How to Cook Potatoes to Boil Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Thoroughly wash the potatoes and leave them unpeeled.
Nick a small piece of the skin on each potato.
Place the potatoes in a pot and cover them with cold water.
Boil gently
Gradually heat the water, ensuring it never reaches a full boil.
Add cold water as needed to keep the temperature steady.
Once the potatoes are tender, pour off the water completely.
Allow the skins to dry thoroughly before peeling.
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 body of the dish, which turns soft and fluffy when cooked through.
The step that matters
Keeping the water below a full boil. A rolling boil agitates the potatoes and can break their skins and outer flesh apart. Heating gently and topping up with cold water keeps the temperature steady so the potatoes cook evenly and hold their shape.
“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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