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Boiled Potatoes
Wash the potatoes well and allow them to stand in water for at least one hour and a half, to remove the black liquor with which they are impregnated and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. Never pare the potatoes before boiling, as they lose the starch by so doing and are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of cold water with a little salt, cover closely and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. Just as soon as they are done, instantly pour off the water, set them back on the stove, and remove the cover of the saucepan till the steam has evaporated. They will then be delicious and mealy.
A method rather than a formula: the whole point is a mealy, dry-fleshed potato, and the hinge is the final drying-off step. Everything before it is preparation.
- The step that mattersDrain the moment they are tender, return the pan to the warm burner uncovered, and let the residual steam escape for a minute or two. Skipping this leaves surface water that turns the flesh gluey; the potatoes will visibly go floury as they dry.
- The hour-and-a-half soakThe recipe explains it as removing a "black liquor" and a brackish taste; long soaking of this kind was likely aimed at stored or dirty tubers. With modern potatoes it is unnecessary. A short soak in cold water does help freshly cut or field-dirty potatoes, but ninety minutes gains nothing.
- "Black liquor" and "brackish taste"Period language, apparently for the discoloured water that runs off dirty or bruised tubers rather than for any chemical impurity; a good scrub under running water accomplishes much the same thing.
- Skin onSound advice, and still the standard for boiled potatoes meant for salad. The skin holds the flesh together and keeps water out. Peel while hot, holding the potato in a cloth, or leave the skins on for a rustic salad.
- "Boil rapidly"A hard rolling boil batters the outsides to mush before the centres cook, particularly with waxy varieties. A steady, gentle boil is better; count on 20 to 30 minutes for medium potatoes, testing with a skewer at the centre.
- Water levelThe instruction to use only just enough water to cover is worth keeping. Excess water leaches starch and flavour, and the potatoes do release moisture of their own.
- Which potatoFor the mealy result described here, a floury variety such as russet or King Edward. If the potatoes are destined for a salad, a waxy potato holds its shape far better once dressed, though it will never go mealy.
- SaltingThe recipe salts the water from the start rather than the potatoes afterwards; a teaspoon of salt per quart is a reasonable modern reading of "a little salt." Potatoes take up salt slowly, and seasoning them afterwards on the surface is not the same thing.
The insistence on cooking potatoes in their skins is a long-standing piece of received kitchen wisdom in English cookery, and the reasoning given here about starch loss is close enough to the truth: peeled potatoes leach soluble starch and flavour into the cooking water. The anxiety about "black liquor" and a brackish taste belongs to the era before refrigeration and year-round supply, when potatoes were pitted or cellared from the autumn harvest and by late winter could be sprouting, damp and off-flavoured. The final uncovered drying on the back of the range is the detail that separates a competent cook from a careless one, and the same step is still used today.