Salt potatoes

[Lyndzie]

I just heard of a dish called salt potatoes. Anyone had them?

[Vegankit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_potatoes

I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole - so much salt makes them deadly for people like me who are sensitive to sodium. If you try them, please post back.

[roundcoconut]

yep, they are a picnic food that are considered a staple, in upstate NY.

Basically, you can buy the ingredients all in the little sack, at any farm-stand during the summer. You get a few pounds of baby potatoes (like the size of a baby's fist, generally), and a sack of salt (the size of a small make-up bag), and you're supposed to boil the potatoes in THAT much salt, and then drain, and add a stick of butter (I mean, honestly!)

I picture them (in my memory anyways) all crusted in salt, and just literally living in puddles of butter. The butter and the poatoes are kinda sharing the spotlight -- they are of easily equal importance.

Before I moved out of upstate NY, I didn't realize they were a regional thing, and so, I remember being like, "Oh, who's bringing the salt potatoes?" when my boyfriend's family was discussing a get-together with the other usual suspects (cole slaw, potato salad, fruit salad, grill meat(.

Well, that crap'll kill you, that's for sure. My grandmother had her first heart attack sometime in her late 50s or early 60s. You don't want to imitate these people!

But now you know!

[Lyndzie]

Thanks for your input! Curiosity got the best of me, so I picked up a 1 lb of Baby Yukon gold from Trader Joe’s and found a recipe for making the salt potatoes in the Instant Pot. I used half the salt. I couldn’t find any accurate nutritional info online, because it’s pretty obvious the salt content is ridiculous, but I have no idea how bad.

So, despite using the wrong potatoes and less salt (and, I hope this goes without saying, no butter!), they are quite tasty. It really reminds me of the idea of a french fry, which is a cooked potato loaded with salt and fat.

I will make small potatoes in the Ipot again, but without salt next time. The Yukons have a naturally buttery flavor, and I think would be perfect with a sprinkling of salt on top.

[GeoffreyLevens]

One thing worth noting, salty taste is very relative to your experience/conditioning. I used to love salty corn chips for example. Now, after years of not adding salt at all, the amount of salt on them nearly makes me gag. Most restaurant food same. And I can tell, when I do eat in a restaurant for example, that it would not take too many times for the amount of salt present to taste "normal" to me.