Soaking potatoes before you cook them - right or wrong?

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DP is religious about this "to get the starch out"

I can't be bothered and think it is a right waste of time!

who is right?

I've never heard of this. Can you tell the difference?

I've never soaked a potato in my life!

I only do this if making chips, then tbh I only wash them/dry them.

Soaking them can remove all the soluble B vits and vit C

I can't tell the difference but dp reckons he can

DH always does this if he is making chips. He read it once in a book and is slavish about following recipe instructions . I sometimes peel potatoes in advance of needing them and so leave them covered in water, but only for convenience.

er no! if you peel in advance they go in water to stop them discolouring. if you par boil before making chips you obviously pat them dry as they make a dry fluffier chip, give them a little shake to rough up the edges makes them crispier. there are some foods you need the starch in, thats the point of them isnt it? you can actually water log your potatos by over boiling them and they go all mank.

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we don't make chips so this is for mash or roast ptoatoes.

At least 1 hour of soaking with regular water changes...does nobody else do this?!!!

I out them in cold water as I peel them, then tip this out and rinse them, then cook - not a full hour's worth of sooaking! It does make a difference imo, no startch scum foating to top of pan, roasties crisp rather than sticky

Aha! a supporter for my dp at last!

perfect rosties are par boiled for 5 mins drained so there is no stuff on them, given a quick shake in pan over low heat so nice and dry and rough round the edges then put into hot fat, crispy on outside soft inside. in my little abode anyway, god id never tell me dp about soaking them, he's so ocd about so much i think id have a break down if he started on something like that!

gosh my typing was appalling there 'starchy scum floating' would be more like it! I couldn't cope if I had to start preparing potatoes a full hour before I wanted to do anything with them though!

it does make starch come out though
not all of it but starch does come out

the thing is it actually takes a very long time by which time your pots are a bit spongey

it's not like pasta or rice where it's sort of all over when you eat it..I don't think it's worth it

The only benefit to soaking as far as I know is when you have slightly soft potatoes (end of a large bag/end of the season) and they harden up again. I haven't noticed any starch coming out but it does make chips and roasties less soggy for some reason (don't understand the chemistry).

We used to peel potatoes in advance and keep them in water all the time when I was a child - peeling potatoes was one of our jobs to do before my mum got home from work and we started on tea.

only for pommes dauphinoise (poncey layers of sliced spud baked in cream) and chips.

DH soaks them before peeling them. Then you have to peel wet muddy spuds

i thought that was gratin
for poncey read easy and put some garlic between the layers

ha ha you are probably right. Daupinoise, Lyonaise, Gratin, roat, baked,boiled, chipped - it's all spuds. DH family insist on knowing whether it's Maris Pipers, King Edwards or whatever being dished up.

isnt dauphonoise where theyre baked with garlic and cream/milk and gratin is where you grate it squeeze out the water add a little egg to stick it together and fry them.

mmm i love spuds

Oh!

dauphinoise rocks then

DD1 won't eat potatoes, apart from smiley faces in moderation. So we don't have them very often here, shame reallly as DP and I are both keen on them.

DD2 isn't that fussed about them either way, but will not eat smiley faces as she doesn't like the eyes