taking into account those who think anything over 20g of carbs is ok while on Keto, it's not ok but some people just don't get that)
So your videos have been there to cheer up my day, to offer comfort and joy whether celebrating or in search for escapism, for around a year, so it is high time to say, thank you! Still happy you chose your passion here, over Disney. Thank you and please, keep making tasting history. You make many people happy.
This potato meat ball reminds me of the similar things i used to have when i was growing up in Indonesia, which is called "perkedel". It is made from potatoes and minced meat as well. As you know, the country was colonised by the Dutch for over 300 years, i wonder whether it has the Dutch influenced, henced European influenced. I suspect it does and it always fascinating to know where our foods and tradition originally came from😊 PS: though i dont think it was ever illegal having potatoes in Indonesia back then 😅
Actually, yes. Perkedel is derived from frikadel (a dish made of minced meat) but the meat is substituted by potatoes. I am Indonesian and I think we are always open to new food items. 😂
@@Christy_Kuri lol, came to say this. Frikedels are included in another full meal dish called lompreijst or lamprais. Rice is cooked in a rich meat broth, with spices, and the accompanied sides are a 3 mixed meat curry (usually chicken pork and beef), ash plantain curry, balachan (shrimp paste), a couple of frikkadels, a hardboiled egg deep fried, eggplant deep fried then pickled, wrapped in a banana leaf then baked. This is an incredibly aromatic and delicious meal.
I just want to mention that Papa rellena (the dish that was mentioned at the beginning from latinoamerica) is absolutely worth trying if you ever try Peruvian cuisine (I don't know what other countries have it)
People still put potatoes on the grave of Frederik the Great! It's a funny sight, besides flowers there are always a few potatoes on his modest gravestone. If you ever go to Potsdam, make sure to bring one to honour him!
That Casserole is known as Shepherds Pie if made with Lamb. Cottage Pie if made with Beef a tradition in the UK and my Mother of Irish Scots descent made to perfection. Using a hand wound meat grinder that clipped to a bench, still available today for purchase.
My mother used to make variations of this receipt, using leftover beef or lamb, shallow-fying the balls and calling them 'rissoles'. The herbs varied according to what was available and she would substitute carrot for onion. I still have the family antique meat grinder, original box, clamp and all.
@@Genzafel it's overrated, the ones i have eaten an bitter and gross in taste, but i guess if your ancestors survived on that vile thing for generations, you would be attached to them.
My mom once made something like this, but in more of a loaf form. She made a meatloaf-like mix with ground beef, formed it into a loaf, and then wrapped it in mashed potatoes and baked it in the oven. I have no idea how she kept it from falling apart, but it was very good! She never made it again because it was too much work!
Here in Sweden, the potato got really popular once we found out that they were excellent for making alcohol, and are to this day still used for it. This left more grain for making bread instead 😄🍹
It would have at least gave the people of France one less thing to be furious about. But I have a feeling that it was gonna happen at some point. It just would depend on how bloody it ended up being
@@rollastoney in this case, though, it was more a case of the people failing themselves. The French government actually worked hard to promote the potato, but the citizens thought the vegetable beneath them. Then, the wheat crops failed leading to the starvation and hard times that were blamed on the aristocracy... ultimately resulting in the French Revolution.
@@ryandtibbetts2962 The French Revolution was organized by the Bankers that have since taken over the overwhelming mass majority of the world. They organized the revolution to depose of the monarchy, because monarchies were much more difficult to gain power over the country then democracies.
@@anti-ethniccleansing465Ok that is incorrect. The people who organized the French Revolution were the other nobles. Prior to Louis XIV, nobles had their own castles and territories with serfs to work the fields or become their military. At that time the monarchy was already at risk of being toppled by the nobles who if their forces combined had more power than the king. Many of them also chose to fragment off and back onto France making it easy for invasions to rapidly dissolve the country. So Louis XIV centralized government control by moving nobles to his palace, taking their land for himself, and keeping them busy squabbling over who gets to watch him be shaved. This way, he bought the monarchy a few more decades. This wore off around the time of Louis XIV when the nobles were able to reorganize themselves and commit a smear campaign against the royals. While other factors like royal debt, the tired armies, the king and queen's reputations, the middle class encyclopaedia writers, the American revolution, famine, etc etc played a contributing role, in the end the situation was spawned from jealous nobles who tried to manipulate peasants against the king and queen, but accidentally manipulated the peasants against all nobles. I'm quite shocked that your tag is anti-ethniccleansing when the Banker Deep State hypothesis is a longstanding myth against Jewish people- you know, the people who had one of the most famous ethnic cleanses committed against them.
I ate similar, in Austria. Minced meat wrapped in potato mash, boiled in water, served as a dish side... So, maybe this ''a la revolution'' recipe must be a smash!! we still eat stuff like this, today... This even can be a street fastfood, as well...
Max, this recipe is very similar to something I eat a lot, called aloor chop. The manner of preparation is exactly the same, from boiling to smashing and frying, though sometimes the balls are battered before being fried, works great with an egg or fish as filling too.
As usual another well researched treatise on food. Good job! During the 30 year war it was a common practice to burn grain fields of the opposing side. Potato fields could be turned off only to spontaneously regenerate. The field of potatoes could be repeatedly burned and still be harvested in the fall thus avoiding starvation
Yes, in Puerto Rico we have a similar recipe as Max said. We call it "Relleno de Papa" (Stuffed Potatoes). Can either be eaten hot or cold. I prefered them cold. One of my favorite foods.
This recipe sounds like croquettes, thought I got used to croquettes with other vegetables instead of meat inside when I lived in Japan. And despite first having those in Japan, I think they're intended to be French food.
these are absolutely a version of croquettes, and yes the name is french as is their origin in japan, they were introduced after japan was "opened" in the late 1800s. they are also eaten pretty much everywhere since they are so versatile.
Dear Adam, Are you familiar with "hachis Parmentier '? It"s basically hash and mashed potatoes, a lot like Shepherd's Pudding. One layer of mashed potatoes, one of hash and a second layer of mashed potatoes. You put it in a Pyrex, put breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese on top, and pop it in the oven to brown.
