Potatoes 101: boiling, steaming, roasting, pan-frying
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Date: 2025-01-27
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Comments and reviews: 20
2coeur
some more tips for roast potatoes as a brit:
-i usually cut potatoes into far larger chunks than adam has. with a medium to large potato, i'd quarter them. i'd half a small potato. they sould be relatively uniform, but don't sweat it. this part isn't necessary, but any smaller and it will change the cooking time.
-parboil them, so somewhere between half and a quarter less than it would take to boil them. you'll be able to penetrate them with a knife, but they won't slide off. if they're completely boiled, they'll be a bit fragile and wont have enough shape for the next stage.
-once you've drained them, return them to the pot, cover, and give it a little shake. the potatoes will be ever so slightly mashed in corners which, as adam said, will become super crispy in the oven. be rough, but not too rough. only give them a couple shakes before they completely crumble. you could add flour at this stage as well, just dusting the potatoes to ensure that they get super duper crispy and crunchy.
-preheat your cooking tray with oil or fat in the mean time, not for very long but enough for that thin layer of oil to be HOT. when you add the potatoes they'll sizzle and spit, so be careful.
-roast potatoes take a while (i usually do around 45 minutes, so it's tempting to just throw them in the oven and forget about them. however if you want every side of the potato to be crispy, i'd reccomend flipping them around every 15 minutes or so. if only one side of the potato is sitting in the hot oil, the rest of the sides are going to be soft and sad-looking.
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some more tips for roast potatoes as a brit:
-i usually cut potatoes into far larger chunks than adam has. with a medium to large potato, i'd quarter them. i'd half a small potato. they sould be relatively uniform, but don't sweat it. this part isn't necessary, but any smaller and it will change the cooking time.
-parboil them, so somewhere between half and a quarter less than it would take to boil them. you'll be able to penetrate them with a knife, but they won't slide off. if they're completely boiled, they'll be a bit fragile and wont have enough shape for the next stage.
-once you've drained them, return them to the pot, cover, and give it a little shake. the potatoes will be ever so slightly mashed in corners which, as adam said, will become super crispy in the oven. be rough, but not too rough. only give them a couple shakes before they completely crumble. you could add flour at this stage as well, just dusting the potatoes to ensure that they get super duper crispy and crunchy.
-preheat your cooking tray with oil or fat in the mean time, not for very long but enough for that thin layer of oil to be HOT. when you add the potatoes they'll sizzle and spit, so be careful.
-roast potatoes take a while (i usually do around 45 minutes, so it's tempting to just throw them in the oven and forget about them. however if you want every side of the potato to be crispy, i'd reccomend flipping them around every 15 minutes or so. if only one side of the potato is sitting in the hot oil, the rest of the sides are going to be soft and sad-looking.
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aragusea
My go-to for fried potatoes (or sauted if you want to be pedantic):
pre boil in thick slices, so you can boil them really long without them falling apart. And it makes the next steps easier.
Then treat these slices like steak: start in oil on high heat (I use olive oil with cajun seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne and hardy herbs (thyme) is all great with potato. Once brown let it go for around ten minutes on low heat. Do not skip this step, the reason restaurant potato wedges are so good is that they take the time to fully develop the flavour and crust.
Then finish with butter, still on low heat. and some aromatics if you want, onion and/or garlic is nice, and/or a sprig of rosemary (the aromatics would burn if you add them right at the start, and they stop the potato from getting a nice crust.
Good enough to serve on it's own IMHO, though I usually saute some chicken dark meat (wings, thigh, drumsticks, whatever's on sale) alongside.
The butter makes the potato just heavenly creamy, and searing in just oil means you can get it really brown and crisp without burning the butter. It's really mindblowing just how good a simple carb like potato can be if you give it the attention of a main.
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My go-to for fried potatoes (or sauted if you want to be pedantic):
pre boil in thick slices, so you can boil them really long without them falling apart. And it makes the next steps easier.
