To Boil Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the potatoes thoroughly.
Peel the potatoes with a sharp knife, keeping the peel as thin as possible.
Cut out the eyes with a pointed knife.
Plunge the potatoes into cold water to cover.
Boil and serve
Put the potatoes into a saucepan of boiling water with 1 teaspoon of salt.
Cook for about 30 minutes or until tender.
Drain the water and let the potatoes sit on the stove for 5 minutes, shaking constantly.
Serve very hot.
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
- Winter potatoes
- Starchy flesh that softens into a tender, fluffy texture when boiled.
The step that matters
Cook until tender, then drain well. Potatoes are done when a knife slides easily into the centre; undercooking leaves them firm, while overcooking makes them waterlogged and crumbly. Letting them sit and shaking them after draining evaporates surface moisture so they taste less watery.
“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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