Yep, super crazy! They turned everything upside down during those years, there was even an atheistic religion called culte de la raison.... as for that calendar, the only vestige in common use I can think of is Lobster thermidor lol
As an aside, while looking up the exact translation for the recipe title, I discovered there is a wild edible tuber also known as pomme de terre here in the central USA, also known by the many names of prairie turnip, timpsula, tipsin, teepsenee, breadroot, breadroot scurf pea, large Indian breadroot, and pomme blanche. 😳 Also, there's a Lake Pomme de Terre in MO, as well as a river with the same name that is connected to it (which I knew), _and_ I learned there was another river also called Pomme de Terre in MN! I enjoy learning new things. 🙂👍🏼
i literally just made these tonight because of this video. 😆👍😋🤤🤯 wow 😲😳 the texture thing with the taste is a bit mind blowing. I did the 50/50 potato meat combo. I'd say mixing your batch extra long is important. I thought I mixed it enough and one potato ball was more meaty than the other one which was perfectly potatoey. The potatoe balls were soft and with a light crunchyness on the outside. I really wanted to dip these into something 😁, maybe I'll figure out a fun dip for next time. this was a really cool cooking experiment. I totally recommend it to anyone who's a meat and potatoes fan(just remember to REALLY MIX your ingredients so they have consistent flavor).
Curious. My father made these all the time, especially when we were camping, only he flattened them so they could cook on the fire. Love these, especially with garlic butter.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
For more forbidden food history, check out my video "The Poisonous History of Tomatoes" where I made Pomodori Farciti all’Erbette - ruclips.net/video/beBQgxdu2eY/видео.html
Oldie! Almost 2 years ago 🍅
I'm so glad you suggested using bread crumbs for this. I was thinking of using Japanese bread crumbs & adding some monterrey jack cheese & jalapenos as well.
yeah you need to make a sumerian beer
@@swish3796 I am. It’s on the calendar.
This is kinda similar to Kerala style Beef Cutlets. You should definitely try them out 😁
Little fun personal story: Before my English was good enough for conversations I had only passing encounters with it, and always wondered what this seemingly ubiquitous "ground beef" might be. Beef that was stored on some floor for some time? Beef cut from cattle that was laying on the floor? A "basic" kind of beef? It only occured to me embarrassingly late that ground is just the past tense for to grind, and it's nothing else than my beloved Hackfleisch after all! (I blushed for a few minutes after realizing and never told anyone until this day.)
Before reading this comment, I absolutely had no idea about this.
Corn beef doesn't have anything to do with corn either :D
The English language has some really strange artifacts considering food, and it is pretty hard for me a lot of the time to find out what ingredient should be actually used in an English recipe/cooking video.
It's actually really hard to find a proper translation in your native language (if its an obscure language ofc) for food, because there are a lot of cultural, and processing differences in the available ingredients and their name/usage, a direct translation doesn't cut it most of the time.
@@fenrirr22 To be fair, it is properly "corned beef", which is slightly potentially more parsible, in that it is "corned" with grains, in this case of salt. Not that most people have reason to be familiar with that use of corn.
I did not know this either haha thank you!
I don't know how ANYBODY learns to speak English...it makes no sense at all. "Hey, here's a bunch of rules...now we're gonna go violate them all! But only sometimes." ...wait...what now...?
And it's the only language I *do* speak!
"Tricking hungry people into stealing potatoes for food" is chaotic good lol
"Do NOT Take These!!!!" is a good way to get rid of a pile of anything - old clothes, used books, bags of zucchini...
@@gardnerhill9073 Gotta love reverse psychology :)
It's like the joke about an old couch: Nobody will touch it if you have a sign on it that says "free" but slap one on it that says "$100" and it'll be gone overnight.
He was playin 9D chess.
Love the D&D reference
Some things will just last forever.
The common man's reliance on potatoes, the French's mistrust of their officials, and Max's love of using the hardtack clip.
Can someone say if the hardtack clip is from a certain video? If so, which one?
@@bowlseriw Well yes... it's from the video on hard tack. You can find it with a search.
@@ZakTheFallen Yess thanks
Yep, he's still using the hardtack clip 2 years on 😅
Agreed😂
After time in Peru, potato history is always welcome. The Peruvians eat potatoes with almost every meal. And the variety is almost always specific to the dish. They know potatoes like we know apples. It’s really a cool part of their history and culture.
My (vague) memory is that I saw a documentary long ago that indicated that the Peruvians/Peru have or had 100s of different kinds of potatoes. ❤️
So, this inspired me to try a beef-filled potato ball. By the time I was done forming the first one, I realized I basically made cottage pie balls w/ panko coating.
That does sound good though. How was it?
@@PhotonBeast They turned out alright. The major difficulty is making sure that the potato sphere is big enough to get a bunch of filling inside, but not so big that it slowly collapses.
I just couldn't get the exterior crispy enough to form a more solid shell.
@SAT_Holmes at a certain point you would probably have to mix wheat flour into the potato mash in order to stiffen it.
But did it taste good?
and without tomatoes
Useless knowledge fact about Frederick the Great: to this day, people bring potatoes on his tomb, to thank him for his part in feeding the people.
Funny, people do the same on Parmentier's grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris!
Did it too, I like to think that he would love to be rememberd this way.
Is knowledge ever useless?
I wonder what they do with all the potatoes people leave
My goal is to bring this man a potato one day 😂
When my grandmother was going to school in the 20s, her mother would give her a hot potato to take on the walk to keep her hands warm in the winter. When she got to school, it was a great breakfast. Of course, they were Polish going to a primarily Polish school.
A good mom comes up with some great ideas to help their children. Thank you for posting this 😄
Laura Ingalls Wilder recounts doing this in her Little House books.
What a smart mama! Love it.
"pocket potatoes" used to be a thing for the same reason, you would keep a hot potato in each pocket to keep you warm and then it would be your food.
She could give her mittens to keep her hands warm, like the rest of the world..
My boyfriend goes “did max upload a new video?”
He now recognizes your voice from the other room!
You’re a household name now ☺️
Huzzah, I've made it!
@@TastingHistory have you been working out? You look fit!
