To Boil Potatoes

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Yield: 6.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 14 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (2)

10 or 12 potatoes ↝ Potatoes, raw, skin [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
to each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]

Instructions (9)

Choose potatoes of an equal size, pare them, take out all the eyes and specks, and as they are peeled, throw them into cold water.
Put them into a saucepan, with sufficient cold water to cover them, with salt in the above proportion, and let them boil gently until tender.
Ascertain when they are done by thrusting a fork in them, and take them up the moment they feel soft through; for if they are left in the water afterwards, they become waxy or watery.
Drain away the water, put the saucepan by the side of the fire, with the lid partially uncovered, to allow the steam to escape, and let the potatoes get thoroughly dry, and do not allow them to get burnt.
Their superfluous moisture will evaporate, and the potatoes, if a good sort, should be perfectly mealy and dry.
Potatoes vary so much in quality and size, that it is difficult to give the exact time for boiling; they should be attentively watched, and probed with a fork, to ascertain when they are cooked.
Send them to table quickly, and very hot, and with an opening in the cover of the dish, that a portion of the steam may evaporate, and not fall back on the potatoes.

Note

To keep potatoes hot, after draining the water from them, put a folded cloth or flannel (kept for the purpose) on the top of them, keeping the saucepan-lid partially uncovered.
This will absorb the moisture, and keep them hot some time without spoiling.

Original Text

TO BOIL POTATOES.

1137. INGREDIENTS.—10 or 12 potatoes; to each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt.

Mode.—Choose potatoes of an equal size, pare them, take out all the eyes and specks, and as they are peeled, throw them into cold water. Put them into a saucepan, with sufficient cold water to cover them, with salt in the above proportion, and let them boil gently until tender. Ascertain when they are done by thrusting a fork in them, and take them up the moment they feel soft through; for if they are left in the water afterwards, they become waxy or watery. Drain away the water, put the saucepan by the side of the fire, with the lid partially uncovered, to allow the steam to escape, and let the potatoes get thoroughly dry, and do not allow them to get burnt. Their superfluous moisture will evaporate, and the potatoes, if a good sort, should be perfectly mealy and dry. Potatoes vary so much in quality and size, that it is difficult to give the exact time for boiling; they should be attentively watched, and probed with a fork, to ascertain when they are cooked. Send them to table quickly, and very hot, and with an opening in the cover of the dish, that a portion of the steam may evaporate, and not fall back on the potatoes.

Time.—Moderate-sized old potatoes, 15 to 20 minutes after the water boils; large ones, 1/2 hour to 35 minutes.

Average cost, 4s. per bushel.

Sufficient for 6 persons.

Seasonable all the year, but not good just before and whilst new potatoes are in season.

Note.—To keep potatoes hot, after draining the water from them, put a folded cloth or flannel (kept for the purpose) on the top of them, keeping the saucepan-lid partially uncovered. This will absorb the moisture, and keep them hot some time without spoiling.

THE POTATO.—The potato belongs to the family of the Solanaceae, the greater number of which inhabit the tropics, and the remainder are distributed over the temperate regions of both hemispheres, but do not extend to the arctic and antarctic zones. The whole of the family are suspicious; a great number are narcotic, and many are deleterious. The roots partake of the properties of the plants, and are sometimes even more active. The tubercles of such as produce them, are amylaceous and nutritive, as in those of the potato. The leaves are generally narcotic; but they lose this principle in boiling, as is the case with the Solanum nigrum, which are used as a vegetable when cooked.

Notes

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