How to peel boiled potatoes in seconds
Potatoes are delicious and are part of many recipes as an accompaniment. However, peeling them is difficult. But there are simple tricks that make it easy.
Jacket potatoes, boiled potatoes, grilled potatoes: the popular tuber can be prepared in various ways. What bothers many, however, is the skin. But do you have to peel potatoes? Yes, with one cooking method, you should remove the skin quickly. Watch the video above or click here to see how.
Be sure to peel the jacket potatoes immediately
Jacket potatoes must always be peeled while hot immediately after cooking. Once they have cooled, the peel sticks tightly again. How to peel jacket potatoes:
Rinse the tubers extensively after cooking, because only then can the thin skin be peeled off easily.
Skewer the potato with a fork.
Then make a cut with a small kitchen knife and then turn it over.
With the blunt side of the blade you can now slowly peel the skin off the potato in long strips.
Peel jacket potatoes in a few seconds
Another trick is quicker and easier:
Before cooking, score the potatoes all over with a small knife.
After cooking, place the tubers in a bowl of ice water for about eight to ten seconds.
The cold water will deter the potatoes and allow it to seep under the skin along the cut.
Now take the potatoes in both hands and gently pull the peel away from the cut.
Ideally, both halves of the shell should come off in one go.
Peel raw potatoes – with a knife or vegetable peeler?
Potatoes can be easily peeled with a special potato knife that is slightly curved at the tip. With the rounded tip, the round potatoes can be peeled more easily. The disadvantage is that you not only cut off the skin, but also a large part of the edible potato.
When used properly, a peeler only removes the top layer of the peel. You can also easily adjust the swinging blade of the peeler to the potato curve. Gently pull the peeler towards you over the potato. When the blades are sharp, they slide under the shell almost by themselves.
Peel potatoes before or after cooking?
Potatoes that are peeled before cooking are called boiled potatoes. If the skin is removed after cooking, they are called jacket potatoes.
The advantage of jacket potatoes is that less vitamins (vitamin C, vitamin B) and other nutrients are released into the water during cooking because of the skin. The taste is also more intense than boiled potatoes.
Potatoes for the potato salad: cook them peeled or peel them after cooking?
Jacket potatoes taste more intense, but if cutting the boiled potatoes is too tedious, you can peel the tubers before cooking and cut them into thin slices accordingly. The advantage of this method is that the potato slices will be more even and will not fall apart when cut.
Eat potatoes with or without the skin?
In addition to nutrients and fiber, the skin of the potato also contains glycoalkaloids. These substances are toxic and are found more often in the sprouts and the skin. This is one of the reasons why you should no longer eat heavily sprouting or unripe potatoes. Inside, however, the concentration is lower.
However, the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection has given the all-clear: “Under normal conditions and in normal quality, our potato varieties currently on the market do not have any harmful levels of glycoalkaloids.” For this reason, both jacket and grilled potatoes can be eaten in their skins, “although some percentage of the glycoalkaloid content is found in the skin and the layer immediately below.”
You can reduce the glycoalkaloid content in potatoes by storing the tuber correctly – 10 degrees Celsius is ideal -, consuming it quickly and avoiding damage.