Awesome content, thank you for sharing❤️💯
@@SimuLord Max has a nice voice and is interesting. If I read about all this history on my own , I'd be bored . But he is just so charming .
@@SimuLord agreed
@@PurpleSurple um...I'm not sure we see him the same way. But I understand what you mean. He is just a good at what he does, is what I wanted to say...
I've learned to expect hardtack at any point in any of Max's videos... but that clip really never fails to make me laugh.
Nice avi
Me to!😂
I'm shocked this didn't get popular in America....it's everything we want in a meal especially when the sauce is a cheese sauce
It's never too late!
shut up
very popular with the French-Canadians de Pâté chinois has been a classic on out tables for over 100 years
It's amazing how many French recipes outright state themselves to be cheap. "Pommes de terre de l'économie" basically means "potatoes on the cheap". Another classic is the Québec treat "poudding chômeur" i.e. unemployed cake.
Prior to capitalist America lionizing the rich through hegemonic corporate propaganda, being affordable was considered a good thing
Spain has a dish called "Patatas a lo pobre" or "Poor man's potatoes."
😆 you're right. Steak au poivre immediately came to mind.
A lot of french great classic were actually "poor people meal", take Boeuf Bourguignon for example. Today you a bourguignon in a Parisian bristrot is expensive as hell but Bourguignon was way to took "bad piece of meat" to be tender and way better, red wine isn''t expensive and even a bad wine can make a good Bourguignon since it's cooked anyway.
@@willywonka7812 lol... wut? What bougie overthought argument is this? You clearly live in a neighbourhood with zero fast food joints bragging about their low low deals.
That man had some serious dedication. Forced to eat potatoes in prison for 3 years straight, then came out and spent the rest of his life telling everyone how awesome they are.
must've had a good prison cook 🤣
My great grandpa was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in wwii and he stayed alive eating Spam (from the Red Cross). For the rest of his life he LOVED spam. I guess Ma Ingalls was right when she said “Hunger is the best sauce”
Potato Stockholm
Might as well face it, he's addicted to spuds
its weird the Natives of All the Americas told europeans how amazing potatoes were and it took europeans 400 years to figure it out. Thats hilariously sad.
In fairness, the nature of French agriculture was always on the verge of famine because the population was always far too high for French farmland. The French were cautious because while their existing crops were only barely adequate, they were adequate more often than not, while a new crop, be it maize or potatoes, was difficult to prove superior without taking risks few were willing to take.
Bear in mind, maize and potatoes take away labor from the grains, grains which are high-labor to start with. It is not like potatoes are purely grown on marginal land with no effort. People have to actually plant them, ensure drainage, and otherwise spend many hours cultivating them. It may end up yielding more calories per hectare in the end, but the only certainty in the 1750s was that you were diverting manhours from the known grains on the chance that these dirt apples might be better.
In the end, the French found out it was worth it, but I am not shocked they were so loath to change.
I simply must comment on the beauty of the phrase "dirt apple." Thank you. 👏👏👏
@@jaded_gerManic that's the other name for potatoes in french, we have "patate" and "pomme de terre", literally "dirt apple"
@@The.Heart.Unceasing dirt apple was the one I was taught learning French
I mean dirt apple makes sense somewhat? The interior of a potato and apple are vaguely similar, and the shape too kinda?
“Dirt” is not a good translation of “terre.” “Ground” or “earth” is more appropriate. Peanuts were once called “groundnuts”. Imagine if we called them “dirtnuts.”
I am currently sick and I have been playing your videos the last two days. Whether actively watching it or playing in the background as I’m sleeping. It is a great comfort to me. Thank you so much!
Well I haven’t watched his channel yet while sick I do watch it in the evening hours before I hit the sack
I play his videos while i sleep off migraines sometimes. His voice is very nice
Speaking as a french and potato-loving person, I’m appalled potatoes ever had a bad reputation in France
Washing has a bad reputation in France also common in the UK
Seems like nearly every New World food was under heavy suspicion in Europe until 250yrs ago or so, depending on the country.
Tomatoes also had a bad reputation in Italy. (And I think Max already made a video about it.)
I think the tomato got fairly similar treatment to begin with. Being red they were regarded with suspicion.
@@stationplaza4631 Also the acid can cause some of the lead from certain kinds of plates to leech out into the food. And lead poisoning has its own issues.
No matter how often I see it, the hardtack clip will always be funny :D
Also, this reminds me very strongly of what we in Germany call "Knödel" - as far as I can tell, it's pretty much the same. Some are made with breadcrums, some with bacon, some with onions. But all the variants I know of are made with potatoes.
Semmelknödel, serviettenknödel, kaspressknödel etc
I also love the sweet versions such as Zwetschenknödel or Marillenknödel😋
Yes they reminded me very much of Kartoffelknödel, although they're cooked instead of fried.
So it's sort of a fried kartoffelküsse
Itll be 2047 and we will still be grinning at the hardtack clip
That clacking of the Hardtack... it's almost like it's part of the furniture now. 🤣
It gets funnier the better the camera quality and lighting gets, the contrast is great.
Yes, and it (along with all the older episodes) will forever immortalize the "original" Tasting History kitchen.
And could be used as a building supply to make new furniture
I always cackle when Max manages to slip in yet another hardtack reference (and then ofcourse obligatory video clip with the sound) into an otherwise totally unrelated episode. Glorious! 🤣
@@Amy_the_Lizard lmao 🤣😂🤣😂 that's great
I literally thanked Parmentier because I had some mashed potatoes and felt some genuine joy that he made this wonderful starch so popular
Ah yes the Hachi Parmentier, I've quickly learnt as a kid it was a fancy name for "Pot au Feu leftovers with instant purée on top".
As a student I've learnt even faster that mom's food wasn't so bad after eating those cheap instant meals from the discount super market.
My mother always lamented the fact I didn't like her cooking that much. Last year I moved out and my mum is very happy because I keep turning up at home wanting food. Last week my mum asked if I wanted to come home for a few days because it was half term for my brothers and she wanted all her kids together. I had been planning on eating ramen and tinned soup until I got paid and very happily went home for the week. My dad swears I didn't eat half as much when I lived at home lol.
