I noticed whenever I post pictures of food I make on Reddit and for American friends that they get extremely fascinated that we (Sweden) eat whole potatoes that we have only boiled and nothing else.
I'm just curious if this is an uncommon way to eat potatoes in the US?
As for dishes where we eat it, some examples are our famous meat balls, our version of British Sunday roast, boiled cod with sauce and to pickled herring and cured salmon.
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I will say for myself, I don’t know anyone who boils potatoes that isn’t for making mashed potatoes. I’m from Southern California and lived in Indiana for the same amount of time.
Boiled potatoes alone are kinda bland to be honest
In upstate New York we eat salt potatoes. Just potatoes boiled in salt water
I’ve known one family that ate boiled potatoes like that. They had polish roots, not sure if it was passed down due to that or what. Other than that I have never seen Americans eat potatoes that level of simple.
My family would occasionally boil quartered potatoes and add nothing but pepper and butter. But not completely plain.
I steam the little red potatoes whole and serve them coated with butter and dill weed. Georgia, US.
Boiled red potatoes with some salt, sure do!
Yeah sometimes with butter and garlic.
I’m in southern US and I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of someone just eating boiled potatoes straight like that, as most would at least roast cubed potatoes. The only time I can think of when we do eat boiled potatoes is part of a seafood boil.
That sounds great. We do make boiled potatoes here, but it depends on the type of potatoes. Russet potatoes are usually not used for that purpose. It’s the round potatoes that we use for that. Sounds like you are serving potatoes as a side dish. We do the same.
Probably the most frequent use of potatoes is for french fries here. we used to use them for crisps (potato chips) but they’re not as prevalent as they used to be. A lot of people in America will take a russet potato, bake it cut it nearly in half and put in a topping of their choice. So that’s probably what they were reacting to. They were expecting you to put it in an oven and put some type of sauce or topping on it.
Boiled potatoes were a staple in my family growing up. I mean we were poor, so potatoes in general were a staple, but 6 out of 7 days if we had potatoes, they’d be boiled.
I still eat them boiled most of the time.
We had boiled potatoes when I was a kid. Sometimes my mom would make a lovely parsley and onion butter sauce on them which was delicious.
Like….no salt, pepper? Nothing?
I think everybody is answering you with boiled russet or similar potato in mind, but I will say that the one potato variety that I do eat simply boiled (plus a little butter and salt) are new potatoes, those little red-skinned ones with the thin skin.
I mean it’s not uncommon, but if you have butter, pepper, and salt ya may as well use em yaknow?
I do eat boiled potatoes on occasion. I’ll boil them in a salt water then smash them on my plate and top with butter and pepper.
We eat boiled new/baby potatoes with butter and salt all the time in season in my family (Los Angeles.)
I’ve eaten plenty of boiled potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper, but I don’t know how common or uncommon they are generally.
I boil baby potatoes occasionally. A quick 15 minute side dish.
I’m US born and raised, and I love boiled potatoes. I’m in the minority, though. The most common ways to eat potatoes here are fried, roasted, and baked.
In the southeastern U.S. we eat boiled potatoes and green beans together often. Sometimes if you have small fingerling potatoes we will boil them in salt, pepper, and butter.
If we boil them we usually then mash them ~~(stick them in a stew)~~ to have as mashed potatoes. And then many people opt for salt and/or butter
Mashed potatoes are just boiled potatoes mashed. So people in the US eat boiled potatoes all the time.
Growing up my family would have them halved or quartered and boiled. Then smash with a fork on the plate, add butter, salt, pepper, and top with canned Pork & Beans or Baked Beans.
I love them but i add salt, pepper and a little butter once it’s on the plate. Does that still count?
That sounds like food you’d eat in a deep economic depression, or if ww2 bombers were actively flying ahead, or medieval peasant food
Can’t say I’ve ever ate a plain boiled potato other than taking a small piece/chunk or two before they get mashed together.
I would choose baked over boiled every time.
We tend to bake, not boil them. But we will also boil and mash them. Both usually then get butter, salt, and pepper. But we’ll also boil let them cool and do potato salad (add hard boiled egg, onion, jalapeno, dressing, bacon bits). They may also just be boiled as part of a stew as well.
My mom made boiled potatoes all the time when I was a kid and I never thought about it before… but my grandpa is Swedish. OP, you’ve connected the dots for me on this!
We have a tendency to season our food here. That means sauces, direct seasonings, marinades, rubs. I think the only time I have had a boiled potato with no seasoning was when my parents were trying to get me to keep food down, and potatoes alone are really bland.
We like our food seasoned.
Sweden and England competing for culinary infamy 😂
This is not something I would want.
> we (Sweden) eat whole potatoes that we have only boiled and nothing else.
>
So when you say “boiled and nothing else”, do you mean another *cooking method*?
> with sauce and to pickled herring and cured salmon.
>
> Yeah alone they are bland, but we tend to have sauce with.
You guys aren’t eating what I’d call plain potatoes.
Yes, we boil potatoes as a cooking method. Especially small ones like Yukon Golds. A boiled Russet would be weird.
One of my worst childhood memories is my mom throwing pork ribs, sauerkraut, carrots, and potatoes in a pot and boiling the fuck out of them. I get it, we didn’t have a ton of money, but…sauteeing and searing existed and didn’t cost any more?
That sounds horribly bland and tasteless but there are those people who think mayonnaise is spicy so?
With so many flavors and textures available – why plain?
I cannot think of a more boring and bland thing to eat than a boiled potato.
Baked potatoes are very common, but boiled ones aren’t per se. We usually bake them and then add green onion, sour cream, salt, pepper…maybe bacon crumbles. It’s not unusual to sub out sour cream with plain Greek yogurt or something either.
There’s still a lot of people who eat them this way, but I’ve generally moved away from boiling vegetables.
The only time I’ve ever had a potato cooked that way is during the Passover seder. The potato is dipped in salt water and passed around the table, to signify the tears of the Israelites during their enslavement in Egypt.
Yes, it’s uncommon. Why? Because we have more developed palates.
Since there are much more flavorful ways to prepare potatoes, and since we in the United States have an abundance of herbs and spices available to us, it just makes sense for us to opt out of bland potato preparation methods such as simple boiling, with no flavor added. At the very least, we would boil or simmer our potatoes in chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, to impart flavor.
Given that we also produce large amounts of cheese, it’s common for potatoes and cheese to be combined.
Of all the delicious ways to eat potatoes , I’m not going to eat a plain boiled potato.
Please take this comment not as judgment because everyone eats what they eat. I actually know a lot of people who eat just boiled potatoes but because the US is so big with many cultures, I find we like spices a bit more than or European friends.
I live in Germany and yes there are spices but it’s usually paprika or rosemary- this kinds. I really missed flavor. It felt exhausting that everything there is just white flavored