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To Boil Potatoes

Boiled potatoes with salt, optionally peeled, soaked, boiled until tender, then drained and shaken to make them mealy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Boil Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly.

  2. Optionally, peel them for better taste.

  3. Soak new potatoes in cold water for 1‑2 hours before cooking.

Boil and finish

  1. Place the potatoes in boiling water with a pinch of salt.

  2. Boil for 30‑40 minutes, depending on size, until tender.

  3. Drain the water and shake the potatoes in the open air to make them mealy.

  4. Return to heat for 1‑2 minutes before serving.

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
Starchy flesh that turns soft and fluffy when cooked through in water.
Salt
Seasons the cooking water so the potatoes absorb a little flavour as they boil.

The step that matters

Drain and shake to make them mealy. Excess surface water left on boiled potatoes dilutes flavour and makes them soggy. Draining well and returning them briefly to heat lets surface moisture evaporate, leaving the starchy texture dry and fluffy.

“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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