"The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you have got to have a what-the-hell attitude." ~ Julia Child

The OTHER way to peel potatoes…

by Julie on February 19, 2012

in Minor Miracles

Did you know this? That there was a way to peel potatoes that involves boiling them first then simply pulling the skins off?

I didn’t.

Seriously. I’d never read about this. Never heard mention of it. Not one foodie friend made mention of this technique. And yes, these days I do read cooking magazines and blogs and listen carefully to people who know how to cook from my perch in the corner. I’m on the internets all day long. I read Boing-Boing. I also read Epi-curious. It’s likely that I would have come across this technique before now, but no.

Abject ignorance.

How’d I find out? I couldn’t find my potato peeler in the chaos that is my kitchen utensil drawer.

“Why don’t you just do it the other way,” said Marisa.

“I don’t want to do it with a knife. I value my digits.”

“Not with a knife, the other way. You boil ’em and then the skin just slides off.”

“What?”

Yeah you know.

No, I did not know.

She called up this video on her smart phone and showed me.

It’s in Japanese. But I got the gist. You boil the potato for, it said, 15 minutes or so, then take it out with tongs and put it in a bowl of iced water. You count to ten, then just peeeeeeeel off the skins. So cool!

So what the hell, I tried it.

When Marisa said “score” the potatoes in a circle, my mind translated that to mean, “in a spiral.” So I scored half the potatoes in a spiraling method (many circles the length of the potato) before she set me straight. Duh.

Did it work? Sorta.

So yeah, it works. Unfortunately, the potatoes weren’t cooked through after only 15 minutes, so I had to microwave them to death before throwing them back in the pan and adding butter and milk and mushing them through. It worked out in the end, but it was touch and go for a while…I can’t be expected try something new and make a recipe I already know how to do…it throws me off.

fortunately, nobody noticed. The boy ate his shephard’s pie with gusto.

Try it and let me know how it goes…I’m gonna try it again, but I’ll do it right this time.

Stay tuned…

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Bruce February 20, 2012 at 7:56 am

Okay, that is just plain cool. I’ve done it with tomatoes, but not potatoes. Awesome!

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Angharad Hill February 20, 2012 at 8:38 pm

Hi Julie , I came across your web page blogg thing about how to try and cook tee hee !!!! The reason I’m here is because I was looking for a 39 and counting book . 29 and counting was brill perfect for me at the time and was correct . It put me on the straight and narrow and helped me put my life into perspective and sort it out . So my life since has been perfect 29 – 39 met man of dreams , kids house and in the last year moved over to America . I’m 40 next month and have started having a fit especially now that I’ve realized your doing cook books and not a much needed 39 and counting advice book !!!! However I’m loving your blogs on cooking and didn’t realize you wrote articles for parenting mag which pile up on my cooking surface much to my husbands annoyance ! If there is to be a 39 and counting please hurry up am desperately running out of time . Xxxxxx Angharad

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Julie February 20, 2012 at 10:26 pm

Hey Angharad – Wow! Thanks for writing…and for having read all the older stuff too! I can tell you from experience that as great as your ’30s turned out to be, your ’40s will be even better. Wait and see. It’s an awesome decade…

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Bonnie McCarthy February 21, 2012 at 11:14 am

Hey!! No one told me about this either!! Thanks for breaking the silence! Peeled potatoes for all!!

Reply

Chris March 26, 2012 at 8:04 pm

I always boil the potatoes with the skin on before making my potato salad. After they’re done and have been soaking in ice water for a little while, you’re able to slip the skins and chop them up into perfect squares for your salad.

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