How To Use The Best Way To Boil Potatoes For Potato Salad Easily And Perfectly?
Do you know how to boil potatoes for potato salad? Which method do you know? What should be the best way to make it just fine and easy? Boiling potatoes
More...
Potato
How would you have a perfect potato salad when you do not have the perfect potato in the first place? You should avoid russet potatoes because they are only good for anything but potato salad.
This is because they have this high starch content, just quite a bit of boiling will lead it to be mashed potatoes and mashed potatoes are not for potato salad. The ideal one would be potatoes of a waxy variety such as Yukon golds, or any other potatoes of the same kind.
Salt
You should also prepare a teaspoon of salt to give supplementary flavor to your potato. A teaspoon will do, but if it doesn’t fit your preference, you can always adjust the measurements.
You have to remember though that the potatoes, which you will be seasoning with salt will be made into a salad. With this in mind, you have to consider its taste especially when you have a special taste that you prefer in a potato salad.
You should pick a knife of your own choice. This should be that of which you trust to be as sharp and as effective as you would want your knife to be.
This is for efficient slicing of the potato to retain its physical appearance, and to prevent it from getting soiled up even without being boiled just yet. The best electric knife is advised to use because this is proven to be the most comfortable to use and the most effective tool in your kitchen.
You should prepare a saucepan that you are comfortable
You should also prepare a slotted spoon to best serve your recipe. You can use this in getting the boiled potatoes after you have convinced yourself that they have been boiled enough already.
The holes of the spoon will prevent you from getting the water too. It somehow acts like a sifter such that when you get the potatoes from your saucepan, the water remains in it and not with the potatoes.
Here are the steps in which you could make use of these ingredients and materials for your perfectly boiled potatoes to make a potato salad.
Step 1. Potato Preparation
Before you go on and boil your potatoes, you have to make sure that they are properly prepared. First, you have to make sure that the potatoes are clean by scrubbing them carefully and thoroughly.
This will help you prevent harmful bacteria and viruses
Step 2. Soak Your Potato In A Cold Water
When your potatoes seem like they are already clean enough and that they are sliced with uniform sizes, you can now put them in a saucepan. But you have to remember that the water in it should be cold at first.
And it should cover the potatoes that you put into the saucepan, so, depending on your potatoes, an inch of cold water will do. One reason why it should be in a cold water first is for them to be cooked evenly.
Step 3. Salt The Potatoes
You can then add a generous amount of salt into the water wherein your potatoes are soaked. When you do this, make sure that you are also stirring the water as well as the potatoes, this will make the salt dissolve faster and even spread among them.
It would really be a disappointment if it turns out that only some of the potatoes have the flavor and the other else do not. Also, you will have to add salt at this point so that your potatoes will have a flavor when it is going to be made a salad.
Step 4. Cover And Wait For It
Now that you have done almost everything to your potatoes, you can now cover the saucepan and wait for the water to boil. This doesn't mean that you can leave the kitchen area and do something else, though.
You have to keep an eye on it to make sure that the water would not boil over because it might just dirty your cooking area. When you see that the water is already boiling, you can remove the lid after reducing the heat to a medium or a medium-high. You have to uncover the potatoes because if you do not, then the potatoes would turn mushy and not fit for a potato salad.
Step 5. Check It Out Every 5 Minutes
You have to know that the smaller the potato, the quicker it gets cooked. So, when you have cubed potatoes, it is safe to presume that it would not take much time before it becomes tender enough to consider.
Also, it would only take about 10 to 20 minutes to cook cubed potatoes. Remember that when you get to overcook them, it will get mushy, and mushy potatoes are not for the making a potato salad.
Step 6. Test If It Is Already Cooked
One way of testing whether it is already cooked or it needs more boiling time, you can pierce the potato cubes using a paring knife's tip to see if it is tender enough. Although, when you pierce it and it cracks apart or that the tip only slides through, then be convinced that it is already overcooked.
Step 7. Drain And Serve Or Set It Aside
If you think the potatoes are already tender, you can drain them into a strainer, or you can use the slotted spoon for this purpose. You can then serve it to yourself, to your family, or to your friends, depending on who you are with. You can also just set it aside for later while you are still preparing the ingredients that you will be needing for your potato salad.
Did You Enjoy This Tutorial?
This is for you to avoid any mistakes in boiling potatoes for potato salad, and give you the perfect step by step procedure of doing it.
Do you have any thoughts regarding this procedure? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
You can learn on how to cook potatoes on the grill to improve your cooking skill.