Bugs
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Tip for cooking potatoes?I've treated myself to The Victory Cookbook by Marguerite Patten (£3.99 from Booksworks  ). It's one of those compilation type things, with recipes from the time of rationing - which can be very helpful because it shows you what you can achieve with very few ingredients - and clippings from papers and government leaflets.
H'anyway one tip I just read, for saving fuel and healthier potatoes, was boiling potatoes in their skins in salted water and when they show signs of cracking, pouring in a cup of cold water "to drive heat to the centre and hasten cooking".
Does this sound probable?
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tahir
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Re: Tip for cooking potatoes? | Bugs wrote: | | Does this sound probable? |
No, but I could be wrong
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moogie
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Not really. But I could be wrong too 
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ButteryHOLsomeness
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i've got that cookbook bugs, as well as the other two: we'll eat again and ...oops, can't remember offhand!
i've only ever tried one recipe but they are excellent for low cost meals and we may try them some week as a historical experiement!
good reading regardless, i quite like marguerite patten and i have collected a few of her other recipe booklets from charity shops including an excellent one on making preserves and another on how to joint beef/pork/lamb, very helpful.
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Bugs
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| ButteryHOLsomeness wrote: | | i quite like marguerite patten |
I think she's fab - she seems very down to earth and unfussy but not really old-fashioned - there's a quote at the beginning about her time as a Home Economist in WW2 "Looking back I feel we were horribly bracing" 
I think my most used book is a paperback on baking that is quite recent, from a range called Basic Basics (possibly the same range as your preserves one). Highly recommend that one.
Thing with this book is the tips of course are often from newspapers and government advice at the time, and even the book says a lot of these have proved to be nonsense. Still interesting reading though and as you say, many of the recipes are practical.
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sean
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The book sounds good. The tip is total rubbish though.
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jema
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| sean wrote: | | The book sounds good. The tip is total rubbish though. |
I agree the tip is rubbish, but I think we could all save fuel by recognising that once things are up top temperature with a lid on, you do not always need to apply more and more heat.
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Behemoth
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I was told that if you need to cool something quite rapidly for serving or whatever that you should bung a few potatoes in, they start to cook and suck a the heat out of the soup etc and then you discard or eat the spuds. Never tried it.
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sean
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Wow, a whole thread for urban myths about potatoes.
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ButteryHOLsomeness
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| jema wrote: | | sean wrote: | | The book sounds good. The tip is total rubbish though. |
I agree the tip is rubbish, but I think we could all save fuel by recognising that once things are up top temperature with a lid on, you do not always need to apply more and more heat. |
pasta works that way, simply add pasta as the water is warming up, stir a few times, once the water is boiling stir once more, turn off the heat and put a lid on. the pasta will finish cooking with the heat that remains in the pan/water
i always turn the oven off just as anything is finishing and leave it there whilst i make the rest of dinner. it finishes off nicely, i don't burn anything and everything is ready and the right temp at the same time.
cast iron skillets are really good too, they retain heat for awhile so i always turn the hob off before the food has finished cooking as it will be done before the pan has cooled down all the way.
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ButteryHOLsomeness
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| Behemoth wrote: | | I was told that if you need to cool something quite rapidly for serving or whatever that you should bung a few potatoes in, they start to cook and suck a the heat out of the soup etc and then you discard or eat the spuds. Never tried it. |
well i don't know about that but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt...
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Bernie66
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| ButteryHOLsomeness wrote: | | Behemoth wrote: | | I was told that if you need to cool something quite rapidly for serving or whatever that you should bung a few potatoes in, they start to cook and suck a the heat out of the soup etc and then you discard or eat the spuds. Never tried it. |
well i don't know about that but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt... |
and the heat if you have made the chilli too hot-if that is possible
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sean
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| ButteryHOLsomeness wrote: | | Behemoth wrote: | | I was told that if you need to cool something quite rapidly for serving or whatever that you should bung a few potatoes in, they start to cook and suck a the heat out of the soup etc and then you discard or eat the spuds. Never tried it. |
well i don't know about that but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt... |
I thought that was another myth....According to Robert Wolke in What Einstein told his Cook, there's no measurable change in salt concentration after adding spuds.
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twoscoops
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| Bernie66 wrote: | | [well i don't know about that but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt... |
and the heat if you have made the chilli too hot-if that is possible [/quote]
*twilight zone theme tune*
I just posted that somewhere else! How odd.
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dougal
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| jema wrote: | | ... recognising that once things are up top temperature with a lid on, you do not always need to apply more and more heat. |
Poached salmon: Make up whatever poaching stock, court bouillon. Add salmon. Bring to the point of boiling. Replace lid. Turn off heat, leave until cold. Remove and drain well. Enjoy cold, juicy salmon while considering possible uses for the stock...
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dougal
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| sean wrote: | | ButteryHOLsomeness wrote: | | ... but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt... |
I thought that was another myth....According to Robert Wolke in What Einstein told his Cook, there's no measurable change in salt concentration after adding spuds. |
Welll... I don't like spuds boiled without any salt (I'd have to add some at the table) - so - I think they must take up some salt from the liquid. And I'm sure it would be measurable in any decent lab. However, in the time taken to cook the spuds, water will evaporate/boil off from the liquid - so increasing the concentration of the remaining salt! (Therefore, additionally, taste and dilute - ideally with something flavoursome and not salty!)
Chillies - I wonder if the effect is the addition of starch (from the spuds) to the sauce? That starch might well 'mask' the palate from the fire of the chillies...? ??
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ButteryHOLsomeness
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| sean wrote: | | ButteryHOLsomeness wrote: | | Behemoth wrote: | | I was told that if you need to cool something quite rapidly for serving or whatever that you should bung a few potatoes in, they start to cook and suck a the heat out of the soup etc and then you discard or eat the spuds. Never tried it. |
well i don't know about that but i do know that potatoes are excellent for adding into anything that is too salty as they suck up the salt... |
I thought that was another myth....According to Robert Wolke in What Einstein told his Cook, there's no measurable change in salt concentration after adding spuds. |
well in my own experience it works...
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