Hinerwadel Salt Potatoes

While salt potatoes have been mentioned on this board before, I haven't seen a discussion about them. OK, so I went to Dinosaur BBQ in Manhattan today and I should be raving about the brisket or hot links. Instead the lowly side dish of salt potatoes got me excited (I don't get out much). A little research and I found some interesting intrigue.
http://www.cnybj.com/fullstory.cfm?article_id=3415&return=frontpage.cfm

and a place that will ship the real thing
https://secure3.nyhost.net/~hannibaliga/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=30

"Salt potatoes are small potatoes boiled in salt water and served with melted butter. The side dish dates to the 19th century and is alleged to be a creation of Irish immigrants working in Syracuse’s salt industry. While creating the product that made Syracuse the “Salt City,” workers boiled their potatoes in the abundant brine. The method survived the decline of the area’s salt business and remains a local favorite."

I don't see a lot of issues concerning this. Boiled potatoes and butter

Kozel, if salt potatoes interest you, try a Salt-Baked potato also, using Idahos.

We love those salt-water-boiled and well-buttered little red devils ! One of our favorite ways to enjoy spuds!

They make a great potato Salad, also!

Oh, yeah! I grew up near Syracuse and live in NYC now. Most of my friends down here couldn't imagine what I was talking about. I had salt potatoes at every clambake and cookout growing up. I was soooooo happy to see them on the menu in Harlem! Love the spicy twist on them too!

quote:

Originally posted by fabulousoyster

Kozel, if salt potatoes interest you, try a Salt-Baked potato also, using Idahos.

I am not sure if what I do qualifies as a salt baked potato but I take a potato of choice, oil it down, cover it with salt and pepper, take rings of onions and bell peppers, cover it in aluminum foil and bake it for about a hour at 425F.

The residual gravy with the onions and peppers and olive oil is super over the finished product.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

The only salt potatoes I recall are potatoes that have been heavily salted before being packaged. I bought a bag years ago to experiment with this novelty. My assumption was that this was an old fashioned method of preserving potatoes. I also assumed that one would want to decrease the salt as much as possible. With these assumptions I treated them much as one would a country ham; long soaking in water then boiled. They were still very salty, I could not imagine why one would want even more salt added to them.

These do not seem like the salt potatoes being discussed here as there is no mention of them being pre-salted in the thread. Are they the same or is what I bought a different product entirely?

Hi Greyghost, the pre-salted potatoes you describe are definitely not "salt potatoes," as eaten in Central and Northern New York state. (They sound interesting though -- I'm curious what they were all about. Doesn't seem like you'd have to 'salt' potatoes to preserve them, does it?)

I grew up about 60 miles north of Syracuse in the 1980s, and then as now, salt potatoes are an omnipresent summer side dish, particularly at outdoor picnics and get-togethers. I remember often seeing big vats of the things boiling on top of a gas grill, right beside the hamburgers and hot dogs.(And often trying to eat them on styrafoam plates with plastic forks -- not the most handy.) I took them for granted and didn't realize they were a regional item until I moved away. Incidentally, my family's not Irish, nor do we have any Syracuse roots. I thi

Adjudicator, saying salt potatoes are are just potatoes and butter is like saying french fries are just potatoes and frying oil. First off, the salt is really important. You boil the taters in super-salty water. This changes the texture of the skins, which come out kind of perforated and slightly brittle. The flavor of the potato flesh is already good, since they're small, 'new' potatoes, but somehow the salt-cooking enhances it. I'm not sure how else to explain the essence of salt-potato-ness. Can anybody else help?

My mom and aunts always served parsley butter -- a little pitcher of melted butter with mounds of chopped parsley drowning in it -- at the table with salt potatoes. There's no more perfect summer meal in that region than home-battered and -fried Lake Ontario perch side-by-side salt potatoes smashed on the plate and covered in parsley butter.

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

We love those salt-water-boiled and well-buttered little red devils ! One of our favorite ways to enjoy spuds!

They make a great potato Salad, also!

Try them with garlic butter.

John

Here's a c;assic serving of salt potatoes I had last month at the New York State Fair in Syarcuse. Salty with a nice pool of butter to drown them in:



Just like I remember at all the clambakes I went to as a kid!

The one's at Dino's rock!

I do the same as Sundancer with the exception of, I wrap a couple of slices of bacon on it and add fresh garlic. If you buy those bakers at Costco it becomes a meal in itself. They come out great on the grill. Chow Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Adjudicator

"Salt potatoes are small potatoes boiled in salt water and served with melted butter. The side dish dates to the 19th century and is alleged to be a creation of Irish immigrants working in Syracuse’s salt industry. While creating the product that made Syracuse the “Salt City,” workers boiled their potatoes in the abundant brine. The method survived the decline of the area’s salt business and remains a local favorite."

I don't see a lot of issues concerning this. Boiled potatoes and butter

I do that all the time..I didnt know I was supposed to call them "salt Potatoes".. I just called them boiled potatoes...
Pardon my Faux Paux.