Salt Potatoes
Small waxy potatoes boiled for 25 minutes in very salty water until a thin white crust forms, then tossed in melted butter.
Photograph credit: Potatoes, boiled, with olive oil, garlic, salt - Massachusetts by Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Make Ahead and Storage
Best eaten hot. Leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge and are good sliced and fried in butter.
Salt Potatoes: The Method
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Scrub the potatoes and leave them whole. Put the water and salt in a large pot and stir until the salt dissolves.
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Add the potatoes and bring to the boil, then simmer for 25 minutes until a knife slips in easily.
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Drain in a colander and return the potatoes to the dry pot. Leave them for 2 minutes until a white salt crust forms on the skins.
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Pour over the melted butter, scatter with chives and serve hot with extra butter beside them.
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A Few Pointers
- Choose potatoes of one size so they finish together.
- If the salt will not all dissolve, stir the water over the heat before the potatoes go in.
- Serve within a few minutes, while the crust is dry.
Some Background
Use far more salt than feels sensible. That is what separates a salt potato from a plain boiled one. The water is salted until it is almost brine, so the potatoes cook at a higher temperature than usual and the skin dries to a fine white film as they rest.
Choose potatoes of one size, no bigger than a golf ball, so they finish together. Waxy new potatoes hold their shape and stay creamy inside; a floury variety breaks apart in water this salty. Leave the skins on and do not prick them, because the skin is what keeps the salt on the outside. Size matters more than variety.
Drain through a colander and let them stand for a minute or two in the hot pot. The white crust appears as the steam clears, and it is the sign the potatoes are ready. Toss them in melted butter and serve while hot, with the extra butter in a bowl. That crust is the point.
Serving Ideas
Grilled sausages · Barbecued chicken · Corn on the cob · Coleslaw
Salt Potatoes Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Sodium is not given, because the salt for the cooking water is in the ingredient list but most of it is poured away with the water, so no figure from the list would be honest. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published .
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