Ina Garten's Expert Tip For Perfectly Cooked Potato Salad

Potato perils are a real thing when you are making a classic potato salad. Undercook your potatoes, and they are crunchy — and not in a good way — and have a strong, starchy taste. They also won't absorb the dressing the way perfectly cooked potatoes do. Overcook your potatoes, and they become mushy and fall apart when you mix them with all the other ingredients. Neither outcome is the result you desire. Luckily, Ina Garten has a tip to help you up your cooking game and overcome this obstacle, and it involves steaming your potatoes. 

Per Food Network, the Barefoot Contessa revealed she brings her potatoes to a boil in a pot of salted water and lets them cook for 10 to 15 minutes at a simmer. She drains them in a colander, then places the colander over the empty pot, covers them with a clean kitchen towel, and allows them to steam for another 15 to 20 minutes. The result is a potato with a soft, fluffy texture that maintains its integrity.

The beauty of Ina Garten's technique is that, by allowing the potatoes to cook in the cold water as she brings it to a boil, the entire potato cooks more evenly, inside and out. Additionally, boiling allows the salt to do its job and soak into the potatoes to add flavor. This is important because if you wait for your potatoes to cool down before you give them a shake of salt, the starch turns solid and makes it impossible for the seasoning to penetrate this tuber. 

Finishing them off by steaming ensures they are completely cooked and ready for slicing and dicing. You will know they are done when you can easily pierce the skin with a fork. Garten creates a dressing comprised of mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, dill, and salt and pepper for taste. Perfectly cooked potatoes will take your spuds out of the bland zone, giving them the ability to absorb all of those rich flavors. Garten recommends pouring the dressing over the potatoes while they are still warm to moisten them.  

It's worth noting that the cookbook author uses small white potatoes but doesn't peel them. She also boils them whole. Some heartier potatoes, like Yukon Gold, will cook more efficiently if you cut them up. So, if you are using different potatoes to make your salad, it may be helpful to do some chopping and peeling.

Garten only uses a sparse number of add-ins for her salad: Chopped celery and red onions round out the flavor, allowing the potato to be the star. Once mixed, she covers her salad and places it in the fridge to chill. This also gives the ingredients the opportunity to meld together. The result is a delicious bite that can be served cold or at room temperature. 

What you will love about Garten's potato cooking tip is that you can use and adapt it for other potato dishes where you want your potatoes to maintain a little bit of structure. This technique is perfect when you are making mashed potatoes, as well as when you need to prep tubers for creamy scalloped potatoes.