A POTATO-LOVING student from GMIT, chef Steve Taylor, has discovered the health benefits of the noble potato.

A potato with its skin on can boost the mood if eaten three hours after an evening meal, he told the Irish Independent.

It got us thinking… The spud is possibly one of the most amazing foods around. There’s no limit to the ways you can include it in your dinner.

There is surely no vegetable as versatile. But what are the BEST ways to prepare them?

15. Diced

Or for the more swanky among us: “parmentier potatoes”. Cubed or diced potatoes are bangin’ with mixed together with herbs and butter.

Image: via Flickr/Su-Lin

14. Potato skins

Load me up, Scottie. Potato skins are kind of a special potatoey treat, because you’re more likely to get them in a restaurant than make them yourself.

Image: via Wikimedia Commons

There’s also a thrillingly American feel off them, which you don’t really get off the old boiled Rooster so much.

13. Scalloped

Or potato dauphinoise to some. This is a decadent, dare we say posh, way to eat the potato. T’was far from dauphinoise you were reared, and all that.

Image: via Flickr/Kelly Garbato

Phwoar though.

12. Shredded

Grated up potatoes are the best, whether in a gratin, dumplings or hash browns.

Image: via Mr Breakfast

Potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

11. Curried

Many cultural cuisines around the world also embrace the hallowed spud. For example, there are plenty of delicious Indian foods inspired by the potato, such as sag aloo, which is a spinach and potato curry.

Image: via Shutterstock

Don’t mind if we do, sag aloo.

10. Farls/potato cakes

A farl, for those uninitiated in the Ulster fry, is a soda bread potato cake cut into four pieces.

Image: via How To Food

You might find these in Scotland as well, but they’re mostly the preserve of those up the North.

9. Wedges

Do you think wedges are the same as chips? If you took the spices away, would they be the same thing underneath it all?

Image: via Flickr/Su-Lin

We feel that wedges are a whole different ball game, but can’t really put our finger on why.

And what about croquettes? Where do they stand? It’s a minefield. All we know is: wedges and croquettes aren’t chips.

8. Fry ‘em

Fried, satuéed… Call it what you want to call it, potatoes plus a hot frying pan equals tasty.

Here are some fried potatoes with another natural bedfellow, some ham:

Image: via Saint-Aignan

Drool.

7. Waffles

Eggs on – gammon – fish fingers.

YouTube/Matthew Harding-Payne

6. Baked

While potatoes themselves are remarkably versatile, if you have them baked they open up even more possibilities to  you.

“A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.” Aladdin and Jasmine might been singing about love, but we’re singin’ about spuds.

Image: via Shutterstock

Chilli, cheese, coleslaw… Just put whatever you like up in there and it’s a po-tato par-tay.

5. Boiled

The perennial classic. A staple of the Irish Mammy dinner for as long as anyone can remember.

Image: via AP/Press Association Images

Peeled with some real butter.

Unbelievable. But are they unbeatable? Hmm…

4. Crisps

Oh crisps. As if the potato hadn’t given us enough already, it’s also given us our beloved crisps.

How can we ever thank you, potatoes?

Image: via The Grocer

3. Mashed

Mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food. Creamy, delicious, with a bit of salt and pepper.

Image: via Flickr/ Dinner Series

A carvery dinner just wouldn’t be the same without the old schoop of mash, would it?

2. Roasted

In fact, speaking of carvery dinners, enter the formidable roaster.

Image: via Flickr/Alpha

Perfectly crispy on the outside, but fluffy and light on the inside. Little golden orbs of deliciousness.

1. Chips

The mighty, mighty chip.

Perfect alone, or with salt and vinegar, with curry sauce, garlic sauce, red sauce, brown sauce… Anything.

Image: via Flickr/Seamus Walsh

An essential part of so many key combinations – the fried breakfast, accompanying a burger, alongside eggs, with a bit of battered cod.

Image: via RNW

We salute you, chips. The hardest-working foodstuff in the business. You WIN.

There are so many ways to consume potatoes that our heads are spinning. One thing’s for sure, though – definitely having spuds for the bit of dinner tonight.

What’s your favourite way to consume what arguably should be our national vegetable?

Read: 13 reasons why the potato should DEFINITELY be Ireland’s National Vegetable>

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