Boiled Potatoes

Original Recipe:
Potatoes that are to be boiled together, should be as nearly as possible of the same size. Wash, but do not pare them.

 Put them into a pot with water enough to cover them about an inch, and do not put on the pot-lid. When the water is very near boiling, pour it off, and replace it with the same quantity of cold water, into which throw a good portion of salt. The cold water sends the heat from the surface to the heart, and makes the potatoes mealy. Potatoes of a moderate size will require about half an hour boiling; large ones an hour. Try them with a fork.

When done, pour off the water, cover the pot with a folded napkin, or flannel, and let them stand by the fire about a quarter of an hour to dry. Peel them and send them to table. Potatoes are often served up with the skins on. It has a coarse, slovenly look, and disfigures the appearance of the dinner; besides the trouble and inconvenience of peeling them at table. But many prefer them thus.

When the skins crack in boiling, it is no proof that they are done, as too much fire under the pot will cause the skins of some potatoes to break while the inside is hard.

Source:

Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, by Eliza Leslie, 1851.


Modern Day Adaptation:

Recipe followed to the letter, even to the extent of setting the finished potatoes over a heating vent for the prescribed drying period, a cooking hearth not being readily to hand.

Results:

While this recipe did produce very nice boiled potatoes, cooked all the way through, and with no "coarse, slovenly look" (we love the moral hectoring that accompanies many 19th century recipes) what you have at the end of this lengthy process is still....boiled potatoes.

We were unable to detect any difference is taste, consistency or other qualities from potatoes boiled in an already peeled state, and are able to testify that peeling a boiled potato by hand is painful. After an initial strip is cut with a knife it is easier to disrobe the rest of the tuber by grabbing the edge of the skin and pulling it off. It helps to use an oven mitt or hot pad on the hand not doing the peeling itself.