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Potatoes in Brown Butter
Peel, wash and cook six medium potatoes in two quarts cold water with a teaspoon salt for forty minutes. Drain, place on a hot dish and sprinkle a teaspoon chopped parsley over. Place a half ounce butter in a frying pan and toss on the fire until a light brown, pour over the potatoes and serve.
A plain boiled potato dressed with browned butter, of the kind that appears in nearly every European household repertoire. Two details in the original need attention: the boiling time and the amount of butter.
- Forty minutes is too longForty minutes is long -- whole peeled medium potatoes are usually tender in 20-30 minutes once the water comes to a boil, depending on size and variety. Much beyond that and waxy potatoes go waterlogged while floury ones start to break up in the pot.
- Start them in cold waterThe instruction to begin in cold water is worth keeping; it cooks the outside and centre at closer to the same rate. Salt at a teaspoon to two quarts is light seasoning by modern habit, and more will not hurt.
- Half an ounce of butterThat is one tablespoon for six potatoes, which is thrifty even for browned butter. Two to three tablespoons gives enough to coat, and the nutty flavour comes through better.
- Browning the butter"Toss on the fire until a light brown" means beurre noisette: melt over medium heat, let the foam subside, and take it off when the milk solids at the bottom turn the colour of a hazelnut shell. It goes from brown to burnt in well under a minute, so pour it out of the hot pan at once.
- Dry the potatoesAfter draining, return them to the empty hot pan for a moment to steam off surface water. Browned butter will slide off wet potatoes rather than cling.
- Order of assemblyThe parsley goes on before the butter here, so the hot fat wilts it slightly and carries the flavour. Chopped chives or dill work the same way.
- YieldSix potatoes serves four to six as a side dish.