Then treat these slices like steak: start in oil on high heat (I use olive oil with cajun seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne and hardy herbs (thyme) is all great with potato. Once brown let it go for around ten minutes on low heat. Do not skip this step, the reason restaurant potato wedges are so good is that they take the time to fully develop the flavour and crust.
Then finish with butter, still on low heat. and some aromatics if you want, onion and/or garlic is nice, and/or a sprig of rosemary (the aromatics would burn if you add them right at the start, and they stop the potato from getting a nice crust.
Good enough to serve on it's own IMHO, though I usually saute some chicken dark meat (wings, thigh, drumsticks, whatever's on sale) alongside.
The butter makes the potato just heavenly creamy, and searing in just oil means you can get it really brown and crisp without burning the butter. It's really mindblowing just how good a simple carb like potato can be if you give it the attention of a main.
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lwilton
When I was a kid in the 1950s, potatoes had 'eyes', which you needed to dig out with that funny pointed end on the potato peeler. These days potatoes have almost no eyes, so nobody bothers anymore.
My way of baking russet potatoes: wash them and pat them dry. Slather them in salted butter, not oil. Maybe add a little salt too. Definitely add salt if using unsalted butter. Be happy if there is enough butter that there is still some yellow butter bits on them. Don't pierce them. Wrap them tightly in foil. If you are cooking al fresco, toss them in the ashes at the base of the fire to cook. Otherwise, put them on a baking sheet in the oven.
Some water will outgas from the potato as it gets up to boiling temperature, the foil will contain this, so the potato both boils and bakes. That's part of what makes them fluffy rather than hard.
If you want to test for done, use a two-prong meat fork rather than a knife or table fork so you don't make as big holes in the foil, in case it needs to cook some more. Once done let them sit in the foil for about 5 minutes after removing from the fire before unwrapping them.
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When I was a kid in the 1950s, potatoes had 'eyes', which you needed to dig out with that funny pointed end on the potato peeler. These days potatoes have almost no eyes, so nobody bothers anymore.
My way of baking russet potatoes: wash them and pat them dry. Slather them in salted butter, not oil. Maybe add a little salt too. Definitely add salt if using unsalted butter. Be happy if there is enough butter that there is still some yellow butter bits on them. Don't pierce them. Wrap them tightly in foil. If you are cooking al fresco, toss them in the ashes at the base of the fire to cook. Otherwise, put them on a baking sheet in the oven.
Some water will outgas from the potato as it gets up to boiling temperature, the foil will contain this, so the potato both boils and bakes. That's part of what makes them fluffy rather than hard.
If you want to test for done, use a two-prong meat fork rather than a knife or table fork so you don't make as big holes in the foil, in case it needs to cook some more. Once done let them sit in the foil for about 5 minutes after removing from the fire before unwrapping them.
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lanceperfect
Very much appreciated the Mitch Hedberg reference. I'd like to see more trials of the unpoked baked potatoes. I didn't have a problem with it for the longest time and didn't bother poking them, but after having mine explode several times (even poked ones that weren't poked enough--I stab mine many more times than you did now just to be safe, and it's extremely frustrating when it goes all over the oven and burns up. I have noticed that putting the potatoes in before starting the oven helps (i. e, don't preheat the oven. Temperature also seems to matter. I've found 350F is safe (though it takes a long time to cook indeed, but 400 is dangerous (especially with convection. So I would recommend generous poking just to be on the safe side, because on the off chance they do explode, it's a giant pain to clean up, and you lose a good bit of your potato.
We like to bake potatoes (instead of boiling them) and then pan fry them to make home fries.
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Very much appreciated the Mitch Hedberg reference. I'd like to see more trials of the unpoked baked potatoes. I didn't have a problem with it for the longest time and didn't bother poking them, but after having mine explode several times (even poked ones that weren't poked enough--I stab mine many more times than you did now just to be safe, and it's extremely frustrating when it goes all over the oven and burns up. I have noticed that putting the potatoes in before starting the oven helps (i. e, don't preheat the oven. Temperature also seems to matter. I've found 350F is safe (though it takes a long time to cook indeed, but 400 is dangerous (especially with convection. So I would recommend generous poking just to be on the safe side, because on the off chance they do explode, it's a giant pain to clean up, and you lose a good bit of your potato.
