Winter X.The English potato + Excellence

Intro & Preface & Contents

Previous: Winter IX. Lentils. alas!

Talking of vegetables, can the inhabited globe offer anything to vie with the English potato justly steamed? I do not say that it is always -- or often -- to be seen on our tables, for the steaming of a potato is one of the great achievements of culinary art; but, when it is set before you, how flesh and spirit exult! A modest palate will find more than simple comfort in your boiled potato of every day, as served in the decent household. New or old, it is beyond challenge delectable. Try to think that civilized nations exist to whom this food is unknown -- nay, who speak of it, on hearsay, with contempt! Such critics, little as they suspect it, never ate a potato in their lives....

Alpha.

Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice: “And what excellent boiled potatoes. It's been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable...” Gissing is probably correct in thinking I’ve never tasted the exemplary potatoes, steamed or boiled, that he’s talking about. I’ve had quite lovely mashed or home fried (roasted) potatoes, and when traveling in Scotland I all but lived on indifferent baked potatoes, with a variety of toppings, from the Spudulike chain. I tend to think of potatoes as a base you need to add tastier things to: onions, garlic, mushrooms, avocado.

Again, I would recommend rereading the above, but this time in the voice of William Shatner.

In praise of excellence.

I considered writing about organic, locally raised produce... or possibly tofu, but the truth is, aside from heirloom tomatoes, I don't participate in the locavore economy as much as I should. Instead I'm going to praise a true American icon, the greasy spoon diner.

An eating establishment that features pig iconography is an odd refuge for a determined vegetarian, yet this place has been my favorite breakfast place for many years now. I’ve had four different “favorite” dishes in the years I’ve been coming here regularly. My current favorite is the Vegan Special, with spinach, tomato, mushroom, tofu, and, most importantly, garlic. It is served with the house special hash browns (which I'm pretty sure are not vegan). But, if I'm honest, while the food is good, that is not why I keep coming back.

This place is too small and crowded to have (or need) any decor. When you make it out of the line on the sidewalk, you just want a place to sit and a menu. I also want a seat at the counter so I can watch the cooking which all takes place on a grill and stove just behind the counter. It's a tight space for two cooks, waitresses, and dish washer/prep people to maneuver in, but they make it work. Rarely do I get my food quicker anywhere else.

What I really love is to watch the professionalism of the regular waitresses. The place is always packed, with a line out on the sidewalk, and there are two waitresses and a third woman who cleans tables, seats people, and does everything else that needs doing. When I first started coming, always on weekends, there were always the same three women and they really had it down. The job of keeping the patrons in order often fell to the short tempered waitress who wasn’t afraid of tell a customer what was what. On at least one occasion I covered her tip when an outraged asshole stiffed her. Now, I rarely catch both those waitresses working the same day, but they still make it work somehow.

And this train of thought got me thinking about how I’m attracted to people who do their work well (whatever that work is). One of the reasons I’m a bad sports fan is that what I enjoy watching is people performing well -- regardless of which team they are playing for. This is why I preferred the 2010 and 2012 Giants championship teams to this years team. In those earlier World Series, the whole team performed superbly and dominated the opponents. This year, it mostly came down to one exceptional player -- which is also impressive, but not at all the same thing. The only time I paid attention to professional American football was during the years in the late 1980s when the local 49ers were exceptional. It took me several seasons to notice that they weren't just wining games, that they had a remarkable organization with all the right people in all the right positions. It was like watching the Spartans or Alexander's Macedonian army, or Caesar's Legions at Pharsalus, or the CSA Corps commanded by General Jackson -- only no one was actually getting killed or maimed.

In sports or in war, people are always quick to point out the advantages the winners enjoyed. Yet often there are people (commanders or nations or coaches or owners) who squander what should have been similar advantages. What is striking to me about the Pacific War, is the way the U.S. Navy was able to thwart the advance of the Imperial Japanese Navy, fight them to a standstill in and around the Solomons and New Guinea, while they were still at a disadvantage in all the material ways (planes, ships, weapons) that would later became their advantages. If war was a rational business, if the Japanese actually paid attention to their own propaganda about being superior, man for man, to their decadent Western foes; then the Japanese would have quit the war after being unable to defeat the Americans in 1942 -- when most of the factors were in Japan's favor.

Whether in a restaurant or on a sports team or in an army, it always comes down to the performance of actual people. They have to know their jobs; have an aptitude for those jobs; and execute well.

Next: Winter XI. The decline of English butter.