Joanne Weir's prepping technique for potatoes

[greygarious]

I happened to see her show, which I usually don't watch. She was going to fry russet potatoes.
She cut a slice halfway through, then twisted the knife so the potato snapped off, creating a ragged edge on the slice and on the remaining potato. Then she did the same thing from various angles, creating irregular (though similarly sized) pieces of potato which each had at least one ragged edge.
She explained that this way, they don't stick together when being pan-fried. She only did them part-way, for a frittata. I imagine that if you did them longer, as for home fries, or oven-roasted them, the edges would be crisper and browner than those of standard slices. It's stay-out-of-the-kitchen weather where I live but I look forward to trying this out sometime soon.

[paulj]

That method of breaking, rather than cutting, potatoes is common in Spanish recipes. Though the explanation is usually that it releases more starch, which you might want in a soup or stew. I got the impression from one of her recent shows that she'd been to Spain recently.

I can see where the irregular edges would reduce sticking in pan frying.

[ipsedixit]

I agree, but wouldn't it mean that the potatoes don't cook evenly because not all the surface area is in contact with the pan?

[paulj]

That's what all of the olive oil is for - good heat transfer to the potatoes.

[wekick]

That sounds interesting. I'm not too crazy about the opposite-slicing with a mandoline. They come out too smooth.