For some, potato salad can be controversial. Different families have their own sacred recipes, and veering from a specific method (like leaving the skin on or failing to add eggs) can be inexcusable. Heaven help the interloper who tinkers with the ingredient list. (You added avocados to Mom’s recipe?!)
Still, most of us agree on one thing: The potatoes ought to be a particular consistency. There’s a certain “just right” quality that J. Kenji López-Alt, a culinary consultant for Serious Eats, describes in his recipe for his classic potato salad.
“Potatoes shouldnot be crunchy or firm,” he writes. “But nor do you want your potato salad to be cold mashed potatoes. The perfect piece of potato should be tender and fluffy all the way through, with the edges just barely beginning to break down, adding a bit of potato flavor to the dressing.”
In his recipe, López-Alt shares his secret for perfectly cooked potatoes every time: Adding vinegar to the water (specifically, 1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 quart of water) prevents overcooking.
This one tip has transformed potato salad for Kristina Razon, the Senior Food Editor at Kitchn. Once she tried it, she writes, “my potatoes turned out perfectly — and they have every time since.”
How does this work? The starch in potatoes is held together by pectin. When that pectin breaks down too quickly in the boiling process, mushy potatoes result. Adding vinegar to the water fixes that problem because, as López-Alt explains, “pectin breaks down much more slowly in acidic environments.”
López-Alt uses rice wine vinegar in his recipe, but Razon notes, “I’ve found that white distilled vinegar, white wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar work well in a pinch.” She does suggest that cooks avoid dark-hued vinegars like balsamic, sherry, and red wine vinegar, “as their stronger flavor will overpower the salad and turn it an unappealing color.”
There are other ways to guarantee perfectly cooked potatoes, too. These three other guidelines will help you achieve the perfect texture.
To start with, use the right of kind of potato. According to Tasting Table, the best options for potato salad are waxy potatoes — such as red-skinned or fingerling potatoes — which are high in moisture and low in starch. These varieties are most likely to stay intact as opposed to starchier russet potatoes, which are likely to fall apart.
Cut the potatoes into similar-sized cubes or slices so the same cooking time works for all. The smaller you cut them, the higher the risk of overcooking them, so keep an eye on them and drain them when they’re just tender. How long you boil them depends on how big you cut them. The Idaho Potato Commission gives a general guideline of about 8-10 minutes. But if you dice them into 1-inch chunks as they do at Simply Recipes, you will need to cook them for longer — about 20-25 minutes.
Start with cold water, not boiling. According to Love Potatoes, dropping them into cold water instead of boiling water (and letting the potatoes and water heat up together) will prevent the outside from cooking faster than the inside.
As for whether the “perfect recipe” calls for mayo or mustard, we’ll let your family and friends fight that one out.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
The starch in potatoes is held together by pectin. When that pectin breaks down too quickly in the boiling process, mushy potatoes result. Adding vinegar to the water fixes that problem because, as López-Alt explains, “pectin breaks down much more slowly in acidic environments.”
The presence of acid in boiling water can retain structure-providing carbs in potatoes, so they don't break down and soften as easily as they would in a pot of boiling water sans vinegar.
The key is to store potatoes in a cool dry place, like in the cabinet of a pantry, in a paper bag or cardboard box. It's important to keep potatoes at the cool, ideal temperature (but not, surprisingly, the fridge) to prevent them from turning green, getting soft spots, or pre-maturely sprouting.
Pull the potatoes out of the water as soon as they're tender. This will keep them from overcooking and falling apart. And toss them right away, while they're still hot, with a mixture of vinegar and more salt.
How to Boil Potatoes for Potato Salad. Waxy potatoes can be cooked whole or cut, with or without the skin. Starchy potatoes should be cooked whole with the skin on, then peeled and cut after they're cooked. Select medium Russet potatoes, not large ones, to ensure the skin doesn't split while cooking.
If you overcook them, the result is a mushy, grainy mess. And if you undercook them, you end up with crunchy (not in a good way) potatoes. It's a delicate balance to achieve soft, tender potatoes for that just-right potato salad texture.
Potato's starchy cells are bound by pectin, which acts as the glue that holds them together. As potatoes cook, their pectin starts to break down. Thus, the longer they're cooked, the more their pectin breaks down, causing potatoes to become mushy.
Vinegar causes the potatoes to form a thin crust that further helps in retaining their shape. Vinegar increases the acid pH levels of water which further helps the potato just like when you add a little salt to the water while boiling eggs.
Most often, then, the solution to evenly cooked potatoes is cooking them twice: First, boil, steam, or steam-roast (a fancy term for cooking them with water in the oven) until they're mostly tender but not fall-apart finished. Second, brown the outsides and finish cooking the interiors on the stovetop or in the oven.
Whisk a little cornstarch into the warm potatoes, only a teaspoon at a time, until the potatoes thicken to your liking. The potatoes must be warm. You can also use tapioca starch or potato starch, although most cooks are less likely to have those products on hand.
When the potato salad becomes too sour with vinegar, it can easily be salvaged with a bit of lemon zest, since its acid balances out the acid in the vinegar, ultimately eliminating that harsh flavor.
But the truth is, mayonnaise isn't your main concern when it comes to spoilage. The actual culprit is the potatoes. Yes, it's true! The humble, reliable potato is a hotbed for bacterial growth if improperly stored after cooking.
Rinsing washes off some of the starch from the potatoes so that the potato chunks are more defined and easily coated with the dressing. Rinsing the potatoes in cold water also stops the cooking process so you know exactly what texture your potatoes will be and won't risk over-cooking.
Store your clean, dry salad in an airtight plastic container lined with paper towel. The paper towel will absorb any excess water, and the airtight container will keep the salad from wilting.
Considering potatoes are the main ingredient, over- or undercooking them can lead to a less-than-perfect side dish. If you overcook them, the result is a mushy, grainy mess. And if you undercook them, you end up with crunchy (not in a good way) potatoes.
Introduction: My name is Pres. Carey Rath, I am a faithful, funny, vast, joyous, lively, brave, glamorous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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