Now this is a great recipe from Cook's Country magazine: It has history! It tastes fabulous! Best of all, it has science! Lots and lots of science!!Here's the history: It started with Irish salt workers in Syracuse, NY some time in the 1800s. They extracted salt from the waters of a local lake by boiling away the water in large evaporation vats. The workers would slip their potatoes into the evaporation vats to cook and 20 minutes later it was lunch time!
Here's the recipe:
Boil 8 cups of water
Add 1 1/4 cups of NON IODIZED salt or 1 1/2 cups of Kosher salt
(do NOT try this with iodized salt)
put in 3 lbs of small whole potatoes (don't cut them!) and boil for 20- 30 minutes.
Science break:
First notice that the potatoes float! There is enough salt in the water to change its density. The potato is less dense that the salty water. Try a potato in plain water, too.
Now boil some plain water and take the temperature of the pure water: 212 degrees, right? Take the temperature of the boiling salty water. Ours was 221 degrees. It gets better. As the water evaporates, the water in the pot gets saltier. Ten minutes later it was boiling at 223 degrees.
Ok, in 20 or 30 minutes, when your potatoes feel a little soft (use tongs, not a skewer or the salt will flood the inside of the potato), lift them out with tongs (don't drain the water!) and set them on a wire rack if you have one (or a plate!).
Stare at your potatoes.
Science break:
Watch the incredible crystal formations on the potato skins! Grab a magnifying glass and verify that each crystal is square! Talk about crystal lattice structures!
Now look at the water. The evaporation of the water concentrated the salt so that you now have a super saturated solution. The crystals are forming so quickly that you can watch them! The salty water is so dense that the salt crystals float! Remember that a hot liquid can hold more than a cold liquid. As it cools, the salt falls out of suspension more quickly. Once the entire surface is covered (click picture above for a super-large view!!), you can poke holes in the crystal covering and watch the crystals reform and push each other up and apart. Plate tectonics, anyone?
Now, cut open your potatoes. Be careful, these are hotter than regular boiled potatoes! They also have a luscious creamy texture because the higher temperature has more completely cooked their starch. The skins do not allow the salt into the potato (compare this with cell membranes). The skins are about as salty as potato chips. Traditionally they are served with melted butter. Mmmmm.
Lets look at the statistics:
3 out of 6 Zoomlians dislike potatoes in any form except fries.
6 out of 6 wanted more salt potatoes...
A highly successful experiment. The only draw back was that I only got to eat three. Next time I may need to do 2 pots. We could experiment with varying salinity... We could cut one of the potatoes, or poke holes in it and see if the inside of that potato is salty.
Kitchen. Science. Madness!
4 comments:
Mmm! Summer just wouldn't be summer for us without "salt potatoes." :)
This is why I tell everyone you are
SO COOL!!
Using melted butter tends to wash off the salt crystals. The original technique is to squeeze the potato until it breaks open at the top and plop on some cold butter and eat the whole thing at once.
BTW, the salt brine came from salt springs, not the lake. There is a salt spring on Onondaga Lake Parkway where you could get a gallon or two to boil your potatoes. It was a wooden pipe set into the hillside and surrounded by a 30's WPA brick and stone structure.
We finally made these last night. They were delicious!
Post a Comment