To Boil Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and scrub the potatoes clean with a hard brush.
Rinse the potatoes well and arrange them compactly in a saucepan.
Add enough cold water to just cover the potatoes.
Boil
Bring the water to a boil, then add salt.
Simmer the potatoes until nearly done, then boil rapidly for the last 2-3 minutes.
Check for tenderness by probing with a fork.
Drain and serve
Drain the water immediately and let the steam escape by lifting the lid.
Place the potatoes on a trevet or by the side of the fire to evaporate moisture.
Peel and serve quickly, either in a hot napkin or a covered dish.
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
- The starchy flesh is the whole dish, so their size and sort decide how evenly they cook.
- Salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the potatoes absorb some flavour as they boil.
The step that matters
Check for tenderness by probing with a fork. Potatoes keep cooking from residual heat, and cooking past tender makes them waterlogged and crumbly. Probing near the end, then draining at once, keeps them firm but fully cooked through.
“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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