To Boil Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare or wash the potatoes as preferred.
Boil
Place them in a covered saucepan with cold water and add salt.
Boil until a fork can easily break them, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Drain and serve
Drain the water and hold the saucepan with the lid off over the fire for 2-3 minutes, shaking well.
Loosely cover the saucepan to allow steam to escape and sprinkle a little salt over the potatoes.
Let them stand until needed, up to half an hour.
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 soft and starchy as they cook through.
- Salt
- Seasons the potatoes both in the cooking water and at the end for flavor.
The step that matters
Boil until a fork can easily break them. Potatoes cooked too briefly stay firm in the center, while overcooking makes them waterlogged and crumbly. A fork test confirms that starch has softened evenly throughout.
“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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