Louie Was Whiter Than White

I've had my battles with certain foods.  Always my fault for not researching proper cooking techniques and tips.  Somehow I'm always under the false assumption that I would just 'know' how to prepare delicious versions of any food. And it's never been the case, so I'm not sure how I hang on to this belief.  Like potatoes.  Simple right?  Everyone knows how to cook potatoes. Well I didn't.  So we ate a lot of soggy or burnt potatoes.  Something I always saw my mother do but never bothered to do myself was to rinse the cut potatoes in cold water and then blot dry before adding to pan.  This gets rid of the extra starch that can make them mealy.  And a mealy potato is just sad. You can add pepper but it seems to be better to add salt after they've cooked so as not to draw out moisture during cooking.  They get crisper that way.

To be fair though, until only recent years have I cooked potatoes on a regular basis.  Potatoes for me were like the vegetable equivalent of Louis CK, before I ever watched him.  Indistinct, kinda chubby, bland, not particularly attractive.  How interesting could he be, I thought while flipping through the Netflix free comedy category.  Perfectly fine and nothing bad, but let's face it, he was no Larry David. And potatoes were no Broccoli Rabe.  I thought.  But he is funny as hell! He perfectly captures the brutality of the life of us average joes and exposes all that gooey, goofy goodness under all the sadness.  Just like there is a ton of distinct, earthy solid flavor in a potato. They are truly amazing.  

 Lately I've been successful with pan fried and baked thin sliced chips using minimal oil.  Seasoning with a giant dousing of Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce in place of ketchup to cut calories and sugar. Powdered garlic is better than fresh so it doesn't burn unless you're making softer breakfast potatoes.  

They're only 100 calories and have loads of potassium, vitamin C, dietary fibers and some sugar but certainly the 'bad stuff' is what you add yourself.