Syracuse Salt Potatoes with melted butter.

As we often mention in the blog, there are a few flavor combinations that just seem to always work. Our favorite is tomato/mozzarella/basil, but potato/fat/salt isn’t far behind. And when making potatoes we either steam / fry them in herbs and brown butter or we make Syracuse Salt Potatoes. And, believe it or not, these potatoes are not too salty. But they are very, very tasty. And easy to make.

Syracuse Salt Potatoes with rosemary lamb tenderloin and butter lettuce salad.

And, yes, the recipe does include a lot of salt, but very little ends up on the potatoes. What the salt really does in raise the relative boiling point of the water (chemistry alert). This lets the starches in the potatoes cook more, so you get a creamier potato- more like a baked potato. And once you remove the potatoes from the salty water a fine salt crust will form on the potatoes, and it is just the right amount. Then serve with melted butter and add black pepper and a few herbs if you like. All in about twenty minutes.

Don’t worry, the salt washes away easily.

The history of this dish is classically American. A bunch of Irish immigrants ended up working in the salt industry near Syracuse, New York. The workers brought potatoes, and they already had salt. Presto, salt potatoes. And unlike many food histories, this one does seem to be true. To this day in central New York they sell potatoes in bags with salt. All you need to do is boil water and melt butter.

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