We like to bake potatoes (instead of boiling them) and then pan fry them to make home fries.
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Not-a-fancy-name
Hey Adam, thanks for the video and potato love. As a Brit i would say we tend to do our roast potatoes much larger, maybe the size of a small chicken egg. And yes if you want a properly crispy roast potato par-boil them first, drain them, add salt and a fat (animal fat for preference; beef, duck or goose taste best) and rough up the potatoes in the pan by shaking with the lid on. Knocks the corners off and everything goes slightly mushy, Then transfer to a preheated roasting dish/tray which has even more fat and roast in the oven for maybe 45 mins to and hour turning once or twice. Trick is not to skimp on the fat, and they will be crazy good, gives them a thick crispy crust which tastes amazing thanks to salt, fat, carb combo. More of a Sunday lunch type thing so you can go for a walk afterwards to work off some of the calories.
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Hey Adam, thanks for the video and potato love. As a Brit i would say we tend to do our roast potatoes much larger, maybe the size of a small chicken egg. And yes if you want a properly crispy roast potato par-boil them first, drain them, add salt and a fat (animal fat for preference; beef, duck or goose taste best) and rough up the potatoes in the pan by shaking with the lid on. Knocks the corners off and everything goes slightly mushy, Then transfer to a preheated roasting dish/tray which has even more fat and roast in the oven for maybe 45 mins to and hour turning once or twice. Trick is not to skimp on the fat, and they will be crazy good, gives them a thick crispy crust which tastes amazing thanks to salt, fat, carb combo. More of a Sunday lunch type thing so you can go for a walk afterwards to work off some of the calories.
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uffa00001
My mother used to make delicious oven-baked potatoes, that I never tried to replicate. She would not boil them first, but she would cut the potatoes in cubes and let them soak in the water, with a little stream of running water, for at least half an hour for what I remember. Then she cooked them in the static oven, and at a certain point added garlic and rosemary. The water soaking releases some starch, and the potatoes come out of the oven quite dry and almost hard outside. Boiling hot inside. They were ready when you saw some serious browning on the surface. They were just too good. I should work on the details of the recipe to find the correct oven temperature, and the correct minutes to add garlic and rosemary.
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My mother used to make delicious oven-baked potatoes, that I never tried to replicate. She would not boil them first, but she would cut the potatoes in cubes and let them soak in the water, with a little stream of running water, for at least half an hour for what I remember. Then she cooked them in the static oven, and at a certain point added garlic and rosemary. The water soaking releases some starch, and the potatoes come out of the oven quite dry and almost hard outside. Boiling hot inside. They were ready when you saw some serious browning on the surface. They were just too good. I should work on the details of the recipe to find the correct oven temperature, and the correct minutes to add garlic and rosemary.
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Beryllahawk
My brother ADORES potatoes, especially that home fries sort of application. He likes shredded potatoes the most, but thank goodness he doesn't make ME do all that work, haha! The boiling-then-frying method does seem much easier and, dare I say it, safer. And maybe a little less fatty than a deep fryer in the final product
I was slightly surprised you didn't mention the Brits for the baking potato as well, but maybe because it's not that different from stabbing them - anyway, my son and I tend to cut our baking potatoes, one long cut down the center and then another horizontally. I don't even remember now where we learned that or if it's actually British, but it sure comes out good and fluffy!
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My brother ADORES potatoes, especially that home fries sort of application. He likes shredded potatoes the most, but thank goodness he doesn't make ME do all that work, haha! The boiling-then-frying method does seem much easier and, dare I say it, safer. And maybe a little less fatty than a deep fryer in the final product
I was slightly surprised you didn't mention the Brits for the baking potato as well, but maybe because it's not that different from stabbing them - anyway, my son and I tend to cut our baking potatoes, one long cut down the center and then another horizontally. I don't even remember now where we learned that or if it's actually British, but it sure comes out good and fluffy!