The more unexpected the hardtack cutaway the funnier it gets
I had read the comments, so I knew it was coming and I still loled.
I love the hard tack clip making a cameo in so many other videos! Thank you Max for keeping us hungrily entertained each week.
I keep thinking "surely Max has run out of uses for the hardtack clack" and you keep proving me wrong!
Loved the "Boil or mash or stick 'em in a stew" pun. As always, great historical references.
Fun fact: Frederick the Great is buried in Potsdam, Germany and til this day people bring potatoes to his grave to show their gratitude. :)
the south american potato balls are called "bombas de papa" (potato bombs) where I live, and although I'm not sure about their particular history, they are a great way to repurpose leftover mashed potatoes. the filling is usually cheese but also can include meat, cubed ham or any other empanada-like content
cheers from Argentina!
looks like a "coxinha" from brazil also
South american potato balls also called Papas rellenas in Colombia
They are called papas rellenas in Chile too
What is this thing you speak of, leftover mashed potatoes?
Potatoes Croquette
Hey, I know this is a late comment but I just wanted to say that I tried that cucumber ice cream recipe and I absolutely loved it. The only change I made was that I replaced the ginger brandy with regular brandy since I didn’t have any
It’s genuinely one of the best ice cream flavours I’ve ever had
Yay, perfect for summer
@@TastingHistory funnily enough I’m Tasmanian so it’s winter here ^^;
Still amazing though
Also funnily enough, this video brought up Parmentier and in Australia, one of our celebrity chefs was a guy called Parmenter
@@hilotakenaka When Max mentioned him, the first thing I thought of was Consuming Passions with Ian Parmentier. I wonder if they're related ... I'm sure Antoine Augustin would approve of Ian's show
People still leave potatoes (instead of flowers) on Frederick the Great's humble tombstone today, as a "thank you" for promoting potatoe agriculture in Prussia's rather sub-par fields, and saving countless lives.
This dish brings back memories from my childhood, being served “Lappskojs” in school and whilst it wasn't the most popular dish due to it's looks it was one of the better. As a child and of sami origin I couldn't really understand why the dish was named “Lappskojs”, the derogatory term for Sami being Lapp in Sweden ( but let's not go down that rabbit hole. That's a whole other story ).
What “Lappskojs” is, as the dish is called in Sweden, is just what you see being done here except for the fact that it's not rolled into balls and fried, instead it's mixed and served as is with beetroot on the side.
I've since learned that “Lappskojs” has it's comparative dishes in Finland ( lapskojs ), Denmark ( Skibberlabsojs ) Norway ( lapsakus ) and Germany ( labskaus ). You see where this is going, don't you? The origin is there in the name, it's really derived from lobscouse, the traditional sailors dish made with meat, vegetables and hard tack. Now, replace the hard tack and vegetables with potatoes and you basically end up with the dishes named above.
What the dishes has in common apart from the name is the view of the hard tack and potatoes as both ingredients had that, well let's s say a skeptical air about them. The dish lobscouse more or less a dish developed out of necessity in order to being able to digest the hard tack and the potato? Well, it's an old dish and the potato hadn't really caught on, so mixing it with meat as seen here was one way of serving it.
Hey Max, my husband and I (and our cat Turkey) love watching your show! We stumbled across your show early last week and have now binged every episode. I learned a super cool trick for boiling potatoes that I thought you might find helpful. If you slice them into rounds instead of chunks, they cook more evenly.
That's a lot of me haha. Thanks for watching
We are now on episode 2 of Ketchup with Max and Jose lol.
We’ve had cats named Pickles and one named Potato.
I’ve met cats named Beans and Cheese 😂
You had my attention once you mentioned Porto's stuffed potato balls, they are a staple of Cuban cooking as are French croquettes. My first job in the kitchen was crushing soda crackers to make the coating for them. Thanks for another wonderful episode. :)
Omg. Cuban mashed potato balls are wonderful.
In Nicaragua, it was called “papa rellena” and it’s served with cabbage salad, ketchup and cream. They are sold in small stalls called “fritangas” and they are really with cold beer.
Sounds delicious to me
That hard tack GIF (clack, clack) never gets old! This looks amazing! I would love to add cheese to it. I know that's not historical, but cheese and potatoes is a match made in heaven!
From the description, these really sounded a lot like croquettes (specifically, the style popular in Japan, which as far as I can tell they borrowed from the French in the latter part of the 19th century); adding breadcrumbs would seal the deal.
Came here looking for this comment!
It's pretty important to learn about things like this in history. It really gives you the perspective that even in that time period, folks were opposed to something that we now regard as an essential. Even the government and people considered to be intellectual leaders opposed the potato in France. This is why when folks tell me that we are more divided than ever, or that the world is getting worse, I tell them we are just repeating the generational cycle.
Vincent Van Gogh made a painting "The Potato Eaters", showing an ordinary noon or evening meal of peasants: boiled potatoes with some salt if available. Therie s much much more to it and please dig into it when you have time available.
Boiled potatoes with salt are unironically amazing
I love that painting. And potatoes, roasted in the embeds of a fire, and eaten wirh salt and a bit of butter if you have it, are just awesome. Especially if you are camping and hiking , they just taste so good!
When I travelled to Amsterdam regularly on business, I'd sit for hours every time, just gazing at that painting, and every time I'd see something new in it. Must've seen it a couple of dozen times at least!
That was a fun dive, thanks for that!
I thought of that painting as soon as I saw this video in my recommends from youtube.🤭
The potato, like other starchy things, is so wildly useful in the kitchen its always nice to have a sack of them around. Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew doesn't cover even a small bit of all the things you can use them for. Savory potato pancakes with green onion made from left over mashed potatoes has to be my favorite.
I want to try to make gosetsu udon one day--noodles made from potatoes.
I'd add a caveat to check on them often and don't store them in sunlight. There have actually been ppl who've died just from the gas rotten potatoes make, mostly in countries where storing and eating a lot are common. Although rarer today that yesteryears.
I agree Samwise.
