How much should potatoes be cooked? The answer to this urgent question will directly depend on what you want to cook from this root crop. Each culinary masterpiece, which includes at least a small fraction of the popular vegetable, needs its own way of cooking. Naturally, how much potatoes should be cooked depends on this. For example, the cooking time of mashed potato air will be different from the time and method of cooking potatoes for salad. But we learn about everything in turn.
Cook potatoes in a soup
For such a dish, it is important to choose the root variety. Prefer low-starchy tubers. They will not fall apart during a boil. As for the time, how much potatoes should be cooked in the soup, it is also important how small the bars are placed in the pan. On average, ten to fifteen minutes are enough for the potatoes to be fully cooked in the first dish. Whatever variety you cook, the broth should not boil with a key. Increased boiling will only destroy the neat bars of this vegetable. With a strong boil of potato soup, the chances of unplanned receipt of mashed soup increase, instead of a clear first course.
On salad (peeled)
For the preparation of salad, pre-peeled and boiled root vegetables are sometimes needed. How much to cook peeled potatoes for this purpose also depends on the diameter of the tubers. It is clear that larger ones will take a little longer to prepare. So that the middle of the vegetable does not remain a little raw, because this does not decorate the taste of the salad, you need to correctly withstand the cooking time and its mode. Potatoes are cooked only on a very moderate fire. But on average, how much to cook potatoes in a pan, after the start of boiling water. About 20-30 minutes.
Do not make a strong fire in the hope of faster cooking: get tubers boiled on top with a moist middle. Very large potatoes are best cut across. To salt or not root vegetables boiled for salad is a very controversial question. Some slightly add salt to the vegetables during the process of boiling water, while others believe that the salt that the potatoes get from the salad will be enough. Therefore, do as you see fit: both methods are true and good.
In a uniform (not peeled root crops)
Often, housewives need to get a ready-made root crop, boiled right in the peel. The taste of unpeeled potatoes is liked by many; the aroma suggests thoughts about childhood and staying with my grandmother. In the old days, this method of cooking was often used. How much should jacket potatoes be cooked in order for the salad to be tasty and rich in essential trace elements? Most often, this time is 25 minutes, provided that we cook no more than a kilogram of washed vegetables. Naturally, a larger pan and an increase in the mass of potatoes entail an extension of the cooking time.
In order not to doubt the complete readiness of the potato in the uniform intended for the salad, you can check the degree of its readiness by a simple and affordable method - prune the potatoes on a fork. If the teeth entered the pulp easily, without a barely noticeable resistance - drain the water: the potatoes are ready.
Potatoes as an independent dish
It is pleasant to taste potatoes with heat and heat, a bite with crispy pickled cucumbers or a piece of lard. How much to cook potatoes after boiling water in a pan, if you plan to use it as an independent dish? In this case, the tubers should be slightly crumbly on the outside and perfectly boiled inside. The rule for the preparation of young potatoes is 10 or 15 minutes from the moment of boiling water in the dishes. Older - cook for about 20-30 minutes. The fire should be moderate. Do not forget to add salt to taste in the middle of cooking. Many housewives add bay leaves to the water to give whole potatoes an even more interesting taste and aroma.
Mashed potatoes
The question of potato cooking time is especially relevant for young housewives. How much potatoes should be cooked so that the mashed potatoes from it turn out to be airy, tender and do not crunch on the teeth if the tubers are a little undercooked.
First of all, remember that this dish is cooked from peeled root vegetables. First we remove the points from each tuber, called “eyes,” namely they have an unpleasant feature of getting on the tooth and spoiling the whole dish. In addition, these parts of potato tubers are very harmful to the body. Large potatoes are preferably cut into two or four parts, depending on the diameter of the total part of vegetables.
We put the potatoes in a pan and pour water. Better, of course, pour the tubers with boiling water. In this case, the layer of water from the surface of the potato should be 5-8 centimeters. Thirty minutes and you have the basis for mashed air ready.
Expedited way
How much potatoes should be boiled, if you add thirty grams of butter to the water, this is another moment. Oil contributes to faster cooking. Your mash can begin to be done twenty minutes after boiling water.
Steaming time
Adherents of a healthy diet and those who need it according to the doctor’s testimony prefer potatoes cooked in one of the useful methods on their menu - steamed. Here are a few simple steps, after which you will have a healthy boiled potato:
- We peel the whole peel from the potato, remove the eyes and divide each tuber into 4-6 parts (if they are too large). Root crops that are more modest in size can be simply cut into two parts. But very small, delicious, in general, you can not cut.
- We wash the resulting potatoes in cold water.
- Pour water into the double boiler to the proposed level. Put the potatoes on a wire rack.
- We turn on the device, and for half an hour we steam our potatoes.
As you can see, it is not salted in the process, but if you want, it is not forbidden to sprinkle salt with potatoes after cooking.
Cook in a slow cooker
Cooking raw potatoes will still help a home crock-pot. The method is not very different from cooking in a conventional pan familiar to everyone. We wash the tubers and cut into two or four parts. Without going beyond the level recommended by the manufacturer (division on the wall of the bowl), put the potatoes in the bowl and pour cold water. There should be a little more liquid than vegetables - about 1-2 cm. Salt - for one liter of liquid, a teaspoon without a slide. We set the “Cooking” program to the device, it will last thirty minutes. After the sound signal, remove the tubers from the water, after checking for the degree of readiness (with a fork).
Some nuances
Peeling potatoes is best immediately before starting cooking. But if you had to do it a little earlier, then you can save it in very cold water.
Many cook potatoes, pouring it with cold water. This is considered more convenient: there is no chance to get burned again. In this case, the cooking time is always counted from the start of boiling.
When the potatoes are ready, be sure to drain all the liquid from the pan completely. Whether it is peeled or peeled, the potatoes will surely become sour in hot water, spoiling all ideas for preparing a salad or other tasty dish for which these tubers were intended.
Steam the potatoes? Be sure to wash the double boiler lattice immediately after taking out the prepared root crops. Starch can dry quickly and bring you many unpleasant moments.