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aragusea
I like using the microwave to boil potatoes, seems like it takes less time than on the stove. Small boiled potatoes with their skin are a typical dish from the region I'm from. They are boiled with extra salty water so they develop a sort of a salty crust once the water is removed. Then they are served with a hot red salsa made with red roasted peppers, olive oil, garlic, cumin, hot red pepper and other spices to taste, all mashed on a mortar or blender served on top of the potatoes. It's normally a dish made for sharing with others but can be also a garnish for fried pork meat meat or whatever, they are delicious.
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I like using the microwave to boil potatoes, seems like it takes less time than on the stove. Small boiled potatoes with their skin are a typical dish from the region I'm from. They are boiled with extra salty water so they develop a sort of a salty crust once the water is removed. Then they are served with a hot red salsa made with red roasted peppers, olive oil, garlic, cumin, hot red pepper and other spices to taste, all mashed on a mortar or blender served on top of the potatoes. It's normally a dish made for sharing with others but can be also a garnish for fried pork meat meat or whatever, they are delicious.
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mikef8069
My favorite potato recipe that I came up with myself is to cut waxy red or yellow potatoes into 6 or 8 wedges per potato depending on size, rub oil and seasoning all over, and bake in the toaster oven (not preheated) at 400 F for a half hour. The magic is that for the first 8 minutes, the potatoes broil in the toaster oven as its warming up which sets a crust and then steams after.
I was almost certainly inspired by broiler cookies when I first tried this and now its how I make potatoes 95% of the time. Did I mention that it uses literally 0 dishes if you cover the toaster oven sheet pan with foil
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My favorite potato recipe that I came up with myself is to cut waxy red or yellow potatoes into 6 or 8 wedges per potato depending on size, rub oil and seasoning all over, and bake in the toaster oven (not preheated) at 400 F for a half hour. The magic is that for the first 8 minutes, the potatoes broil in the toaster oven as its warming up which sets a crust and then steams after.
I was almost certainly inspired by broiler cookies when I first tried this and now its how I make potatoes 95% of the time. Did I mention that it uses literally 0 dishes if you cover the toaster oven sheet pan with foil
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jarnomikkola8438
You ought to just steam heat the potatoes. and store them, after they have lost their heat to the room in your refregerator. And only then bake them. To reheat and then eat them.
This way you can get a lot from doing at first bigger patch, and eat some, then store the rest for the few days at most, while you reheat them in microwave, or regular oven or stove. This multiplies the styles of eating, and they don't all taste the same.
And you heat them with the peels on, but if you microwave them, you take a knife to them before you reheat them. This is if they are not new potatoes.
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You ought to just steam heat the potatoes. and store them, after they have lost their heat to the room in your refregerator. And only then bake them. To reheat and then eat them.
This way you can get a lot from doing at first bigger patch, and eat some, then store the rest for the few days at most, while you reheat them in microwave, or regular oven or stove. This multiplies the styles of eating, and they don't all taste the same.
And you heat them with the peels on, but if you microwave them, you take a knife to them before you reheat them. This is if they are not new potatoes.
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evanlucas8914
Little fun potato history fact. Before the potato blight, the average working poor Irish man ate 12 to 14 lbs of potatoes per day. That's approximately 90% of their calories. Supplemented with garden vegetables and the occasional bit of meat, eggs, and/or dairy, and even the poorest of the working Irish men suffered no major nutritional deficiencies despite eating mostly a single crop. That is how nutritionally varied and dense the potato is. What's more is its one of the heartiest edible plants. If you're looking to start growing your own food, potatoes are a great place to start.
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Little fun potato history fact. Before the potato blight, the average working poor Irish man ate 12 to 14 lbs of potatoes per day. That's approximately 90% of their calories. Supplemented with garden vegetables and the occasional bit of meat, eggs, and/or dairy, and even the poorest of the working Irish men suffered no major nutritional deficiencies despite eating mostly a single crop. That is how nutritionally varied and dense the potato is. What's more is its one of the heartiest edible plants. If you're looking to start growing your own food, potatoes are a great place to start.
