Putting It Together
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 2
Chapter 6 · Putting It Together
Skill goal
Plan a make-ahead meal and a party spread, and record your own skills and recipes.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
The six chapters of this course are about changing a potato into something else. This chapter plans two meals that combine several of them, then lets you record what you have learned.
Match the idea to the occasion
| Occasion | Try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Casual party | Croquettes, bravas, latkes and a dip | Finger food, lots of small dishes |
| Family dinner | Fish pie with duchess topping | One dish, make-ahead |
| Brunch | Potato nests, farls | Light and quick |
| Using up leftover mash | Croquettes, farls, fishcakes (Potatoes 1) | Dry mash is the key |
| Cold buffet | Causa | Chilled and sliceable |
Try it
Level 3 · Make-ahead
Fish pie with a duchess topping (for four)
The classic: fish poached in milk, a parsley sauce made from the milk, and a piped duchess topping. The fish is cooked in the milk, so it is safe even if you chill the pie before the final bake.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 400 g white fish fillet (cod, haddock or pollack), skinned
- 150 g smoked haddock fillet, skinned
- 500 ml whole milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 40 g butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 100 g frozen peas
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 Lion-marked egg, hard-boiled and chopped (optional)
- 800 g floury potatoes, for the duchess topping
- 1 tsp salt, for the water
- 30 g butter, for the mash
- 1 Lion-marked egg yolk
- 40 g mature Cheddar, grated
- 1 pinch nutmeg, salt and pepper
- Put the fish in a wide pan with the milk and bay leaf. Heat gently to a bare simmer and poach for 5 to 6 minutes, until the fish just flakes. Lift out the fish onto a plate (flake it, removing any bones) and strain and keep the milk.
- Melt 40 g butter, stir in the flour for 1 minute, and add the warm milk gradually, whisking, until you have a smooth sauce. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Season, and stir in the parsley, peas, egg (if using) and fish gently, so the fish stays in chunks. Spoon into a 2 litre dish and let it cool.
- Topping: boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, drain, steam-dry and mash smooth with the 30 g butter, egg yolk and nutmeg. No milk. Pipe or fork over the cooled filling and scatter over the cheese.
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional, gas 7). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden and bubbling, and steaming hot all the way through. Rest for 5 minutes.
Make ahead
Assemble the pie up to this point, cool it quickly, cover and chill for up to a day. Bake from cold for 40 to 45 minutes, until hot in the middle. Don't leave it out.
A potato party
Three small hot dishes and a dip, for six. Croquettes (chapter 1), patatas bravas and latkes (chapter 5), and a soured cream and chive dip. The timetable is the recipe.
| When | What to do (for 6 people, small portions of each) |
|---|---|
| Day before | Make the croquette mixture and chill it. Make the bravas sauce, cool and chill it. Make the dip (soured cream, chives, lemon, salt). |
| 2 hours before | Shape and coat the croquettes and chill. Peel and dice the potatoes for the bravas and keep them in cold water. |
| 1 hour before | Par-boil and dry the bravas potatoes. Heat the oven. Grate and squeeze the latke mixture last, so it doesn't go grey. |
| 30 minutes before | Roast the bravas potatoes. Bake the croquettes. Keep the oven for holding things warm. |
| 15 minutes before | Fry the latkes in batches. Keep them warm on a rack in a low oven (100°C fan). |
| Serving | Reheat the bravas sauce until steaming hot. Serve everything with the sauces and dip. Anything hot should be steaming hot; anything cold should come from the fridge. |
Choose your next practice
| Skill I want to practise | Pick this chapter | A simple dish to try |
|---|---|---|
| Shaping and coating | Croquettes and Duchess Potatoes | Croquettes |
| Doughs | Potato Doughs and Breads | Farls |
| Dumplings | Dumplings | Pierogi |
| Pastry | Potatoes in Pastry | Turnovers |
| World flavours | Potatoes Around the World | Aloo gobi |
Experiments
Experiment
Fresh or reheated
What happens the next day?
