While the recipe book apparently found a home at the Ministry for Agriculture, officials seemed unclear what they should do with it.
One wrote to the Foreign Office: “It is, naturally, in Russian. If you have anyone who reads Russian and has a fondness for potatoes, we would be happy to lend it.”
But how long did you need to queue to buy the potatoes, and were there any when you got there?
I’ve a Russian menu planned for Mrs G. on New Year’s Day, but I hadn’t factored in potatoes.
I suppose you could just take 500 recipes at random and add a potato to the ingredients: spaghetti bolognese with potato, lamb couscous with potato, devilled eggs with potato, Poire Hélène with potato, etc..