Yvonne, thats really interesting about the water temperature thing. I think I heard it on the TV somewhere, tried it out and noticed that if you add some salt to hot water just below boiling point, it appears to immeadiately start boiling, which I thought indicated that the salt allows the water to come to a boil at a lower temperature. In fact it appears to heat the water up and boil at a higher temperature, which will cook the potatos more quickly. What the article you linked to doesn't tell us is what the difference is to adding salt to cold water. Will it reach the higher temperature more quickly and therefore have the adverse effect that I pointed out of not cooking the inside of the potato through and the outside breaking up? Perhaps i should try a little experiment of my own. (Edited by Andy Lynes at 3:25 pm on Aug. 1, 2001) ----- Andy Lynes www.alynes.freeserve.co.uk eGullet.com Community Coordinator UK