Teacher

The Amazing Potato!

The potato is an important part of the diet in many countries. In England we eat potatoes as part of many different meals. We also have a couple of slang words for potatoes - spuds and taters.

 

 

A classic - baked potato with butter!

  

There are many different ways to cook and eat a potato! Let's take a look.

 

  • Baked potato - A potato baked in the oven and eaten whole. Fluffy inside with a crispy skin.
  • Boiled potatoes - Small potatoes boiled in water.
  • Chips - Thick sliced potato fried in oil. Served hot.
  • Crisps - Thin sliced potato fried in oil, then left to dry. Crunchy.
  • French fries - Very thin sliced potato fried in oil. 
  • Hash brown - Pan fried shredded potatoes. Often served at breakfast.
  • Jacket potato - See baked potato.
  • Mashed potato - slang mash - Newly boiled potatoes mashed into a creamy consistency.
  • New potatoes - See boiled potato.
  • Potato croquettes - A roll of mashed potato served inside breadcrumbs.
  • Potato salad - Boiled potatoes served in salad cream or mayonnaise.
  • Potato waffles - Potatoes created and served in a waffle or grid like shape.
  • Potato wedges - Thick sliced wedges of potato fried or baked.
  • Roast potatoes - slang roasties - Potatoes cut into cubes and roasted in the oven.

 

 

Potato croquettes!

  

Jacket potatoes can be served with a variety of fillings. Some popular fillings include cheese, baked beans, chilli con carne, tuna or just butter.

In America things are a little different. Americans just call chips "French fries" or "fries". What we call crisps Americans call chips. Confused? A chip is hot in the UK and cold in America. 

 

Potato trivia

1. Which idiom for a lazy person features a potato?

2. What is the slang for mashed potato served with sausages?

3. Which alcoholic drink can be made with potatoes?

4. Which type of cooked potato do British people usually eat with fish?

5. Which country produces the most potatoes today?

 

Talk about potatoes

1. What is your favourite type of potato?

2. Can you cook potatoes?

3. Which is the most popular type of potato in your country?

4. How many times do you eat potato in an average month?

5. What is your favourite jacket potato filling?

  

Finally, a little song about potatoes. Have you heard this before? Sing along!

 

Tags: about, fun, potato, spud, talk, tater, trivia

Views: 202

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by coco on August 9, 2012 at 13:18

1 - It is a couch potato.  2 - I don't know the answer.  3 - I don't know the answer.  4 - I don't know the answer.   5 - I also don't know the answer.  1 - I like the wedges potatoes. 2 - I can cook potatoes but I am not a good cook.  3 - I don't know.  4 - I don't eat potatoes often but I eat potatoes each time I go visit my family.  They eat potatoes each days, but I don't. 5 - I never eat this kind of potato.  As you can see I don't know a lot of things about potatoes but I know very well the couch potato.  :)  I never heard this song before but she is very nice...  All this discussions make me want to eat potatoes  boiled in water, so I will eat potatoes with cod today.  I love it....


TeacherPermalink Reply by English Teacher Jamie on August 10, 2012 at 9:59

Couch potato is correct! I like potato wedges too. We often have them covered in cheese or with a nice dip in Europe. 

How was your meal? Were the potatoes delicious?

Permalink Reply by coco on August 10, 2012 at 10:25

My meal was good.  I covered my wedge with ketchup....   or nothing on it.  :)  I also like potato salad. 

Permalink Reply by Blue Peace on August 10, 2012 at 3:50

I'm really impressed by the use of potato. I like the video, the lyrics are so cute! Baked potato with butter and potato croquetts look very delicious.

Trivia

1) I looked up the big list of idioms to find it but I didn't find any idiom featuring a potato. However I'm sure that I used to learn an idiom or slang from FE concerning with potato but I can't remember what exactly it is. Therefore I looked up the big list of slang and I found 'couch potato' - a slang for someone lazy.

2) I don't know but I guessed it is "mash and sausage". =))

3) My guess: potato alcohol.

4) I guess it is mash.

5) I guess that is China.

Talk about potatoes.

1) I never eat baked potatoes but I think I like it most because I like eating baked batata.

2) I never do it but I think I can bake potato because I can bake batata. :D

3) In my country we often cook potatoes with stewed bones. It is very delicious, potatoes are fleshy.

4) When I was home, I eat potatoes twice a month but from I went to Ho Chi Minh city I never eat potatoes.

5) uhm! I think I love eating jacket potato filling nothing. :)


TeacherPermalink Reply by English Teacher Jamie on August 10, 2012 at 10:03

I guess couch potato can be classed as slang or an idiom. Sorry for making that question confusing!

You are nearly right with number 2. However we also have a slang word for sausages. ******** and mash! Think about the noise a sausage makes when you fry it in the frying pan! Well done on question 5. China is correct. A very good guess. :)

What is batata? Is it similar to a potato? That dish looks delicious. It looks almost like a kind of stew. We also cook potatoes in a stew. It's very similar, however we also have gravy in the dish.

Permalink Reply by Blue Peace on August 10, 2012 at 18:22

:) yes, I searched sausage and mash on google and I saw this slang "bangers and mash". :).

Lucky me in number 5 :)) I guessed that because in my country, we often see potatoes from China =))

Batata is a kind of tuber. It is sweeter than potato.


TeacherPermalink Reply by English Teacher Jamie on August 12, 2012 at 13:35

Ahhh, we call this sweet potato in English.

 

Permalink Reply by Blue Peace on August 12, 2012 at 13:39

thanks for your information teacher :)

Permalink Reply by coco on August 12, 2012 at 13:53

Yes, sweet potato, I like them too,  they are orange inside...and a kind of brown outside...We can buy them here one by one...

Permalink Reply by Blue Peace on August 13, 2012 at 15:42

In my country, there are many kinds of sweet potatoes: white sweet potato, orange sweet potato, violet sweet potato, yellow sweet potato. Have you tried them?

Permalink Reply by coco on August 10, 2012 at 10:35

This stewed bones looks delicious...


TeacherPermalink Reply by English Teacher Jamie on August 10, 2012 at 10:04

You can use Google if you wish! The questions are just a bit of fun.

Have you planted your potatoes yet?

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