I love it when cooking involves a bit of a science experiment. In this case, research suggested adding baking soda to the pot when parboiling potatoes; having water of higher alkalinity than usual helps the outside edges of the potatoes break down more, opening up the possibility of a crisper outside texture.
Meanwhile, the alkaline water helps the exteriors of the potatoes break down more, creating much more of the starchy slurry that leads to an extra-crisp exterior. About a half teaspoon of baking soda for two quarts of water was the right amount.
Baking soda on its own has a high pH, of course, but the boiling water will boost the alkalinity further. “When you add baking soda to boiling water, sodium bicarbonate breaks down into three compounds: sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide,” says Sharma.
Baking soda will cause the potatoes to break down, making them a little mushy and fall apart. Vinegar will make them hold their shape better. Baking soda is good if you're making Kenji's crispy roast potatoes because the mushy potatoes will make a coating of fat and starch which helps them get crispy in the oven.
The starch in potatoes is held together by pectin. When that pectin breaks down too quickly in the boiling process, mushy potatoes result. Adding vinegar to the water fixes that problem because, as López-Alt explains, “pectin breaks down much more slowly in acidic environments.”
Shower them with salt.
Dense potatoes don't absorb seasonings easily, so you'll need to salt the water liberally so that the water the potatoes do drink up also carries in seasoning. And because potatoes are so timid in flavor, they need that salt to bring them out of their shells. Pour some salt in, then keep going.
Baking powder is, without a doubt, the best baking soda substitute you can find.
Make the fluffiest mashed potatoes by simply adding a pinch of baking soda to your favorite recipe, certain to be a crowd pleaser!
A chemical reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda produces bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. The dish detergent in the vinegar helps the bubbles last longer than they would with just vinegar and baking soda.
This bath essentially gelatinizes the outside of the pretzel, preventing it from fully “springing” during baking (as bread does) and giving pretzels their signature chewy crust. It also gives them their unique and indelible “pretzel” flavor.
According to our friends at Delish, adding a teaspoon of baking soda to your boiling pot of water will help the shell peel off seamlessly. Why? The alkaline in the baking soda will help your egg whites loosen up from the shell, making it easier to peel.
Fill and season a pot of water: Add water and a few big pinches of salt to a pot. Make sure you fill the pot with enough water to completely cover the potatoes. Never skip the salt—it's a big part of flavoring the potatoes and won't cause them to taste too salty.
For extra-crusty exteriors on our roasted potatoes, we add a dash of baking soda to the water as they parboil. The alkaline environment breaks down pectin in the potatoes' cell walls, causing their surface layer to fall apart and release starch that forms a pasty film.
The secret ingredient to these super crispy roasted potatoes is bicarb or bicarbonate of soda. You may already know that bicarb does wonders with tenderising meat. Bicarb as a tenderiser: Bicarb, Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda is different from baking powder.
Vinegar helps boiled potatoes hold their shape
The presence of acid in boiling water can retain structure-providing carbs in potatoes, so they don't break down and soften as easily as they would in a pot of boiling water sans vinegar.
Baking soda has a shelf-life of 18 months, but it's not quite as cut and dry as reading the expiration date. Technically, eating expired baking soda won't hurt you, so you don't have to worry about falling ill from a cake gone wrong. However, if baking soda has gone bad, it won't work very well.
🌟 Add baking soda into the water you boil the potatoes in. The baking soda makes the water alkaline which helps breakdown the surface of the potatoes and draw out the starch which really helps get that crispiness.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Do not cover. (Covering changes the environment in the pot and can make the potatoes turn mushy.)
In the anomaly, very-high solid potato little water resides within, hence nothing to permeate around or within the solids' cells to cook the potato, no matter how long exposed to surrounding, external heat medium such as baking or boiling - explaining the hard or crunchy potatoes texture described.
How to Boil Potatoes for Potato Salad. Waxy potatoes can be cooked whole or cut, with or without the skin. Starchy potatoes should be cooked whole with the skin on, then peeled and cut after they're cooked. Select medium Russet potatoes, not large ones, to ensure the skin doesn't split while cooking.
The most important part here is that you use cold water instead of boiled – if you boil the water first, the outside will cook faster than the inside resulting in an uneven texture. Cubed spuds will take around 15 minutes where larger chunks or whole new potatoes will be 20-25 minutes.
Pre-cook/parboil. They precook the potatoes until almost done. Then when the customer orders the potatoes they finish cooking them.