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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To serve boiled potatoes

526 replies

Haveyouallgonequitemad · 22/02/2021 23:03

Much stroppiness and comments and moaning because when asked what's for dinner and told them they asked would it be nice potatoes or boiled... Nice I said but they were boiled so apparantly I lied.. Surely everyone eats boiled potatoes for dinner in UK sometimes aren't they an English staple part of our traditional diet for context I didn't serve just boiled spuds I served with peas carrots and salmon encroute (shop bought but nice) are they just spoilt? We had pasta yesterday beautiful tapas day before Indian night before fresh fish etc etc it's not like they have to eat it every day I think they are too used to lovely exotic food and are just being ungrateful shits. Or are boiled potatoes actually that bad?

OP posts:
Pepperminttea16 · 23/02/2021 07:08

I can’t stand boiled potatoes. I used to have the same reaction when my mum served them. Just spend 5 more minutes and do mash

LizzieBirmingham · 23/02/2021 07:15

With all the delicious ways to serve spuds there’s no reason to boil them!

Nitpickpicnic · 23/02/2021 07:17

Northern Italian family here. Boiled potatoes (with butter & parsley added after) are a staple for us. Added benefit that they bake/roast/pan fry up beautifully the next day. Not like leftovers at all.

It was a revelation to the Croatian family I married into. They looked at me Hmm the first time and avoided them. The kids tucked in and loved them! Now everyone’s on board. The older generation have been known to sprinkle vinegar on them and treat them like warm salad. I can live with that.

felulageller · 23/02/2021 07:23

I wouldn't eat them

NeedCoffeeToSurvive · 23/02/2021 07:27

I'm surprised at so many people saying they wouldn't have them or they sound horrible, we occasionally do boiled potatoes, just everyday potatoes peeled and boiled, usually we have them with with chicken kievs and vegetables. They're lovely!

NoBetterthanSheShouldBe · 23/02/2021 07:29

When I eat. meat I eat potatoes with it and usually boiled. Other veg may be more fancy, eg creamed leeks, a sauce or gravy for moisture.

I realised a long time ago that butter and cheese every time would make me fat, it would never occur to me to have them all the time now. Fully appreciate that depends what else you eat.

drumandthebass · 23/02/2021 07:32

boiled potatoes are disgusting. if you've gone to the effort to peel them why not mash them or put them in the oven with a splash of olive oil and dried herbs and then finish off with a knob of butter ?New boiled potatoes with butter are okay.

Alez · 23/02/2021 07:34

I like boiled potatoes. I don't remember having them very often as a child but I do them now when I can't be bothered to make mash. If you boil Maris pipers they're like the inside of a roast potato - delicious with some butter and s&p!

Deathraystare · 23/02/2021 07:37

Noooooooooooooooo!

Mum was always saying how lovely new potatoes were boiled. Er nope! Just taste like earth and in general I love potatoes but they have to be fried/mashed/baked.

In the past when I have had to eat them boiled at home I have to add lots of butter so that's why I avoid eating boiled spuds.

I also cannot understand in Scandanavia why they eat boiled fish and boiled potatoes! That's what mum would cook if we were poorly and she was trying to coax us to eat. Not sure how bland food would coax us but still.....

Roselilly36 · 23/02/2021 07:39

Boiled potatoes were a staple weren’t they. I have eaten many growing up. Other than new potatoes, I am not sure that my DS’ have ever had boiled potatoes, they would probably think the masher must be lost.

CriticalWoman · 23/02/2021 07:40

Grim.
Good quality waxy new potatoes fine, but otherwise no.

Hottielottie · 23/02/2021 07:40

Steamed new potatoes with lashings of butter here Wink

Sceptre86 · 23/02/2021 07:41

I boil baby potatoes and make a garlic butter sauce to go with them. I wouldn't mind eating boiled potatoes on their own but dh wouldn't but then I like all carbs especially potatoes.

Ricebubbles2 · 23/02/2021 07:45

Nothing wrong with boiled potatoes
Preferably with butter and chopped mint or parsley👌

SpeakingFranglais · 23/02/2021 07:46

I used to have them regularly as a child, but I never cook them now, unless they are jersey potatoes and covered in butter and salt.

GnomeDePlume · 23/02/2021 07:50

I'm another who grew up with floury potatoes at every cooked meal. They arent disgusting just dreary.

My no.1 disappointing meal:

Stew with mushy carrots, marrowfat peas, floury potatoes

That is the food of my 1970s childhood.

Standrewsschool · 23/02/2021 07:50

Boiled potatoes are a staple here. I serve them with everything - gammon, pies, chops, fish etc. Hadn’t realised they were so unpopular!

SneezyGonzalez · 23/02/2021 07:51

😂 This has made me chuckle OP....My teen DD really loves her food and is a great cook. Once during a teenage strop she had a massive rant that I ALWAYS cook BOILED POTATOES for dinner along with lots of eye rolling and foot stomping (fwiw it was lovely buttered new potatoes about once a week, I’d never just do plain old normal potatoes)...it’s become a family joke and now whenever she’s pushing her luck I threaten her with boiled potatoes 😆...She’s always keen to know what we’ll be eating, especially when we visit the GPs, they serve some delicious food but always reply with “boiled potatoes” 🤣 I don’t think she’ll ever live it down.

Standrewsschool · 23/02/2021 07:52

@Aprilx

I last ate boiled potatoes in the 70s. Nobody eats them these days OP.
Yes they do!
crispychicken12 · 23/02/2021 07:52

I love boiled potatoes

partyatthepalace · 23/02/2021 07:52

New boiled w butter = lovely

Floury ones (Irish style) - lovely, but needs to be a good amount of source from the main dish

Otherwise no they are dull - but just mash them or bake them.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 23/02/2021 07:54

I remember being shocked that a friend served plain boiled potatoes with boil in the bag fish. That was the early 90s though.

Grim.

mcclucky · 23/02/2021 07:57

@Haveyouallgonequitemad

Much stroppiness and comments and moaning because when asked what's for dinner and told them they asked would it be nice potatoes or boiled... Nice I said but they were boiled so apparantly I lied.. Surely everyone eats boiled potatoes for dinner in UK sometimes aren't they an English staple part of our traditional diet for context I didn't serve just boiled spuds I served with peas carrots and salmon encroute (shop bought but nice) are they just spoilt? We had pasta yesterday beautiful tapas day before Indian night before fresh fish etc etc it's not like they have to eat it every day I think they are too used to lovely exotic food and are just being ungrateful shits. Or are boiled potatoes actually that bad?
If you were planning to boil the potatoes all along, it was a bit mean to get their hopes up! The potatoes might have tasted better if they hadn't been expecting something more appetising.

The only potatoes that should be boiled are good quality new potatoes, but even then, even with tons of fat and parsley, they still aren't that exciting.

Did you make boiled potatoes because you had run out of energy and couldn't be bothered to make anything nicer? If so, are you cooking dinner too often? Should one of them take a turn sometime?

E.g. if the option is 'I will boil potatoes every Sunday OR or one of you can cook', they might be incentivised to step up...

Ijumpedtheshark · 23/02/2021 07:57

I love boiled potatoes with butter - yum!

Chicchicchicchiclana · 23/02/2021 07:58

I love plain boiled potatoes with nothing but a bit of butter and salt and white pepper. But I'm the only one in my family who likes them like this so I regard them as a rare treat.