- Cook croquettes, farls and fishcakes. Eat half at once and chill the rest, then reheat in a hot oven until steaming hot.
- Compare each.
Look for: Crisp things soften when chilled and recover partly in a hot oven. Breads and farls are good reheated in a pan. Croquettes are best fresh.
Experiment
A timed session
Can you get it all hot at once?
- Cook the potato party for two people, at the same pace as the timetable. Write down when each step actually finished.
- Note what ran late.
Look for: The first time the latkes are last. Write the corrections into your own timetable.
Experiment
Your own filling
Invent one.
- Choose a cooked filling for a pasty, turnover or pierogi (for example spinach and feta, or mushroom and thyme). Make sure it is dry and cooled.
- Make three and write the recipe down.
Look for: A good filling is dry, seasoned and cooked, with one strong flavour.
Your skills table
| Skill | Can do it | Still practising | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Making stiff, dry mash | |||
| Piping and coating | |||
| Potato doughs | |||
| Yeast breads with mash | |||
| Dumplings | |||
| Pastry fillings | |||
| Spices in oil | |||
| Latkes and rösti-style frying | |||
| Planning a party |
Your house recipes
| Recipe | Technique | Filling or flavour | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday potato side | |||
| Party dish | |||
| Comfort food | |||
| Leftover mash dish |
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fish pie | ||||
| Potato party | ||||
| Fresh vs reheated | ||||
| Your own filling |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Fish pie watery | Wet fish or peas, or thin sauce | Drain the fish and peas; cook the sauce to a thick coating |
| Topping sinks | Filling hot or topping soft | Cool the filling; stiff mash |
| Everything cold at once | No timetable | Write one, working backwards from serving |
| Too much frying | Too many fried dishes | Bake the croquettes; roast the bravas |
| Oven space | Too many dishes | Choose items that suit the oven; use the air fryer |
| Leftovers go to waste | No plan | Dry mash becomes croquettes or farls the next day |
Food safety: the whole course
Fish pie: the fish must be cooked and the pie steaming hot all the way through. If you chill it before baking, cool it within 1 to 2 hours and keep it in the fridge. Raw egg and raw flour: the Food Standards Agency advises against eating or tasting uncooked flour or dough, because raw flour is not treated to kill bacteria such as E. coli. Wash your hands, the board and your tools after handling raw dough or raw egg, and use Lion-marked eggs. Cook everything thoroughly. Pregnant women, children under 5, people aged 65 and over, and anyone with a weakened immune system should be especially careful.Hot oil: use a heavy pan filled to no more than a third, never leave it, and keep children and pets away. Dry the food so it doesn't spit. If the oil catches fire, turn off the heat and cover with a lid or fire blanket; never use water. Let the oil cool completely before moving it, and don't pour it down the sink. Don't use a deep chip pan.
Go for gold. Starchy foods that are fried, roasted or baked at high temperatures form a chemical called acrylamide, which the Food Standards Agency says could raise cancer risk. Its advice is to cook to a golden yellow, not dark brown. A balanced diet matters more than any single food, so this is a nudge about colour, not a reason to avoid potatoes.
Raw potatoes: keep them somewhere cool, dark and dry (above about 6°C), not in the fridge and not in the light. The Food Standards Agency advises against keeping raw potatoes in the fridge if you will roast or fry them, because the cold raises the amount of acrylamide that forms when they brown. Cut away sprouts and any green patches generously; if a potato is green all over, or tastes bitter, throw it away.
Cooked potatoes and anything made from them: cool them quickly (spread out, within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat them within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once. (This is the general chilled-leftovers advice relayed by local-authority food-safety pages; there is no potato-specific rule, but potatoes are starchy, so they get the same care as rice and pasta.)
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can plan a party so the hot dishes arrive hot together.
- I can assemble a pie ahead and bake it when needed.
- I can use leftover mash for something new.
- I know the safety rules for oil, eggs and cold dishes.
- I have my own skills table and house recipes.
Next chapter
That finishes Cooking Skills: Potatoes 2. The next course in the series plan is Knife Skills: grip, onions, herbs and vegetables.