The not-so-humble potato: a national staple reborn as hasselback gratin and lamb boulangère

It’s a bright Tuesday morning and I’m downing coffee while on the phone to the chef and culinary historian Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire. We’re talking serious business: Ireland’s relationship with the potato (our star ingredient this week). Mac Con Iomaire wears many hats: he was awarded the country’s first doctorate in food history, is an avid Dublin GAA fan and lecturer of culinary arts in Technological University Dublin (or Cathal Brugha Street to my older brigade). Many a lauded Irish chef has passed through his hands and those of his colleague Pauline in their first year of cooking college. In hindsight, their job was unenviable yet crucial, involving everything from inspiring and teaching to emotional support, crowd control and the odd kick in the backside when required. There were even a few nights out along the way.

“Potatoes were actually used for celebratory dishes,” he says, leaving behind the notion of the humble spud. Dishes such as colcannon, boxty or the Donegal delicacy of “poundies” (pounded potatoes with butter and milk) were originally designed for pagan feasts such as Samhain and Lúnasa. Plain boiled potatoes were retained for day-to-day use at dinnertime. This is true to modern day – Ireland’s potato consumption is still 2½ times the world average. So why are they so popular?

“They were key to Ireland’s progression as a population,” says Mac Con Iomaire, now in full flow. Historically, Ireland was a pasture nation with cattle grazing on premium grass. With the rise of the British empire, Ireland became its bread basket, moving to tillage, growing wheat and barley. These crops were demanding on the soil’s nutrients and required a “cleansing, rotating” crop to give it a break every few years. Enter the humble potato. The timing was perfect. Fuelling the empire with wheat and barley was labour-intensive work. It created mass employment, the soil remained healthy with crop rotation, and hungry workers were filled up with nutritious potatoes. It’s no coincidence the population went from 1.2 million in 1590 to 8.4 million on the eve of the Famine. We all know what happened next.

I have two recipes this week to reflect modern Ireland’s relationship with the potato. The first is a hasselback gratin, which is really quick to put together and a perfect side dish for almost any meat or fish. The addition of some grated Parmesan brings a touch of luxury without breaking the bank, while fanning the sliced potato will give that caramelised crisp we all love, like the best part of a chip.

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The second is a classic boulangère using lamb, translating from French as “baker potatoes” from a time when people didn’t have ovens at home and would buy cooked potatoes from the baker’s oven. It’s basically a one-pan roast dinner, where the cooking juices and fat from the lamb soak into the spuds as they cook. Tray it up in the morning and it’s ready by lunchtime. The addition of salsa verde brings the zing. This is a French classic that celebrates two of Ireland’s finest exports: lamb and of course, the humble potato.

If you liked Mac Con Iomaire’s insights into the potato, his book Irish Food History: A Companion is published by the Royal Irish Academy and available online from December.

Recipe: Hasselback potato and Parmesan gratin

Recipe: Lamb shoulder boulangère with quick salsa verde