Potatoes are a universal garnish for basically any main course. There are thousands of potato-based recipes throughout the world, in very many cuisines.

Boiled, baked, fried and deep fried, mashed and casseroled, potatoes are extremely versatile. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ways of cooking potatoes.

The easiest way to cook potatoes is boiling them. Boiled potatoes are used for mashing, for a multitude of salads and casseroles. There are two different ways of boiling potatoes. If you are planning to cook mashed potatoes, it’s best to boil them peeled in several cups of water. This way they become soft, their texture isn’t dense and they are easily mashable.

 

To cut the boiling time, you’ll need to cut the peeled potatoes into inch-sized pieces. You can use the broth for mashing or as a base for a vegetarian soup.

If you’re planning to cook a salad that lists potatoes as one of the ingredients, you will need to boil them skin on. This provides the dense, slightly rubbery structure and your potatoes won’t turn into a liquid mash on contact with dressing. When your potatoes are done, before serving you will need to peel them. After that, you can just follow the recipe of your choice. Mix them with other ingredients for dressing, use them in a casserole.

In any case, potatoes are best boiled on high and you should start boiling them in cold water, contrary to dumping them into a pot with boiling water.

No matter what you’re cooking your potatoes for, it’s always best to follow the instruction steps for your recipe of choice, if you’re not very sure of how to cook them. A good recipe will always list cooking times, means and give you a detailed description on what to do at each step.

Have any advice and tips on how to best cook potatoes? We’d love to hear!

Wondering how long to boil potatoes to perfections? Find out in this article ?