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Watery boiled potatoes !

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    #32
    B0jangles
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    Its me its nanny wrote: »
    I'm living in England, but just came back from a short break in Ireland. Whilst I was there I cooked boiled potatoes twice, and I have to say I never saw potatoes like them in either country before. The outside of the potato was dissolved in the water while the inside was still rock hard?! I forget what type they were, but know that my family had moved from Red Rooster recently due to the same problem with them. They've used RR for years, and this problem only started recently. I did consider steaming them as a possible way around the problem; but I and my parents have managed to successfully produce boiled potatoes for a lifetime without this strange problem. Is it something in the water? Or something that's changed in the way the potatoes are grown?


    I have had exactly the same problem with potatoes sold as roosters here (Ireland) in the last few months - the only way I've been able to cook them successfully in water is to bring them to an extremely gentle simmer and keep them at that until they are cooked through. Anything more energetic than that and the surface just collapses.

    I wonder if the unusually long and hot summer last year affected the potato crop?


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    #33
    Its me its nanny
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭Its me its nanny


    B0jangles wrote: »
    I have had exactly the same problem with potatoes sold as roosters here (Ireland) in the last few months - the only way I've been able to cook them successfully in water is to bring them to an extremely gentle simmer and keep them at that until they are cooked through. Anything more energetic than that and the surface just collapses.

    I wonder if the unusually long and hot summer last year affected the potato crop?

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed this as a recent problem. I have passed on all the tips here to my parents; despite us also having a long hot summer last year here in England, the potatoes here are behaving themselves.


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    #34
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,907 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    Its the potato type that is favoured here that is the main problem.
    Irish people are almost unique in liking floury spuds, most of the rest of the world like waxy potatoes which don't have as high a starch content and consequently take boiling better.


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    #35
    Thud
    Registered Users Posts: 2,626 ✭✭✭Thud


    CJhaughey wrote: »
    Its the potato type that is favoured here that is the main problem.
    Irish people are almost unique in liking floury spuds, most of the rest of the world like waxy potatoes which don't have as high a starch content and consequently take boiling better.

    it's the water here, most irish water is alkaline. Pectin breaks down quicker in alkaline water, releasing starch (amylose) making the outsides mushy, add a splash on vinegar to the water and watch your potatoes magically stay intact!


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    #36
    B0jangles
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    The thing is that this seems to be a recent change; I'm buying the same variety of potato and cooking them in water from the same source as I ever did, but they are not cooking in the way they used to.


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    #37
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,907 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    Thud wrote: »
    it's the water here, most irish water is alkaline. Pectin breaks down quicker in alkaline water, releasing starch (amylose) making the outsides mushy, add a splash on vinegar to the water and watch your potatoes magically stay intact!
    Nope, I live in an area with soft water and they still turn to mush.
    Its the potato type and maybe the water as well to a lesser extent.


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    #38
    Thud
    Registered Users Posts: 2,626 ✭✭✭Thud


    B0jangles wrote: »
    The thing is that this seems to be a recent change; I'm buying the same variety of potato and cooking them in water from the same source as I ever did, but they are not cooking in the way they used to.

    CJhaughey wrote: »
    Nope, I live in an area with soft water and they still turn to mush.
    Its the potato type and maybe the water as well to a lesser extent.

    Maybe the water treatment has changed or maybe where the potatoes are sourced is different. Try the adding vinegar (it has worked for me) or google it and you'll see it's a common soultion to this problem.


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    #39
    fiachraX
    Registered Users Posts: 122 ✭✭fiachraX


    Billy86 wrote: »
    A ricer is one of the best kitchenware buys anyone will ever make. Put in the cut up, cooked potatoes, apply very gentle pressure, and steadily increase as the water leaves (also turn upside down once or twice as a pool of water will form at the top as well). Once the water stops coming out, put it the full way down and your potatoes are 100 percent perfectly mashed as well.

    I second this! I love my ricer. Good for ricing cauliflower too, for a change.


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