Hi.
I'm Georgie from George's Harvest at South Novel Market, and I am a potato expert.
Special people that specialize in very special things.
Now I'm excited.
I've been trying to get this expert in for a long time and we are entering the season for it.
Georgie, good morning, Welcome to the show.
Good morning. All right, So a potato ex potato?
What makes you a potato expert.
I've owned Georgie's Harvest at South Moberl Market for the last fourteen years, and our key specialty is potatoes.
We have up to twenty three different types.
I know different times.
Yeah, I know.
I met Georgie when I was doing the Today Show and they said can you go do a cross on potatoes? And I asked, are you kidding? And I got there and I was like, oh, this is a potato wonderland.
Yes, How did you get into it? Wow? I just woke up one day and like, I'm going to sell potatoes.
I went to Chefs that which is across the road to my cake stand for a business that idea that I had, and I walked through South Mobile Market. The business was for sale. The GM said come by it and I bought a potato store. Literally, I sold litigation support before this, so I was a business development manager.
Quite the career change, it genuinely is so.
Yeah, So I went from selling photo copying to selling potatoes.
It's true story.
Let's get potato.
It's roast potato season.
It is roast potato season, but it's also potato season because our vatorium farmers have come on board. So if you came last week, I had eleven varieties, then the next week I had thirteen. This week I should have about seventeen, and then wow, in about a week's time, I'll have twenty two.
When you say different varieties, so there's a different potato that's suited for different ways of cooking.
So for a mashed potato, we normally would recommend a Virginia Rose or a Maris Piper.
The dirty about them, well then most all dirty.
And sometimes we washed it, but they are all dirty.
Washed them unwashed. Having said that, I'll be fair to you.
In the supermarket, they actually are called dirty potatoes, thank you, yes, but not in my store.
Now, Georgie, why are those what is the mashed potato?
The best ones? Again?
Okay, so there's two things about potatoes. There's white fluffy and yellow waxy. So a white fluffy potato will cook really fast and go soft so it's easy to mash. Then you have a yellow potato that holds its shape. So when you go to fancy restaurants, you'll see the long kiffle potatoes, yes, holding up like a long potato.
Finger.
Yes, And they're actually called fingling potatoes. And so there's a yellow and waxy and will hold their shape, so you'll have them in salads or if a chef uses them, he'll pre boil them for a crunchy roast for a Yes, but you have to pre boil this one. This is called the maras pipo. It's an English variety and it will go really soft and fluffy and will give you a crunchy boast.
Is that the one that uses spud bar?
Spudbar would use lots of different potatoes because it's the seasonality of them. But yes, this is a spud bar kind of potato.
What a McDonald's use for chips?
Yeah?
What's the best chip for a I actually didn't bring it in and in your waiting room, I should have brought it in.
It's actually called the Russet burbank.
Yes, they did great work, don't they.
So Russa Burbank was the official potato for thirty years, but then they had a couple of glitches in the system, and they've just migrated towards an innovator. One oh one characteristics of that is white and fluffy.
We've forgotten about the cousin.
Where do you sit on the sweet potatoes? Sweet potato?
Potato?
Yak is the purple on the outside, white on the inside, sweetato. I'm not on the sweet potato tapes. I stuck three different colors, but I'm not on their team. So no, they're not as versatile.
No, sorry, all right, okay, let's simplify this sweet potato ch I'm cooking this week. Yes, I'm cooking a roast and I want to make crunchy roast potatoes.
What just one type of potato I should get?
And the technique, King Edward?
Chop them up, boil them, let them go cool and dry, put a fat in them. Toss them in the fat fat so like a gee or a.
Fat or goose fat?
Is that the weird in the wife? My favorite is a scarlet potato.
Yes, yes, so I am your friend. I am literally your friends. I have the world's easiest recipe for a skulp. I can't Nicholas. They're always there.
And can you get them in the supermarket.
Sometimes depending on the time of year and which farmer they're working with.
