Can you brine potatoes?

[Shalmanese]

I generally prefer steaming potatos to boiling them because they're easier to cook, more tolerant to overcooking, don't become waterlogged and dont require a colander. However, I can't salt steamed potatos as they are cooking but I can with boiled ones.

I just had a random thought that I could brine them overnight the day before and that way, I would have perfectly salted steamed potatos. Has anyone tried this? For every day, it might be a bit involved but I was thinking for, say a dinner party, that extra step might just make my life a bit easier.

[wattacetti]

Intriguing. I've just plopped a potato into some brine: can't wait to see what happens in a couple of hours.

[Mikeb19]

Most commercial french fries are brined before they're fried, so you should be able to do the same with whole potatoes. Just curious though, what is the finished product? (Mashed, purée, hash, etc...)

[handmc]

In addition to putting them in a brine to add moisture, naturally can you brine to add flavor.

I have a valentines dinner where I want to do pan roasted potatoes but I would like them to have that nice beefy flavor you get when you cook them in the same pan with a roast.

I am cooking steaks for the dinner so I cannot do the roast thing, its a church fund raiser so I have to keep the food costs low.

I found you can add flavor at the end if you toss them in some demi-however that softens the nice crust you get on the outside and I do not want to do that.

Back to the lab I'm going to plop some in some, beef stock, with a little extra stock to see what happens.

I plan to pan roast them in some render beef fat. So I will cook some plan and brined and get back to you.

Great question!

p.s. Last week's lab experiment was if you took Charile Trotter's red wine and sweet corn sauce and added a little demi glace would it be a nice sauce to serve with a steak. The answer a resounding Yes!

[jackal10]

Penetration of brine into a potato is very small

[handmc]

Why is that I wonder? Because it is so dense? I wonder if you add a very low heat like a poach you could increase pentration without changing the texture of the potato.

[jackal10]

Why is that I wonder? Because it is so dense? I wonder if you add a very low heat like a poach you could increase pentration without changing the texture of the potato.

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Nope. Salting the water you boil potatoes in makes very little difference to taste.

[daniellewiley]

I don't brine them, per se. But, when I will be pan roasting them, I often season them in advance and put them in the fridge in a zipper bag. They release quite a bit of liquid, and the seasoing kind of soaks into the potatoes. They get sort of translucent and soft. When they are roasted, they still crisp up, and the flavor is dispersed throughout, not just sprinkled on top.

The seasonings I use for this include salt, pepper and smoked paprika.

[Shalmanese]

Nope. Salting the water you boil potatoes in makes very little difference to taste.

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huh? Whenever I boil potatos, I salt the water until it tastes like the sea and my potatos come out perfectly seasoned with no need for salt afterwards.

[jsolomon]

Why is that I wonder? Because it is so dense? I wonder if you add a very low heat like a poach you could increase pentration without changing the texture of the potato.

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I'd try puncturing the potato with toothpicks numerous times, instead.

[wattacetti]

The potato came out of the brine intact and I've steamed it: the edges are slightly salty but the rest is a regular unsalted potato.

[BarbaraY]

I used to work at a place that cut up a lot of fries into a 5 gal bucket and then covered them with water overnight. They soaked up a lot of water during that time. Perhaps the salt in a brine would do the same on smaller pieces rather than whole.

[ronnie_suburban]

There's a Greek place near me which serves wonderfully salty and flavorful roasted potatoes. Years ago I tried to replicate them and brined some peeled russet potatoes for 48 hours (1 gallon water, 1 C Kosher salt). After I cooked the potatoes, I was astounded by how completely bland they were. Whatever the restaurant was doing, it didn't seem to be brining which had, by my perception, almost no effect at all. If anyone's results differ, I'd love to hear about them and the method by which they acheived them.

=R=

[Jack Rose]

Salting water for "boiling" potatoes certainly does make a difference. It think it is a question of how much salt to use. Potatoes are a starch and much like grains, pasta, and rice they take in a large amount of salt before the flavor is accentuated. Try using more salt in the water. Also, you don't ever really want to "boil" potatoes, meaning a hard, rolling boil on high heat for this causes the gluten in the starch network to activate and results in a heavy, sticky end product. Although it takes longer to cook, lower the heat and compare the results.

Leaving the skin on potatoes when cooking in water almost completely inhibits salt absorption, meaning that the water was below boiling and potatoes stay relatively intact and not bursting. If making a mash or puree, a good method is to heat your cream or dairy mixture (and butter) in a separate pan so it won't cool the potatoes and dissolving salt in that mixture, if you want to keep the skins on for a more rustic preparation.

Brining potatoes does in fact work, but again it is a higher concentration of salt and a longer time period. This works best for cut potatoes for french fries, especially if they are being held previously cut and being held before daily blanching/frying in a restaurant setting. Large-scale franchises and fast-food vendors have factories (commissaries) that peel, cut, "brine" (also treated with other chemicals to resist oxidation), pre-cook, and then blast-freeze the fries. The end user (fry cook) has to just open a bag, put them in a basket, and set a timer - automated and hopefully idiot-proof in order to serve customers the same French Fries at all their varied franchisees.

