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; otherwise, boil them in their skins.
Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water, adding 2 teaspoons of salt.
Boil and steam
Bring the saucepan to a boil and cook the potatoes for 20 to 30 minutes.
Check for tenderness by inserting a fork into the potatoes.
Once cooked, drain the water and cover the potatoes with a clean cloth in the saucepan.
Let the potatoes steam with the lid on until dry, then peel and serve in a hot 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 becomes fluffy and absorbs flavour when boiled and dried.
- New potatoes
- Waxy flesh that holds its shape and stays firm after boiling.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the potatoes as they cook in the boiling water.
The step that matters
Checking tenderness with a fork. Potatoes that are undercooked stay firm in the centre, while overcooking makes them break apart. Testing with a fork shows when the starch has softened through to the middle, so the cooking can stop at the right point.
“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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