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Boiled Potatoes

Potatoes are boiled in salted water and served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Boiled Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare the potatoes and soak them in cold water for 1–2 hours.

Boil

  1. Place the potatoes in a kettle with boiling water to cover them.

  2. Boil for 15 minutes, then add 1 tablespoon of salt for every 12 potatoes.

  3. Boil for an additional 15 minutes.

Dry and serve

  1. Pour off all the water and cover the potatoes with a clean towel for 3 minutes to dry.

  2. Shake the potatoes and transfer them to a hot dish.

  3. Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and starchy as they cook through.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the potatoes as they boil in the water.

The step that matters

Drying the potatoes after boiling. Pouring off the water and letting the potatoes steam dry under a towel removes surface moisture, so they stay fluffy and do not turn watery or soggy when served.

“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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