Cowboy Trick: Potatoes
Potatoes are used in a huge range of dishes; from mains to soups and from sides to starters this common form of carbohydrate crops up everywhere.... so chances are you're going to screw up with this ingredient sooner or later, either that or you'll find you've been pushed under an impossible deadline and find that you don't have the time to cook the potatoes correctly.

Peeling
To prevent oxidisation and browning of peeled potatoes:
To make a busy day easier for yourself, peel the potatoes the day before. Cover the peeled potatoes with water, add a soluble vitamin C capsule to the water (to prevent the potatoes colouring overnight) and store in the refrigerator.

Reasons to skip peeling:
Roast potatoes and mash require that the skin is peeled. If you don't have an industrial rumbler or kitchen porter to handle this task simply change the menu:
Change roast potatoes to 'Italian roast potatoes' (which only take 20-25 minutes to cook from start to finish in a hot oven)
Method:
Leave the skin on the potatoes,
Cut into segments
Season with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs
Roast at a high heat
Serve

Change mash potatoes to 'crushed potatoes'.
Method:
Leave the skin on,
Roughly chop then boil the potatoes until soft,
Lightly crush with a whisk so that the potatoes lose their shape, yet aren't quite as smooth as a traditional mash (this side dish should be 'rustic'
Season with melted butter, fresh herbs, salt and pepper
Serve

Method: Roast Potatoes
To speed the cooking process up:
Cut the potatoes slightly smaller than normal
Par-cook in the fat fryer for 3-5 minutes until golden brown
Finish in the microwave in a sealed container or in a combi-oven with the setting to 'half-steam/ half-roast'

Roast potatoes stuck to the baking tray?
Add a centimeter of hot water to the tray, wait 30 seconds then gently use a palatte knife to release the potatoes. They should easily slide off the tray.

Method: Using Instant Prepackaged Mash Potatoes
I hate this stuff! Its absolutely disgusting and should never, ever be used in the kitchen. However it's also saved my backside when a waitress managed to spill a jug of red wine over a whole container of mustard mash just before a large banquet service leaving me with no choice but to use the instant packet variety. It is possible to tease better flavours out of this normally yucky powder
Method:
Do not mix the powder with hot water, rather make a strongly flavoured stock.
Mix the powdered potato with the hot stock
Beat in melted butter
Season with sea salt, cracked black pepper and if you wish; chopped fresh herbs

Method: Jacket Potatoes
Method1
Quickly brown the skin off in the fat fryer or by rubbing oil over the potato and browning beneath a hot grill.
Place in a sealed container and finish in the microwave
Method2
Par-boil the jacket potato for 10 minutes
Drain, rub with oil
Roast in the oven

Method: Quick Boulangere Potatoes
Arrange layers of sliced potato and onions in a heavy roasting tray.
Pour over very hot stock
Place the roasting tray directly over a high heat
Allow the dish to boil for 6-10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft
Scatter over grated cheese
'Brown off' beneath a hot grill or in the oven

Method: Overcooked New Potatoes
Got called away from the kitchen only to return to find your new potatoes have over cooked and are now falling apart in the saucepan?
Turn into 'crushed potatoes'
Method:
Drain the potatoes
Lightly break them apart with a whisk so that they loose their shape.
Season with melted butter, chopped fresh herbs, sea salt and cracked black pepper.