Wish I was rich enough to just have food sitting around that I may or may not use
@@seigeengine Perhaps we just have different priorities then. I wouldn't want to buy food I wasn't sure I was going to use.
In Central America, we call them “croquetas” and they are oval or round in shape with the meat inside, covered by mash potatoes and fried, just as you said. We use breadcrumbs for crunchiness.
In France It's croquettes ;)
And in Japan, they're korokke. :)
5:20 He explains exactly so. Latin America, covered, fried, breadcrumbs.
@@EtherFox Yeah, I saw the video and even included the phrase “just as you said” in my post. Do you have a problem with my comment? Do you thin it’s redundant? Because to me, this is engagement and interaction, which is good for the video and the channel.
In Spain we also call them croquetas :D
I normally am disinterested by cooking shows but this one is so much more. U tie the history into the cooking making both "digestable" for my entertainment.... Thank you. Keep being u
I love how much detail and effort you put in the pronunciation of foreign names and places!
This is hilarious. I actually sent the following poem by Ambrose Bierce to a colleague yesterday:
To Parmentier Parisians raise a statue fine and large:
He cooked potatoes fifty ways, nor ever led a charge.
'Palmam qui meruit'-the rest you knew as well as I;
And best of all to him that best of sayings will apply.
Let meaner men the poet's bays or warrior's medal wear;
Who cooks potatoes fifty ways shall bear the palm...de terre.
The bronze 'palm' Bierce mentions decorates Parmentier's tomb in Paris, which is surrounded by...you guessed it...potato plants.
And ending on a pun. Bad man, Ambrose, bad!
Somehow I missed that one, or forgot it. Anyone who quotes Bitter Bierce gets my upvote... 🤣
@@gardnerhill9073 For anyone not seeing the pun, "pomme de terre" (earth apple) is the French phrase for potato. The palm a reference to victory prizes, I think, and of course is pronounced very similarly to "pomme".
@@gardnerhill9073 Never expected anything less from the man who wrote "The Devil's Dictionary".
I love the giddy feeling that comes from reading a poem for a first time. Especially one as well-crafted as this one.
Wow, a story set in the French revolution that doesn't end with the main character getting relieved of his head? Seriously, I spent the whole video waiting for the "...and then they sent him to the guillotine" line.
Honestly the French Revolution is a gaping hole in my history knowledge, I've got a pretty decent hold on most of history but never really committed that part to memory. But anytime I see a quote like that first one about sending the potatoes to the "common people" because they'll eat anything that can satiate hunger I wonder how someone could be so tone deaf and it's no damn wonder the revolt began.
As they say “Don’t bite/kill the hand that feeds you”.
@@Goldenkitten1 I recommend Mike Duncan's "Revolutions" podcasts. It's a good quality listen if you want to learn about the French Revolution among others.
@@HellecticMojo I'll look into it when I get the chance.
I think the issue is that I was a major history buff when I was a kid. And it's a known fact that your first 20-years or so your brain is more malleable and that information just kinda sticks for life. Whereas nowadays I hear bits and pieces of certain events like this one and I've long forgotten them by the time I hear something else, so I never put a timeline to remember in my head.
Only Mr. Potato lost his head.
I always love when I find documents dated with the French Revolutionary calendar in the archives. They had different names for the month and even for each day of the year, to replace the catholic saint days. The Wiki article even features a chart with the dates, conversions and names, so you can play “Revolutionary horoscope” and look up which plant, revolutionary virtue or farming implement you are.
I happen to be born on the day of something I enjoy eating, although it’s way too early in the summer for those berries to be in season (where I’m from) on my birthday.
I've been watching youtube videos since the founding years but I've only discovered this channel recently. This is one of the best original, entertaining, educational, and well produced channel in the youtubeverse ever. Max deserves more credit for his amazing work! I am so happy to be able to enjoy years of contents you've created and also look forward to new videos! I've never donated to a channel before beyond watching ads but I am going to donate to this channel for sure!
I’d squash these into patties and pan fry them, partly because I’m not into deep-frying and partly because I’m lazy and partly because a frying pan is my favourite way to cook anything. Also, please can we have an episode on “more edible” French hard-tack *click-click*? I am fascinated by the different styles of essentially the same survival food developed around the world. I would also love to see more about how the diet of French sailors was improved.
When potatoes were first introduced to Britain, at the same time as tobacco, it was thought that potatoes were injurious to health, and tobacco was excellent for the lungs. How times change...
Though they were not quite wrong; potatoes are mildly poisonous if uncooked, being as they are a member of the Nightshade family.
My understanding (and I can't cite a source) was that the potato plant was mildly poisonous but not the tubers. Grateful if anyone knows more definitively.
I can't blame them, the entire plant is poisonous especially the berries that it grows, only the potato is edible ( if its not green, then it is also poisonous, that's why they need to be kept in the dark )
@@PeterWasted
The raw tubers are also very mildly poisonous (they contain a substance that gets metabolised into cyanide), but the lethal dose is 2-3 kg, and cyanide gets metabolised pretty far as long as the body isn’t overwhelmed with it, so you’re unlikely to even _manage_ to poison yourself with raw potatoes.
@@Cora.T Yeah the only sources I'm finding for "potatoes are poisonous" with any scientific studies attached are saying not to eat an entirely green potato which would taste bitter anyway.
Also, tomatoes are also in the nightshade family and are indeed nightshade berries. Europeans thought tomatoes were poisonous for years*. Tomatoes are not poisonous even when raw, unripe, or overripe.
*The current story that "well they were eating acidic food on lead plates!" is sus too. You don't get lead poisoning that easily and most people didn't have metal plates. More likely they saw bright red nightshade berries and thought they were unsafe.
TBF, they thought that because the cooks in Britain had no idea what to do with a potato plant, so they cooked up the potato greens, used the green potatoes, etc. and got a lot of people sick. It took a while for proper info on how to use a potato made it around.
French aristocracy really were the epitome of haughty.
Guard the field just during the day. Like putting stuff on the curb and it sits there. Put a price tag on it and it's gone that night.
People are weird that way.....
That was the point... He wanted them to be stolen
Legal potatoes,
There is a pleasure
A true word tornado.
A economic treasure.
