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Syracuse Salt Potatoes
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Syracuse Salt Potatoes

Salt-crusted on the outside and creamy inside, these simple boiled potatoes are a traditional favorite in Central New York.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 3 to 4 as a side

Ingredients

  • 1 pound small new potatoes (see Kitchen Notes)
  • 1 cup Morton’s kosher salt (or slightly less than a cup of table salt)
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

  • Gently scrub potatoes with your hands under running water. Set aside.
  • In a medium saucepan, mix salt and 3 cups of water, stirring to partly dissolve. Add the potatoes and enough water to cover them by about 2 inches (eyeball it—because of all the salt, the potatoes will float up to the top).
  • Over high heat, bring the water to a FULL, ROLLING BOIL (not a namby-pamby “yeah, I think it’s boiling now”). Reduce heat to a brisk simmer (again, not a namby-pamby barely steaming level). Cook for 30 minutes. You can start checking for doneness at 20 minutes, but honestly, you want the potatoes nice and tender inside. 30 minutes is good.
  • When you’re getting close to the 30-minute mark, melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan.
  • Drain the potatoes in a colander and set aside for a couple of minutes. Their residual heat will dry the outsides, leaving them crusted with salt.
  • To serve, you can put them in a serving bowl and drizzle them with butter, then top with chopped parsley, if using. You can also serve the butter on the side in small dipping bowls. If using parsley, sprinkle it into the dipping bowls.

Kitchen Notes

Picking potatoes. Traditionally, white potatoes are used, but we like the look of the crusted red potatoes. Whichever you use, you want them small and uniform in size.