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robertwyatt7188
Coming from an English family, I think the busted up edges of the par-boiled potatoes go crispy when baked for two reasons:
The first you already mentioned, that starch-fat slurry that ensures the oil is saturating the starch, which creates a very even temperature.
The second is that quintessential in biology, it is increases the surface area of the potato. The beaten up, uneven texture with little valleys and crags ensures that far more of the potato's starch is actually getting exposed to the heat. More surface area to cook, more of the Maillard reaction, far crispier.
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Coming from an English family, I think the busted up edges of the par-boiled potatoes go crispy when baked for two reasons:
The first you already mentioned, that starch-fat slurry that ensures the oil is saturating the starch, which creates a very even temperature.
The second is that quintessential in biology, it is increases the surface area of the potato. The beaten up, uneven texture with little valleys and crags ensures that far more of the potato's starch is actually getting exposed to the heat. More surface area to cook, more of the Maillard reaction, far crispier.
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GrifterMage
I'm sorry you're wrong about dry-heat potatoes roasted in the oven--it's my favourite way to enjoy them because of how incredibly simple they are. Mix in a little black pepper and/or your favourite spice mix and there's nothing better. Sure, pre-boiled UK-style roasties can taste really good, but I just find they're way too far along the time and effort curves for way too little improvement over the simpler option.
Plain baked potatoes are technically even simpler, but take longer and end up less convenient in the end since the insides can't be seasoned in advance.
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I'm sorry you're wrong about dry-heat potatoes roasted in the oven--it's my favourite way to enjoy them because of how incredibly simple they are. Mix in a little black pepper and/or your favourite spice mix and there's nothing better. Sure, pre-boiled UK-style roasties can taste really good, but I just find they're way too far along the time and effort curves for way too little improvement over the simpler option.
Plain baked potatoes are technically even simpler, but take longer and end up less convenient in the end since the insides can't be seasoned in advance.
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kenmore01
I only had one potato explode while cooking it. It was cooking at 350F and I had poked it with a fork many times and oiled / salted it. It made a huge mess and of course my potato count was low for dinner. Since then, I wrap them in foil for the first hour of baking. I think what went wrong was the starch from within plugged the holes and 350F seemed to be exactly the worst temperature. Hotter, it would evaporate some before building up pressure, or cooler, it would soften first. The foil allows steam to soften it and worst case, would help contain the mess.
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I only had one potato explode while cooking it. It was cooking at 350F and I had poked it with a fork many times and oiled / salted it. It made a huge mess and of course my potato count was low for dinner. Since then, I wrap them in foil for the first hour of baking. I think what went wrong was the starch from within plugged the holes and 350F seemed to be exactly the worst temperature. Hotter, it would evaporate some before building up pressure, or cooler, it would soften first. The foil allows steam to soften it and worst case, would help contain the mess.
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TheMimiSard
My standard method - My chosen potato is an Australian specific type of lower GI waxy potato sold by Coles Supermarket. They are washed and have skins thin enough to not bother peeling. I trim blemishes and chop into pieces somewhere in the range of. maybe 1. 5 to 2 inches Put them all in a big bowl, liberally salt (like about quarter cup) and a splash of cooking oil, then I pour over boiling water and let them sit for 5-10 minutes. Drain, put on a papered tray, and in the oven. The salt seasons, oil oils, and they come out nice, but not heavily oiled.
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My standard method - My chosen potato is an Australian specific type of lower GI waxy potato sold by Coles Supermarket. They are washed and have skins thin enough to not bother peeling. I trim blemishes and chop into pieces somewhere in the range of. maybe 1. 5 to 2 inches Put them all in a big bowl, liberally salt (like about quarter cup) and a splash of cooking oil, then I pour over boiling water and let them sit for 5-10 minutes. Drain, put on a papered tray, and in the oven. The salt seasons, oil oils, and they come out nice, but not heavily oiled.
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chaeburger
America's Test Kitchen has a technique where you coat a baking potato in highly saturated saltwater. A quick dunk in the saltwater leaves the potato skins light, crispy and evenly salted. You can still brush oil on the skin nearer the end of cooking if you want a darker potato skin.
