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Potatoes, Boiled in Their Jackets
Potatoes are frequently boiled and served in their jackets, and a small plate is placed by the side of each guest to receive the skins. They are certainly nicer boiled in this way than in any other, and also better, for the most nutritious portion of the potato is said to lie quite close to the skin, and it is frequently cut off when the potato is carelessly peeled; at the same time this method is an inconvenient and not very tidy way of serving them. Choose potatoes of uniform size, and scrub them with a soft brush until they are perfectly clean. Put them into a saucepan with a little cold water, not quite sufficient to cover them. Boil them as gently as possible, for the more slowly they are cooked the better they will be. If a little salt is thrown in occasionally, it will be found a great improvement. If the potatoes are large, add half a cupful of cold water every now and then. In order to ascertain whether or not they are done enough, probe them occasionally with a fork, and when they are tender throughout, pour off the water, put the saucepan once more on the fire, and let it remain until the potatoes are quite dry. Send them to table with the skins on. Time to boil the potatoes, from half an hour to an hour, according to size and quality. Allow six potatoes for two persons. Probable cost, 1d. per pound.
A method rather than a formula, and the instructions still hold up. A few of the assumptions behind them belong to the coal range.
- The hinge: gentle heat, then dry offA hard rolling boil bursts the skins and waterlogs the flesh. Keep the water at a bare tremble, and do not skip the final step of draining and returning the pan to low heat for a minute or two so the surface steam evaporates — that is what gives a floury interior rather than a wet one.
- Why the water does not cover themOn a range, a pan started with shallow water would have generated steam that helped cook the upper potatoes while the lower ones simmered. On a modern hob it is simpler and more even to cover the potatoes by an inch, lid on, and hold it just below a simmer. If you follow the original, the periodic half-cup of cold water probably serves to stop the pan boiling dry.
- SaltSalt thrown in "occasionally" barely penetrates an intact skin; it mostly seasons the surface. Salt the water at the start — about a tablespoon per litre — or salt at the table.
- Uniform size matters more than the clockHalf an hour to an hour is a wide range because it depends entirely on size. Small new potatoes are done in 15–20 minutes; large maincrop take 30–40. Mixed sizes will always give you some collapsed and some raw at the centre.
- Variety"Quality" in the original may cover starch content as much as condition. Floury types (russet, King Edward, Maris Piper) dry to a fluffy crumb; waxy types (Charlotte, new potatoes) stay firm and will not go floury however long you dry them.
- Yield and costSix potatoes for two people suggests fairly small ones. Reckon 175–225 g per person as a side dish. The "1d. per pound" is Victorian pricing and useful only as a reminder of how cheap potatoes then were.
- The skin plateThe small side plate for skins is the period's answer to a genuine problem. Modern practice is simply to eat the skins, which carry fibre and some minerals — scrub well and serve them whole.
Cassell's is unusually keen here on the nutritional argument for the skin, a claim that circulated widely in nineteenth-century household manuals and is broadly borne out: the layer just beneath the skin is denser in minerals and fibre than the starchy centre, and careless peeling removes it. The apologetic tone — nicer, better, but "inconvenient and not very tidy" — reflects a genuine tension in late-Victorian dining, where a dish's correctness at table could outweigh its merits on the plate. Potatoes in their jackets were associated with the kitchen and the cottage; polite service preferred them peeled, turned to uniform shape and neatly sauced.