How To Prepare Spuds Properly For The Best Potato Salad Texture

Who doesn't love a potato? From mashed to baked, there are dozens of means of preparation and a potato recipe for every taste.

One of the more underrated modes of potato preparation is the classic potato salad. This simple mixture of boiled potatoes, mayonnaise, and seasonings can make the best side dish for sandwiches or on a barbeque platter. As with most simple recipes, however, you must use only the best ingredients and prepare everything just right to ensure the end result is basic but not boring.

Potato salad, in particular, has a lot of room for error. Too much dressing can make a gloopy mess, and overcooking potatoes can result in cold mashed potatoes. To avoid the latter situation, boil your potatoes in cold water to ensure an even cooking time.

It probably sounds counterintuitive to start your potatoes in cold water unless you believe that old myth that cold water boils faster than hot water. But we are not talking about a faster cooking time here. Starting your potatoes in cold water helps ensure that the potatoes cook evenly throughout.

Think about it; if you plunge your potatoes directly into boiling water, the heat will start to quickly cook the outside of the potato before the inside can come up to temperature. This will leave you with overcooked potatoes on the outside that are still raw in the center. No bueno.

However, if you start your potatoes in cold water, the entire potato can come up to temperature at the same time as the water comes to a boil. After draining and cooling the potatoes, you will have the perfect canvas for potato salad that will have everyone going back for seconds.

You should also use this technique for almost any other boiled spuds recipe, such as mashed potatoes. If you are concerned with shortening the cooking time, you can dice the potatoes into even pieces before popping them into the pot, making them cook quicker.