Oiling and salting at the start can leave your potato soggy on the inside and leathery on the outside. If you like that kind of potato, that's cool! Saltwater is good if you prefer a crispier potato skin and a more homogeneous salt experience, like me
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America's Test Kitchen has a technique where you coat a baking potato in highly saturated saltwater. A quick dunk in the saltwater leaves the potato skins light, crispy and evenly salted. You can still brush oil on the skin nearer the end of cooking if you want a darker potato skin.
Oiling and salting at the start can leave your potato soggy on the inside and leathery on the outside. If you like that kind of potato, that's cool! Saltwater is good if you prefer a crispier potato skin and a more homogeneous salt experience, like me
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billd01rfc
Fresh, boiled, potatoes. .. My wife and I recently went on a touristy, sightseeing lunch cruise on the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania; only about AU$40 each for about 2 hours, with a meal, so we weren't expecting Michelin food. .. what we got was better! The freshest fillet of crumbed fish, a lightly seasoned salad and boiled new potatoes. Wow, so simple, but with the best fresh ingredients one of the best meals I've had for a long, long time. The cruise and views were excellent also.
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Fresh, boiled, potatoes. .. My wife and I recently went on a touristy, sightseeing lunch cruise on the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania; only about AU$40 each for about 2 hours, with a meal, so we weren't expecting Michelin food. .. what we got was better! The freshest fillet of crumbed fish, a lightly seasoned salad and boiled new potatoes. Wow, so simple, but with the best fresh ingredients one of the best meals I've had for a long, long time. The cruise and views were excellent also.
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marijo1951
I hope it's not considered heretical, but I find small less floury types of potato (Charlottes here in the UK) are excellent cooked in a small amount of salted water for 10 minutes in my Instant Pot. I bake potatoes in my air fryer, not stabbed with a fork, oiled and salted at a lowish temperature, 180 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit, for about an hour, turning them once. Then raise the temperature for 10 minutes to crisp the skin. I agree that a proper baking variety is essential.
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I hope it's not considered heretical, but I find small less floury types of potato (Charlottes here in the UK) are excellent cooked in a small amount of salted water for 10 minutes in my Instant Pot. I bake potatoes in my air fryer, not stabbed with a fork, oiled and salted at a lowish temperature, 180 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit, for about an hour, turning them once. Then raise the temperature for 10 minutes to crisp the skin. I agree that a proper baking variety is essential.
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Zadok8611
You can cut the cook time in half and never worry about pouring those vitamins down thw drain by simply microwaving them. Just pop them in for about 5 minutes (depending on wattage. That's it. I don't bother stabing them, adding water, or anything else. They are perfectly soft after about 5 minutes and don't taste watered down like when boiled.
The only challenge is salting. But if you make mashed or cut them up and air or pan fry after, salting is easy.
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You can cut the cook time in half and never worry about pouring those vitamins down thw drain by simply microwaving them. Just pop them in for about 5 minutes (depending on wattage. That's it. I don't bother stabing them, adding water, or anything else. They are perfectly soft after about 5 minutes and don't taste watered down like when boiled.
The only challenge is salting. But if you make mashed or cut them up and air or pan fry after, salting is easy.
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haytguugle8656
Cubed, fried in. 5cm oil just hot enough to get a little sizzle going - bottom of the pan completely covered. Stir occasionally. Once tender, remove and drain. move to a different pan to cook with some chiles, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, chicken cubes, ground pork or lamb, eggs, cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado, whatever you like. Add salt/pepper to taste and whatever herbs you enjoy. So delicious and a full meal. Twice a week, at least.
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Cubed, fried in. 5cm oil just hot enough to get a little sizzle going - bottom of the pan completely covered. Stir occasionally. Once tender, remove and drain. move to a different pan to cook with some chiles, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, chicken cubes, ground pork or lamb, eggs, cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado, whatever you like. Add salt/pepper to taste and whatever herbs you enjoy. So delicious and a full meal. Twice a week, at least.
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