Cookbook written in autumn,
Shepherd's pie is a descendant,
The revolution in full blossom.
The right oil temperature dependent.
To keep with the "potato" theme, you could roll the balls in a mixture of flour and potato starch (corn starch or arrowroot would also work). This will make them extremely crispy with a nice bite!
When I’m feeling blue or I’ve had a challenging day I watch your videos. Thank you for this amazing content and for being yourself. Sending you a huge hug from Costa Rica 🇨🇷
"windy and indigestible"
Would it be possible that the potatoes at that time met a populace whose digestive system was not (yet) accustomed to the potatoes of the time that may have had higher contents of solanin?
If they didn’t know that you generally need to add more soil over growing potato plants to prevent them from getting exposed to sunlight and turning green, that’s quite likely.
3:58 At least in Scandinavia and Finland, during most of the history of eating potatoes there, peeling and cutting potatoes, before cooking them, was considered the ultimate luxury and indulgence. Something you only did at occasions of utmost celebration, otherwise it was considered a sinful waste of resources.
During more normal feastivities, like celebrating a wedding or a baptism, you could get a bit fancy and peel the cooked potato before eating it. But during normal, everyday, meals, you ate the potato with the skin on.
This didn't just apply to poor people, it was a sign of piety and virtue, among all classes, to not waste food by eating peeled potatoes.
On the other hand.... Most of the potato grown in Sweden until WWII, was used to make brännvin (schnaps, brandy), or when it was in à la mode, to make powder for wigs. Which I consider to be the opposite behaviour, of not wasting any of the potatoes by always eating them with the skin.
Potatoes only became popular, in Sweden, after Countessa Eva Ekblad (née De la Gardie) invented a method to make potato brandy. This was as an admission to a royal contest, about how to lessen the amount of grains used for making spirits. Most other contestants, suggested methods to make people drink less. She didn't win the contest.
That's fascinating, because I was told in Germany growing up to never peel potatoes before cooking them, the reason being that if you peel them AFTER boiling you can remove the peel without taking any of the potato with it. Germans (at least in that region of the country) hate potato skins, but if you peel before hand you invariably waste some. I was told this was a hangover from famine during the war and the period after. People were horrified by my American mother peeling uncooked potatoes, and also baffled by us roasting them with the skins on.
The standard way they were served for meals at friends' houses was to pile up a big bowl of boiled, unpeeled small potatoes in the center of the table, which you would peel with your fingers while they were still very hot, then crush a little with a fork and dip in the sauce from a meat stew.
WE started to grow our own potatoes this year, they grow like crazy! And I love the look of the plant, it is just very nice plant.
And they keep on giving. If you miss a couple when you're digging, next year you'll get 'volunteers'.
Don't forget to hill them as they grow! If you don't you will end up with tiny potatoes.
@@nikkiewhite476 We have them in bags and we pile up more and more soil on them as they grew. :)
@@jajsem1109 awesome! I hope you enjoy your first harvest! Don't forget to save some seed potatoes for next year. Potatoes have memories! They will adapt to their growing conditions the more years they are grown in the same ground. The first year you might not get the best yield; they might have some 'scarring' on the skin. The second they will be bigger and in better condition and every year they will just improve after that. My Dad started growing his own potatoes about 25 years ago and the first year the potatoes were small and covered with scars. The second they were a bit larger and fewer scars. By the third he had huge plump potatoes with no scars that tasted divine.
@@nikkiewhite476 Good to know, thanks, will do!
just made this for my family and my gf. they gave it an overall 9/10. family likes me more and girlfriend wants kids. 10/10 recommend
I once wrote a lengthy series of comments on RUclips about the history of potatoes and to this day it is one of my favourite things I've ever done. I love checking back on then every once in a while to see people get excited about potato lore.
Not many people realize that it originates from South America, and is actually a member of the nightshade family- same as tomatoes and Deadly Nightshade. This, in addition to certain cinpounds present in raw potatoes which get destroyed during cooking, are probably why people thought they were poisonous for so long.
And in fact, mature potato vines can produce fruits- small tomato-like berries, and these ARE poisonous.
Looks like they might be really good with a cornmeal breading instead of flour.
Excellent video as always Max. My kids and I have been trying some of your recipes ourselves, a fun new way to hang out and learn together. Well done my friend!
I'm so glad you suggested using bread crumbs for this. I was thinking of using Japanese bread crumbs & adding some monterrey jack cheese & jalapenos as well.
look up croquettes, thats what this dish is, just an old version. you can fill them with pretty much anything. panko is absolutely a wonderful coating for them and how they are done in japan and elsewhere and by far my favorite version. also if you want to, look up chef john's potato puffs, they are great too and work well with diced up jalapenos in them.
The Japanese version is called korroke
I can't believe he didn't say "Let them eat 'tates" in place of "Let them eat cake", but, thankfully, the video is still great
Also: his continued use of cutting to that clip of him smacking the hardtack together whenever he mentions it gets me every single time 😆
Me, too!
I still need to make hardtack so I can do that.
This time I was prepared for it.
But it was she, not he, that was supposed to have said that, so your idea doesn't work. 🤔🙄
@@MaryAnnNytowl Why would Marie Antoinette not be allowed to talk about Tatas? ;) she even carried two around... :P
There is a trick to help coat with a batter, roll in the flour first, then dip in the egg, then dip back in the flour.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers Salt-N-Pepa.
One of my neighbors at my old apartment complex, Salvadorean, made fabulous *papas rellenas* (stuffed potatoes) very much like this. It seems that wherever the potato grew, people started mashing them and wrapping minced meat in them.
Looking at the miseries of the past two years, Tasting History is one of the few good things to happen. Thank, you, Max and Jose!
another great episode. This reminded me of a old danish cartoon called: "The Tale of The Wonderful Potato'. It is on youtube with english subtitles. Funny to watch and the night time raid is also mention in it
@Laura Phillips you are welcome
The Hard Tack Clack NEVER gets old. I love it.