[rxrfrx]

Also, you don't ever really want to "boil" potatoes, meaning a hard, rolling boil on high heat for this causes the gluten in the starch network to activate

Potatoes contain no gluten (or, more accurately, potatoes contain no gluten-forming proteins). Perhaps you're just thinking of a type of starch hydration that results in a gelatinous texture.

[chef koo]

at work we steam our potatos for our mash. i've never had a problem with saltines. just steam, mash and season like you normally would.

[Jack Rose]

Thanks for the correction regarding "gluten" with regards to potatoes. I used the wrong word. This is why coeliac suffers substitute potato starch because of their gluten allergies. The information is otherwise accurate, omitting the word.

[Shalmanese]

hrmm... thats a bust. Anybody with a sous vide machine, could you try parcooking the potatos at 65C for 3 hours in a brine and then cooling, storing for 24 hours, steaming and then eating whole? Blumenthal advocates first cooking at 65C in order to create his signature mash since the starch granules gelatinise at this temp but the cell walls do not burst. I am thinking that this may be the way to get the potatos to absorb salt. I am not trying to do this for mash, although that would be nice. What I am trying to achieve is absolutely evenly seasoned chunks of steamed potato.

[jaynesb]

There's a Greek place near me which serves wonderfully salty and flavorful roasted potatoes.  Years ago I tried to replicate them and brined some peeled russet potatoes for 48 hours (1 gallon water, 1 C Kosher salt).  After I cooked the potatoes, I was astounded by how completely bland they were.  Whatever the restaurant was doing, it didn't seem to be brining which had, by my perception, almost no effect at all.  If anyone's results differ, I'd love to hear about them and the method by which they acheived them.

=R=

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I've made these greek potatoes (roasted with garlic, lemon, and oregano) . Not sure if this is the kind of thing you are looking for but they are really good. Whenever I make them, they seem to need more cooking time than is specified. Also, I've had good results with red skinned potatoes as well as yukon gold. I preferred these to using the baking potatoes specified in the recipe.

jayne

[daniellewiley]

hrmm... thats a bust. Anybody with a sous vide machine, could you try parcooking the potatos at 65C for 3 hours in a brine and then cooling, storing for 24 hours, steaming and then eating whole? Blumenthal advocates first cooking at 65C in order to create his signature mash since the starch granules gelatinise at this temp but the cell walls do not burst. I am thinking that this may be the way to get the potatos to absorb salt. I am not trying to do this for mash, although that would be nice. What I am trying to achieve is absolutely evenly seasoned chunks of steamed potato.

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Shalmanese - try my strange refrigeration method (toss potato chunks with seasoning and olive oil, throw into ziplock bag, refrigerate for a few hours). I think the salt really does permeate this way, though I don't know why.

[pounce]

On Feb 7 2006, 07:29 PM, Shalmanese said:

hrmm... thats a bust. Anybody with a sous vide machine, could you try parcooking the potatos at 65C for 3 hours in a brine and then cooling, storing for 24 hours, steaming and then eating whole? Blumenthal advocates first cooking at 65C in order to create his signature mash since the starch granules gelatinise at this temp but the cell walls do not burst. I am thinking that this may be the way to get the potatos to absorb salt. I am not trying to do this for mash, although that would be nice. What I am trying to achieve is absolutely evenly seasoned chunks of steamed potato.

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I've done the potato starch retrograde treatment sous vide. It does make for some good mashed. I have not done 3 hours and then steamed though. It might work. What size chunks would you want your taters for steaming?

See Jackal10's Potato Primer for some good info.

[handmc]

Thanks Danielle I will give it a try.

[Shalmanese]

Shalmanese - try my strange refrigeration method (toss potato chunks with seasoning and olive oil, throw into ziplock bag, refrigerate for a few hours). I think the salt really does permeate this way, though I don't know why.

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That was going to be my 3rd option if this doesnt work but it seems to me that brining leads to a much more predictable product. Do you what seasonings do and do not penetrate the potatos? Since I'm steaming and not roasting, it would be a waste of seasoning if it doesn't penetrate.

[johndan]

Maybe I missed an earlier post, but there are also "salt potatoes" from upstate NY. They're sold in restaurants and grocery stores (where you can buy them raw in the produce section, with salt packet included).

Basically, they're just boiled potatoes, but with an extreme amount of salt in the boiling water. I think the standard measure is about a 1/4 pound of salt per pound of new potatoes. (The bags we buy usually have 5 # of potatoes and 1-1/4 # of salt.) I've seen recipes that describe the amount of salt as "add salt to cooking water until no more will dissolve."

After cooking, the potatoes have a full, somewhat delicate flavor--not exceptionally salty (similar, I guess, to other brined foods prepared well).

[John Woods]

I'm going to be doing a "kettle style" potato chip appetizer. Anyone have any good brine ideas?