Salt potatoes

[Julie923]

SALT POTATOES

4 LBS SMALL NEW POTATOES
1 1/2 CUPS FINE SALT
MELTED BUTTER
PARSLEY (optional)

Stir salt into about 6 cups of water until it is dissolved. Bring to a boil and add potatoes. Reduce heat and cook until tender. Drain potatoes and let them sit a bit. They will dry and form a salt “crust” drizzle melted butter over potatoes.

 

[Kathleen]

By "fine salt", do you mean like table salt or sea salt?

 

[Julie923]

By "fine salt", do you mean like table salt or sea salt?

Either is fine it just needs to be a fine ground. I believe it is normally just table salt.

 

[dragnlaw]

After dissolving a cup and a half of salt into the water, I don't think it would really change the salinity all that much.

 

[caseydog]

After dissolving a cup and a half of salt into the water, I don't think it would really change the salinity all that much.

Ummm, I'm not sure about what you are saying. Are you talking about the table vs sea salt thing, or 1.5 cups of salt in 6 cups of water, not changing the salinity.

Just asking for some clarification, because I'm confused -- nothing new.

CD

 

[Meryl]

Hi @Julie923 ,nice to meet you, from across the ocean!

 

[pictonguy]

Never heard of them but will have to give them a try. I researched this recipe and its fascinating, right up my alley, lol.

This is a recipe from the Irish salt miners of Syracuse, New York in and around the early 1800's through to the 1900's. Leave it to the Irish to come up with this recipe, good for them.

The miners would pump up the brine water from deep within the salt mine and put the water in giant kettles and boil until it all evaporated and harvested the remaining salt blocks. The miners would bring potatoes to work and having access to those boiling brine vats would cook their potatoes. I suspect the butter came later.

I learned something new today, thanks!

 

[dragnlaw]

table vs sea salt thing, or 1.5 cups of salt in 6 cups of water, not changing the salinity.

LOL, you must be very confused casey... I'm saying whether you use table salt or sea salt, I don't think that by the time either is dissolved in 6 cups of water you will be able to taste a difference.

 

[jennyema]

The meaningful differences in salt in this recipe is not the type of salt (table vs sea*) — all salt is equally salty — but in the size of the grain.

Just think about it. You pack way more fine grain Morton blue box table salt into a measuring cup than coarse grain Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Just because of the size and dimensions.

So a cup and a half of fine grain regular table salt dissolved in 6 cups of water will taste much saltier than a cup and a half of Diamond Kosher.

This is why it’s really important for this recipe to specify the type of salt to be used — and/or adjustments.

* all salt is sea salt

 

[dragnlaw]

Golly, I think my point here is would you personally be able to taste the difference in whether you used 1.5 cups of table salt or you used 1.5 cups of Flake, Himalayan, Black, Hawaiian, Kosher, or fleur de sel. Dissolved in 6 cups of water.

 

[Linda0818]

What I'm wondering is how salty the 'flesh' of the potatoes taste once they're ready to eat. Because potatoes absorb salt like crazy. In fact it's common practice to drop a potato into a pot of soup if you have over-salted it. The potato absorbs some of the excess.

I'm assuming, with this method, the potatoes are being dropped into the salted water unpeeled. Perhaps the peel helps to keep the potatoes from absorbing too much of the salt?

 

[dragnlaw]

In fact it's common practice to drop a potato into a pot of soup if you have over-salted it. The potato absorbs some of the excess.

I've heard that this is a bit of a fallacy. I've even tried it and nope didn't work.

Edit:
I'm also thinking that like the smashed potatoes, as in how Jacques Pepin does it, it is with new baby potatoes with peel
Perhaps, as in the recipe above, using small new potatoes, it is a more modern twist on the miner's version. But even then I should think that it is just a crust on the outside.

 

[FrankZ]

* all salt is sea salt

But not all salts are the same.

 

[Kathleen]

I really want to try these potatoes. I mean...potatoes....with salt. What's not to like?

 

[dragnlaw]

I'm doing some soon! got the potatoes. got some salt. Think there's some water around here somewhere.
Like J Pepin, I will be using a shallow pan and letting the water pretty much boil away, then I will just squash them down with a masher, add a blob of butter and fry.

 

[Linda0818]

I've heard that this is a bit of a fallacy. I've even tried it and nope didn't work.

Edit:
I'm also thinking that like the smashed potatoes, as in how Jacques Pepin does it, it is with new baby potatoes with peel
Perhaps, as in the recipe above, using small new potatoes, it is a more modern twist on the miner's version. But even then I should think that it is just a crust on the outside.

I've personally never tried it.

I love new baby potatoes with the skin left on. The smashed potatoes sounds smashing good!

(yeah, Linda, don't quit your day job)

 

[jennyema]

What I'm wondering is how salty the 'flesh' of the potatoes taste once they're ready to eat. Because potatoes absorb salt like crazy. In fact it's common practice to drop a potato into a pot of soup if you have over-salted it. The potato absorbs some of the excess.

I'm assuming, with this method, the potatoes are being dropped into the salted water unpeeled. Perhaps the peel helps to keep the potatoes from absorbing too much of the salt?

Potatoes don’t absorb salt. They absorb salty water. Like a kitchen sponge would.

The “common practice” of dropping a potato in over salted soup is a scientifically dispelled kitchen myth. The potato doesn’t absorb extra salt. It just absorbs liquid.

 

[dragnlaw]

Was Wondering:
To all those who... if you don't like potato with skins on, do you ever have new potatoes? Or do you peel those itty bitty things.

 

[Linda0818]

Potatoes don’t absorb salt. They absorb salty water. Like a kitchen sponge would.

The “common practice” of dropping a potato in over salted soup is a scientifically dispelled kitchen myth. The potato doesn’t absorb extra salt. It just absorbs liquid.

So if the potato absorbs liquid and you drop the potato into salty water, then wouldn't that mean the potato is absorbing a good amount of the sodium?

Poor Julie. All she did was post a 'new' method of cooking potatoes and we're turning it into a science experiment

Sorry, Julie! But the points brought up are pretty interesting.

 

[rodentraiser]

Chef John's recipe is:

5 cups water
1 cup kosher salt
2 lbs new potatoes/small potatoes (bite size)

Boil potatoes until just fork tender. Melt butter and pour over potatoes or melt butter and place into separate small bowls for dipping potatoes.

Kosher salt is much larger than regular salt. I think if you used 1 cup of regular salt, your potatoes would be a wee bit too salty.

He does warn against cutting into your potato and then putting it into the salt and water, as then the salt does enter the potato. As it is, all the salt does is make a salty crust on the potato and when dipped in butter - OMG, deliciousness reigns.