How to cook potatoes: video recipe
Boiled potatoes are a great side dish for many dishes. It is also added to casseroles, pies and, of course, salads. Potatoes are also boiled in order to fry or puree them. Many people think that boiling potatoes is easier than ever, but there are also secrets and true technologies here.
How to cook potatoes: recipe
For different purposes, you need potatoes of different mealy. So, waxy potatoes with a high water content and a low starch content are put in salads. These potatoes retain their shape well and are suitable for side dishes where the whole potato is needed. For mashed potatoes, on the contrary, you need starchy potatoes, which boil well. Potatoes with a medium starch content are well suited for dishes where the potatoes are fried after boiling until they are golden crispy.
To find out how much starch is in potatoes, place a slice of peeled potatoes in salted water (1 part salt to 11 parts water). High-starch vegetables will sink to the bottom, while waxy vegetables stick to the surface
Choose potatoes with a smooth, flawless peel, free from blemishes and eyes. The potatoes should be firm, not wrinkled. If you will be boiling whole potatoes, choose the same size tubers so they are cooked at the same time.
How to boil young potatoes
Young potatoes are often boiled in their skins. She is thin and contains many useful nutrients that are absent in stale tubers. Rinse the potatoes thoroughly under running water, trying not to damage the skin as much as possible. Put filtered water into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Once the water boils, add the potatoes. Cook vegetables uncovered. When the water boils a second time, turn the heat down to medium and cook the potatoes for about 10-15 minutes, until they are soft enough to pierce with a knife. Drain and serve potatoes, sprinkle with herbs and season with oil.
You do not need to salt the water in which you will cook young potatoes, but serve the tubers, sprinkling them with coarse sea salt
Potatoes that have been stored for a long time can also be boiled in their skins, but more often they are carefully peeled. The main mistake of novice housewives is that they first peel the tubers and only then wash them thoroughly. But the fact is that with such a sequence of actions, lumps of earth fall on the surface of the potatoes, and this taste cannot be washed off with any water, which means, no matter how tasty you cook it, gourmets will feel the flaw. Wash tubers well using a special stiff glove. Peel the potatoes with a vegetable peeler. Place the tubers in cold water and bring to a boil. Season with salt, then reduce heat to medium and cook small tubers for about 10-15 minutes and large tubers for 30-40 minutes. To make potatoes especially tasty and aromatic, you can add:
– Bay leaf; – dill stalks; – peppercorns.
Put the spices 5-7 minutes before the potatoes are ready.
Drain the liquid from the potatoes, put the saucepan over low heat and cover with a lid. Keep the potatoes on the fire for another 1-2 minutes. This will evaporate the remaining liquid, and the steam from it will make the surface of the tubers especially “fluffy”.