Biggest take aways from this video:
-The literal CHURCH said that eating potatoes was sinful because they were not mentioned in the bible 😭
-I have to go to Porto's and try their potato balls
-A dude named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier spent years on his life dedicated to getting the French to eat potatoes
Maybe someone should have told the Church potatoes weren't mentioned in the Bible because they are native to the Americas, which aren't mentioned in the Bible either, but apparently did exist at that time.
The church was on their bullshit as usual 💀
pomme de terre litterally means apple of the earth
I'm rather skeptical of the clergy claim as, "They're not in the Bible," isnt the go to argument of Catholics. Also, he said clergy, not the Church. Clergy have done plenty of things not listed in Church teaching.
@@amadeusamwater I think that was the point... is a racist argument, as in... the food of non Christians.
I can sympathise with potatoes being illegal. When I was a boy, we had boiled potatoes with every meal. I got thoroughly sick of them, and went on a potato strike. No more potatoes! I kept that up for six months. I'm much older now, and I've come to terms with them. I have several really interesting recipes which include potatoes.
I like potatoes in general, but not plain boiled potatoes. To me, boiled potatoes are an ingredient that needs to be combined with other ingredients and/or cooked further.
@@ragnkja yea defi atwly. I love fried potatoes and hell even taking the boiled ones and frying them makes it so much bettrr
Did you grow up in Germany or Denmark, by any chance? :) I have several friends and acquaintances from these countries that, to this day, cannot stand potatoes - especially boiled. My Danish acquaintances will eat brunede kartofler, though :)
@@mahel2002
Could just as easily be Norway, or presumably any other Northern European country.
@@ragnkja ah, I see.
I once read a list of diet ideas in a magazine, one was: Potato day, eat the equivalent of 1500 kcal in boiled potatoes with all the green vegetables you like + a cup of cottage cheese. I still do that sometimes because I love potatoes so much. Not sure I lose weight from this but I always feel like it sets my digestion right.
My husband occasionally does what he calls a 'potato week' where he eats nothing but potatoes for a whole week. He loses a bit of weight, but you can't keep going on it indefinitely.
@@vickiekostecki That's a lot of carbs and some people are far more sensitive to carbs than others. It's why Keto works for some people and not for others (that of course is taking into account those who think anything over 20g of carbs is ok while on Keto, it's not ok but some people just don't get that)
I will NEVER grow tired of the hard tack throw back. its actually amazing how often history relates back to that LOL
9:02 has to be one of the most realistic paintings of a person I've ever seen. Also he looks like Murr from Impractical Jokers
Those potato balls from Portos are called "Papa Rellenas" btw. There's another version in other Cuban places that's made with Yuca also. Delicious
So your videos have been there to cheer up my day, to offer comfort and joy whether celebrating or in search for escapism, for around a year, so it is high time to say, thank you! Still happy you chose your passion here, over Disney. Thank you and please, keep making tasting history. You make many people happy.
Maybe double-frying them at a higher temperature the second time around might give them a bolder crunch and a richer browning!
This potato meat ball reminds me of the similar things i used to have when i was growing up in Indonesia, which is called "perkedel". It is made from potatoes and minced meat as well. As you know, the country was colonised by the Dutch for over 300 years, i wonder whether it has the Dutch influenced, henced European influenced. I suspect it does and it always fascinating to know where our foods and tradition originally came from😊
PS: though i dont think it was ever illegal having potatoes in Indonesia back then 😅
Actually, yes. Perkedel is derived from frikadel (a dish made of minced meat) but the meat is substituted by potatoes. I am Indonesian and I think we are always open to new food items. 😂
@@Christy_Kuri lol, came to say this. Frikedels are included in another full meal dish called lompreijst or lamprais. Rice is cooked in a rich meat broth, with spices, and the accompanied sides are a 3 mixed meat curry (usually chicken pork and beef), ash plantain curry, balachan (shrimp paste), a couple of frikkadels, a hardboiled egg deep fried, eggplant deep fried then pickled, wrapped in a banana leaf then baked. This is an incredibly aromatic and delicious meal.
Was gonna say, "perkedel" sounds more like Finnish "perkele" than anything
@@naranara1690 fascinating of how the name of items are so much inter-related!
europeans acquired potatoes from The Natives of the Americas so at least what they brought over was proven good, not so much the people bringing them.
I just want to mention that Papa rellena (the dish that was mentioned at the beginning from latinoamerica) is absolutely worth trying if you ever try Peruvian cuisine (I don't know what other countries have it)
People still put potatoes on the grave of Frederik the Great! It's a funny sight, besides flowers there are always a few potatoes on his modest gravestone. If you ever go to Potsdam, make sure to bring one to honour him!
That Casserole is known as Shepherds Pie if made with Lamb. Cottage Pie if made with Beef a tradition in the UK and my Mother of Irish Scots descent made to perfection. Using a hand wound meat grinder that clipped to a bench, still available today for purchase.
My mother used to make variations of this receipt, using leftover beef or lamb, shallow-fying the balls and calling them 'rissoles'. The herbs varied according to what was available and she would substitute carrot for onion. I still have the family antique meat grinder, original box, clamp and all.
I will be using our old (more than 50 years old) metal meat mincer to make shepherd's pie next Monday after we eat our Sunday lamb roast
@@rosacanisalba My sister has my mother's. I always remember the 3 Stooges feeding one bullets using it as a gatling gun.
And those casseroles are just as good if you use chicken or pork.
Its hard to mess up meat and potatoes
@@rosacanisalba I can almost taste it😘
The humble potato is one of my favorite foods. It’s delicious in nearly any application.
Have you tried boxty it's sooooo good.
how dare you say "nearly"!!!!
@@Genzafel it's overrated, the ones i have eaten an bitter and gross in taste, but i guess if your ancestors survived on that vile thing for generations, you would be attached to them.
@@stefthorman8548 are you talking about potatoes? did you eat them raw? potatoes are in no way bitter.
My mom once made something like this, but in more of a loaf form. She made a meatloaf-like mix with ground beef, formed it into a loaf, and then wrapped it in mashed potatoes and baked it in the oven. I have no idea how she kept it from falling apart, but it was very good! She never made it again because it was too much work!
This looks like "Bomba de la Barceloneta" as well! Very delicious "tapa" from Barcelona. I LOOOOOVED them. They serve them with alioli.
