What potato are you?

We all love to eat them, but how many people know which variety is best to use for mashing, boiling, steaming, roasting or frying? Here are our tried and tested results.

If you’re a mash potato person this sweet, general-purpose potato is you. This variety is equally suited to boiling, mashing and roasting. It makes creamy chips, but without a crisp shell. The fine skin is edible, so peeling is optional.

Do you like a roast potato? Look not further than this red-skinned Dutch variety. This is Australia’s best roasting spud. Steam lightly before tossing in oil and baking for the crispiest results. It can also make a great salad, but is unsuitable for frying.

If you’re into steaming your spud this lusciously creamy with a waxy texture variety is the most suited to you. It’s excellent for boiling and steaming. A cold-climate lover, pink eye is grown exclusively in Tasmania, where it’s also known as ‘southern gold’.

If your all about the mashing and not into the frying, say hello to the Pontiac. A high-yielding hybrid developed in the US during the Great Depression, pontiac is excellent for boiling, steaming and mashing, but less suited to frying. It’s in season year round and stores well.

If you’re and Aussie through and thorugh, and love your steak and chips, this Australian-developed variety is you. Well suited to drier growing environments, this is a good all-rounder with a flavour and texture similar to sebago. It has the added advantage that it can be fried.

Potato salad lover look out! With a full flavour and a soft, waxy texture, nicola spuds are great for boiling, steaming and baking. Its open structure means it’s ideal for potato salad as it soaks up the dressing with ease.

Roasters beware! This gourmet potato with a buttery flavour, is ideal for boiling, steaming and using in salads. Its fine skin is easier to peel when the flesh is cooked and still hot. While it makes a great mash, it doesn’t roast well.

Fish and chip lovers – this is the ‘it’ spud. The royal blue is our best chip potato. The bright purple-blue skin hides a pale yellow flesh with a strong flavour. Use fresh as it doesn’t store well.

Easy to cook spud. This King of the roasters, is a dry potato that crisps up well when tossed in oil and baked in a hot oven. It can be boiled, but will absorb a large amount of water – microwaving is preferable.

The all rounder. A sub-variety of the nicola, Dutch cream has to be one of the finest spuds in the world. Growing in colder regions, its strong flavour and waxy texture make it ideal for salads, boiling, mashing, roasting and chips.

Obsessed with wedges? This is the baby spud for you. The name ‘chat’ is the generic term for baby or new potatoes – usually coliban, sebago or Dutch creams, but other varieties can be used. Its small size and floury texture make it excellent for boiling or roasting.

If you love gnocchi, look no further than King Edward. A traditional English potato, popular in Australia during colonial times, it’s great for roasting and mashing, and one of the best potatoes for gnocchi. King Edward’s floury texture makes it less suited to boiling and frying.