Lancashire Method of Boiling Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape the potatoes to remove the peels.
Boil enough water in a pan to barely cover the potatoes.
Add a handful of salt to the boiling water.
Boil
Place the scraped potatoes into the boiling water and cover the pan.
Boil until the potatoes are tender.
Drain the water.
Dry and serve
Place the pan near the fire to let steam escape.
Serve the potatoes on a dish, ensuring they are dry and fluffy.
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
- Provides the starch that softens during boiling to give a soft, fluffy texture.
The step that matters
Letting the steam escape before serving. Surface water left on boiled potatoes makes them heavy and soggy. Draining and letting steam escape lets the moisture evaporate, so the potatoes stay 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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