George, it's yellow and.
It looks a bit yellow if it's washed on the out side, and you can see the yellowness from the outside, so it's not a white, stark potato.
It's more a yellow tone. And what do you do.
It's really easy, So cheese and peel them, chop them, hand chop them, don't mandolin them. If you mandolin them, they'll stick together and the cheesiness doesn't go thrue. So hand chop your potato into slices, put it in the baking dish.
Put too much.
Cream in there, and then a bit more cheese than you're comfortable with, a bit of salt and pepper stir.
Put them in the hour.
That's a tough flat, so if you wanted to go there, you could, But if you're just doing a basic gratin. It's my go to see Mitch a dish and it's always the first thing that finishes. It's very easy Okay, it's just cream cheese potatoes.
Literally, that's it.
The potato we must buy if we want to make a mashed potato.
Tonight's important.
So today I would say, you do a Virginia rose. And if you're in a supermarket and then you're not me, it's a desiree kind of looking. So it's the red on the outside in potato.
Wonder what you did?
And if you're not coming to my business, desert needs cheese red potatoes. The red potatoes are the waxes. So member yellow.
Desiree life.
Oh what I'm going to think of when I want to make mashed potato.
I'll be desiraining.
I'll be in the supermarket in a couple of days. And what's a bit I see someone singing that. Okay, did you hear the potato law.
We're never going to forget now. Ash in the mash.
I'm a sort of like a sometimes butter, sometimes milk, sometimes just.
A bit of everything. What do you what should you put in there?
So if you've come to my store, you don't actually have to put a lot of anything.
This potatoes taste that good.
But I've been having this debate in the store, this week, and to make a correct parish mash, it's actually, if you have two hundred grams of potatoes, you need two hundred grams of butter.
That's a lot of two hundreds of milk. I've never done it.
I didn't realize I've actually never done it because I would never put that much butter in. But a proper paris mash is too his equal parts. I don't recommend that we've forgotten something.
No, the humble potato.
Cake, Oh, how do you make a potato cake, because.
They're always so big? Is the potato that big?
The potato is that big? And potato inside isn't that?
No, it's either traditionally, like if you go to a fish and chip shop, you're going to either get a tobago, which is what you call the dirty potatoes.
Or a Russet. Oh, rassa, I've got a Greek uncle, because I'm so the russe. It's also've written it Down's good for the French fry.
Yes, it's fluffy potato. So my uncle, when I bought my store, he was a fish and chip shop guy, and he comes in and he goes Tobago's and I said, Uncle, I have twenty four potato now Sobago it's only.
Grown in western Victoria. That's the potato country.
Yes. Currently most of my potatoes are coming from Trent Them. Yeah, we have some cool climate. Yes, we have some Pacingham and then at Christmas time we go to Tasmania and so there's a north northern type and the southern type of potato.
Georgie.
Yes do you always must you always peel a potato your skin come in handy because it seems like a huge amount of waste.
It depends on you do anything with this compost hand so you can do skin crust. So you hollow out the potato and then you squish the skin and then you deep bry the skin.
Us to have that at Sizzler.
Put in it there was baking. Yes, it is great eat potatoes and you.
You don't have to thee How good is South Melbourne market.
Some of the market is amazing. The produce that all my neighbors bring to market is absolutely fantastic.
It's fresh.
You're supporting small businesses, you're supporting small farmers.
We're so lucky that we're just down the road. Well Thenvous studios are on Clarendon Street. I go there every Friday after the show to stock up for the weekend.
Does it annoy you when people buy potatoes from other people?
Yes, and I try not to look like I can see it in your bag and I look the other way.
Yes, it does.
Well when you go there, maybe stop by Georgie's Harvest first so you're not judged at South Melbourne Market, Georgie, our potato expert.
Thank you so much for coming.
In this morning.
Very much. Oh my god, I'm so hungryson Lauren, Lauren, wake up feeling good.
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