Boiled and Steamed Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the old potatoes well in cold water and scrub them clean.
If the potatoes are diseased, peel them and cut out any eyes or black specks. It is better to boil them in their skins.
Boil
Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water, adding 2 teaspoons of salt.
Bring the saucepan to a boil and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
Check if the potatoes are tender by inserting a fork into them.
Drain the water.
Steam and serve
Cover the potatoes with a clean cloth in the saucepan.
Let them steam by the side of the fire with the lid on until dry.
Carefully peel the potatoes.
Serve in a hot vegetable dish.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Old potatoes
- Starchy flesh that turns soft and fluffy when boiled and dried.
- New potatoes
- Waxier flesh that holds its shape better after boiling.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the potatoes as they cook in the boiling water.
The step that matters
Check tenderness with a fork. Potatoes cooked too briefly stay firm in the centre, while overcooking makes them waterlogged and crumbly. A fork should slide in with little resistance before draining.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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