Perfect potatoes

Slow-Cooked Potatoes

Potatoes are subject to water woes. When you boil them unpeeled, their skins tend to break and let water soak in, making this already humble vegetable mushy and unattractive.

To avoid waterlogged spuds, don't boil them at all; cook them gently in water slightly below the temperature of an active boil. The potatoes take a little longer to cook, but in most cases you get a watertight casing and succulent interior.

Use this method to discover what a treat carefully cooked potatoes are in their skins, with butter and parsley, or how good a warm potato salad can be when the only liquids in it are flavorful oil and vinegar, not water the potatoes have absorbed.