Potatoes, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the potatoes and remove the eyes.
Wash the potatoes in cold water.
Boil
Bring a pot of water to a boil, adding 1 teaspoon of salt for every pint of water.
Add the potatoes to the boiling water, ensuring they are fully submerged.
Cover the pot and boil for 20 minutes, checking for doneness with a fork.
Dry and serve
Once nearly done, quickly pour off the water and leave the pot covered slightly ajar.
Shake the pot gently two or three times to release steam until the potatoes are dry.
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
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy flesh that cooks until tender and holds its shape when boiled.
- Salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the potatoes absorb flavour as they boil.
The step that matters
Drain and steam-dry the potatoes. Excess surface water dilutes flavour and makes potatoes soggy. Pouring off the water while they are nearly done and shaking the pot to release steam lets the surface dry, so they stay firm and absorb seasoning better.
“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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