How long to boil potatoes?

hev_2

Skint_Catt wrote: »

What potatos are you using?

Supermarket potatoes - usually white ones, often Sainsburys basics.

Looking at what everyone else is putting I think I am using water proof ones.

I'll try with the lid on and see if that helps. tbh, in the past when I have had the lid on I have turned the heat down so that the water was just bubbling. Now I have the lid off and the water bubbling away. I'll try lid on, lots of bubbling and see how that goes.

(though if I remember my physics, 100 degrees C is the same regardless of whether there is a lot of bubbling or a little as long as there is some Wasn't good at science).

Penny-Pincher!!

Are you putting the spuds in from cold and letting them heat up with the water in the pan?

If we are mashing spuds then ours generally take about 25 mins and if just boiling them then about 20 mins, then I leave on the side in the pan with the lid open a little to dry them off IYSWIM.

HTH

PP
xx

Skint_Catt

Hev - if its bubbling I tend to take the lid off otherwise they boil over very easily! (And then if you try to mop up with the gas ring still on the kitchen paper catches fire and you have to throw it across the room into the washing up bowl......:o )

Same pots I generally use.

Catt xx

Stephen_Leak

Meal times at Chez Catt sound about as eventful as a Saturday night in downtown Bristol.

You can move the lids on saucepans slightly to one side, so that they keep most of the steam and heat in, and don't boil over.

I will almost certainly be trying out the Mk.2 version of my fish pie over the weekend, so I will pay more attention to the boiling of the potatoes and check the actual time taken.

I must confess that I usually just put them in, put them on and then, if and when I remember them, start stabbing them. I do tend to lose track of time when the culinary muse takes me. I ought to get a couple of those cute little 99p timers from Ikea. There is a cookery programme on just after I usually get home, and I've noticed just how many of these professional chefs use those digital timers - sometimes a row of the things - to keep track of everything.

hev_2

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Are you putting the spuds in from cold and letting them heat up with the water in the pan?

If we are mashing spuds then ours generally take about 25 mins and if just boiling them then about 20 mins, then I leave on the side in the pan with the lid open a little to dry them off IYSWIM.

HTH

PP
xx

I usually put them in with the cold water, but the timing is from boiling. I am sooooo confused.

Yesterday I made home made oven chips and they took ages as well. (and weren't that good). Could it be the way that I am storing the potatoes? I just leave them on the counter in their bag.

Poggie123

I always make sure there's just enough water to cover the tops of the spuds - that way your not waiting (and paying!) for extra water to boil that you don't need!

hev_2

Poggie123 wrote: »

I always make sure there's just enough water to cover the tops of the spuds - that way your not waiting (and paying!) for extra water to boil that you don't need!

Well, because they're bubbling so long, I usually have to top up the pan with boiling water from the kettle before their finished. I always make sure that the water from the kettle is boiling - I am just so bugged. Why so long

I must get back to using my pressure cooker - it only takes around 15 mins with that but I am scared of the damn thing :rolleyes:

(Yes, potatoes are supposed to be a lot less than 15 mins in pressure cooker, but my brief experiment had them done around 15 mins. And if you had seen what a great girl's blouse I was trying to get the thing unpressured and repressured you would have laughed your socks off )

meanmarie

To cook new potatoes the water should be boiled and then poured onto potatoes and then covered with a lid and simmered until cooked...about half way up the potatoes is plenty of water, otherwise you will 'drown' them and have sludge rather than cooked potatoes. I am assuming that nobody peels new potatoes.

Older potatoes should be put in pot, again cold water half way up covered with lid and brought to boil and turned down to simmer...this applies whether potatoes are peeled or not...I never peel potatoes and eat skin as well as flesh...best way nutritionally.

TBH, I often steam potatoes, which works with any type or age and prevents mush or burnt pots!

Marie

tanith

meanmarie wrote: »

To cook new potatoes the water should be boiled and then poured onto potatoes and then covered with a lid and simmered until cooked...about half way up the potatoes is plenty of water, otherwise you will 'drown' them and have sludge rather than cooked potatoes. I am assuming that nobody peels new potatoes.

Older potatoes should be put in pot, again cold water half way up covered with lid and brought to boil and turned down to simmer...this applies whether potatoes are peeled or not...I never peel potatoes and eat skin as well as flesh...best way nutritionally.

TBH, I often steam potatoes, which works with any type or age and prevents mush or burnt pots!

Marie

How do you do creamed or mashed potatoes with the skin still on? If I gave my OH mash with bits in he would leave the lot.... :rotfl:

Mr_Proctalgia

I simmer mine for about 10 minutes then leave them in the pan with the lid on for about another 15 minutes or so, saves fuel and isn't so time critical.

The only spuds that take longer seem to be new ones like Jerseys or similar when I simmer them for about 15 minutes or so and leave for an equal amount of time.

HTH