A wide variety of potatoes are available in the UK and not all are good for all purposes.  Unfortunately many supermarkets sell just read or white potatoes which is a bit like regarding all "greens" as the same.  There can be as much difference between a sprout and a cabbage as there is between varieties of potatoes.

In the area in which I live there are acres of potatoes around.  I was once given a bag of these as a gift but on cooking they just turned to mush, no matter what I did or used them for I ended up with mush.  Some weeks later when I remarked to the farmer about these potatoes his friends doubled up in laughter - I had been set up.  The farmer, like many in the area, had been growing potatoes for Golden Wonder.  They were great potatoes but only for Crisps.  They were totally useless for anything else.

When I was  younger we used to buy King Edwards and Red Kings from a sewage farm.  Excellent Potatoes they both were but for some reason the European Union decided that Red Kings were not proper potatoes and they were banned  from commercial production.  They exist now only in the plots of British allotment holders.

But now to potatoes:

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