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To Boil Potatoes

Boiled potatoes are cooked in salted water until tender, then steamed and finished with skin rubbed off.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water.

  2. Bring the water to a boil.

Boil and drain

  1. Add coarse sea salt and 1 pint of cold water.

  2. Boil again until almost done.

  3. Drain the water.

Steam

  1. Cover the potatoes with a clean cloth and the saucepan lid.

  2. Let them steam by the fire until ready.

  3. For new potatoes, monitor closely to avoid them becoming watery.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, rub off the skin with a cloth and salt.

  2. Wash the potatoes.

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
Starch that cooks into a soft, fluffy interior, giving the dish its main texture.

The step that matters

Monitoring new potatoes. New potatoes hold less starch and more moisture, so overcooking breaks down their cell walls and makes them watery and mushy. Checking them early keeps their texture firm.

“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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