Here in Sweden, the potato got really popular once we found out that they were excellent for making alcohol, and are to this day still used for it. This left more grain for making bread instead 😄🍹
Swedish bread is Amaaayzing
It also really made wort bread into a viable product since it lowered the demand for wort
I've heard it suggested that the entire French Revolution might have been avoided if the populace had adopted the potato earlier.
It would have at least gave the people of France one less thing to be furious about. But I have a feeling that it was gonna happen at some point. It just would depend on how bloody it ended up being
Of course another example of how the government failed the people.😂
@@rollastoney in this case, though, it was more a case of the people failing themselves. The French government actually worked hard to promote the potato, but the citizens thought the vegetable beneath them. Then, the wheat crops failed leading to the starvation and hard times that were blamed on the aristocracy... ultimately resulting in the French Revolution.
@@ryandtibbetts2962
The French Revolution was organized by the Bankers that have since taken over the overwhelming mass majority of the world. They organized the revolution to depose of the monarchy, because monarchies were much more difficult to gain power over the country then democracies.
@@anti-ethniccleansing465Ok that is incorrect. The people who organized the French Revolution were the other nobles.
Prior to Louis XIV, nobles had their own castles and territories with serfs to work the fields or become their military. At that time the monarchy was already at risk of being toppled by the nobles who if their forces combined had more power than the king. Many of them also chose to fragment off and back onto France making it easy for invasions to rapidly dissolve the country. So Louis XIV centralized government control by moving nobles to his palace, taking their land for himself, and keeping them busy squabbling over who gets to watch him be shaved. This way, he bought the monarchy a few more decades.
This wore off around the time of Louis XIV when the nobles were able to reorganize themselves and commit a smear campaign against the royals. While other factors like royal debt, the tired armies, the king and queen's reputations, the middle class encyclopaedia writers, the American revolution, famine, etc etc played a contributing role, in the end the situation was spawned from jealous nobles who tried to manipulate peasants against the king and queen, but accidentally manipulated the peasants against all nobles.
I'm quite shocked that your tag is anti-ethniccleansing when the Banker Deep State hypothesis is a longstanding myth against Jewish people- you know, the people who had one of the most famous ethnic cleanses committed against them.
I ate similar, in Austria. Minced meat wrapped in potato mash, boiled in water, served as a dish side... So, maybe this ''a la revolution'' recipe must be a smash!! we still eat stuff like this, today... This even can be a street fastfood, as well...
Max, this recipe is very similar to something I eat a lot, called aloor chop. The manner of preparation is exactly the same, from boiling to smashing and frying, though sometimes the balls are battered before being fried, works great with an egg or fish as filling too.
As usual another well researched treatise on food. Good job! During the 30 year war it was a common practice to burn grain fields of the opposing side. Potato fields could be turned off only to spontaneously regenerate. The field of potatoes could be repeatedly burned and still be harvested in the fall thus avoiding starvation
Yes, in Puerto Rico we have a similar recipe as Max said. We call it "Relleno de Papa" (Stuffed Potatoes). Can either be eaten hot or cold. I prefered them cold. One of my favorite foods.
This recipe sounds like croquettes, thought I got used to croquettes with other vegetables instead of meat inside when I lived in Japan. And despite first having those in Japan, I think they're intended to be French food.
these are absolutely a version of croquettes, and yes the name is french as is their origin in japan, they were introduced after japan was "opened" in the late 1800s. they are also eaten pretty much everywhere since they are so versatile.
That hardtack insert keeps paying off xD
I think these would make a good picnic food too, especially with the crunchier coating.
That hard tack clip will never fail to make me laugh whenever I see it pop up randomly. Thank you. 😂😂😂
Dear Adam, Are you familiar with "hachis Parmentier '? It"s basically hash and mashed potatoes, a lot like Shepherd's Pudding. One layer of mashed potatoes, one of hash and a second layer of mashed potatoes. You put it in a Pyrex, put breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese on top, and pop it in the oven to brown.
The French Revolution is one of my favorite historical events to study, but even trying to wrap my head around the calendar/clock gives me a headache.
Don't worry, they had a surefire way to end any headache or neck pain during the Revolution
@@sasi5841 Ah yes, the dangerous idea of universal Human rights. Truly a catastrophy for mankind !
Yep, super crazy! They turned everything upside down during those years, there was even an atheistic religion called culte de la raison.... as for that calendar, the only vestige in common use I can think of is Lobster thermidor lol
After Max read the recipe, I immediately thought of croquettes. They're pretty similar.
Mr Baguette
This is exactly what I thought of too!
I thought those were croquettes as well.
Love your husband's sense of humor coming out in editing, you guys are great.
6:28 This is such a punch-able writing. Thick pampered hubris is drooling out of it.
The kitchen reverb sounds good
As an aside, while looking up the exact translation for the recipe title, I discovered there is a wild edible tuber also known as pomme de terre here in the central USA, also known by the many names of prairie turnip, timpsula, tipsin, teepsenee, breadroot, breadroot scurf pea, large Indian breadroot, and pomme blanche. 😳 Also, there's a Lake Pomme de Terre in MO, as well as a river with the same name that is connected to it (which I knew), _and_ I learned there was another river also called Pomme de Terre in MN!
I enjoy learning new things. 🙂👍🏼
i literally just made these tonight because of this video. 😆👍😋🤤🤯 wow 😲😳 the texture thing with the taste is a bit mind blowing. I did the 50/50 potato meat combo. I'd say mixing your batch extra long is important. I thought I mixed it enough and one potato ball was more meaty than the other one which was perfectly potatoey. The potatoe balls were soft and with a light crunchyness on the outside. I really wanted to dip these into something 😁, maybe I'll figure out a fun dip for next time. this was a really cool cooking experiment. I totally recommend it to anyone who's a meat and potatoes fan(just remember to REALLY MIX your ingredients so they have consistent flavor).
Thank you for not taking out your mispronunciations, that was funny. I'm looking forward to trying these.
Curious. My father made these all the time, especially when we were camping, only he flattened them so they could cook on the fire. Love these, especially with garlic butter.
Thanks!