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Potatoes
Also searched as: potato, spuds, wedges, chips, rösti
In short: A potato is about four fifths water and one sixth starch. Almost everything that happens when cooking potatoes revolves around these two.
Picture it
A potato is like a water bag full of tiny starch beads, held together by cell walls. Cooking means deciding what happens to the water, the beads and the walls.
What happens
As they cook, the starch granules soak up water and swell, and the potato softens. At the same time the glue between the cells dissolves. Floury varieties have more starch and fall apart more easily; waxy ones hold together. For a crust, the surface has to dry so it can brown.
Why it matters
If you know which part is at work, you can steer any potato dish: fluffy, creamy, firm or crisp.
Rules of thumb
- Floury for mash, roast potatoes and chips; waxy for salad and fried potatoes.
- For a crust: a dry surface without a loose starch film.
- Potatoes boiled the day before fry better than freshly boiled ones: they are drier and firmer.
Related entries
Sources · 1
- Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking (2004), Kapitel Kartoffeln, Stärke, Frittieren