Canarian · Side · From the menu The basics
Papas arrugadas
Salt-wrinkled Canarian potatoes
Small potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until the water goes and the skins wrinkle and dust over with salt. Three ingredients, one pan, and the most Canarian thing on any table. The salt is not a seasoning here, it is the method.
Everyone argues about the salt. Of the five Canarian sources I checked, three give exactly 250 grams to a kilo of potatoes, including the Gobierno de Canarias, and the lowest anyone will defend is 75. The potatoes take up only what they need, so erring high costs you nothing and erring low costs you the crust. The real mistake is somewhere else: too much water. One Tenerife source names it as the reason home cooks never get the island result, and they are right. Less water means a stronger brine and a shorter, more violent dry-down at the end.
Ingredients
- 1 kg small potatoes, unpeeled, as close to the same size as you can get them
- 250 g coarse sea salt
- About 1 to 1.2 litres water, only just enough to cover
Method
- Wash the potatoes well but do not peel them. The skin stays on for the whole dish, so nothing can be left on it.
- Put them in a snug pan in a single layer, add the salt, and add cold water until it only just covers them. It will look like far too much salt. It is not; three of the five recipes I checked use exactly this much.
- Bring to the boil, then drop to a medium heat and cook until a knife or skewer goes in with no resistance. Between 20 and 25 minutes for small potatoes, though the sources run from 15 to 30 depending on size.
- Pour all the water off. Do not leave a film in the bottom.
- Put the pan back on a low to medium heat and shake it in circles. The water left clinging to the potatoes is enough.
- Keep shaking until the skins are visibly wrinkled and a white bloom of salt has appeared on them. This takes anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes and it is the visual cue that tells you, not the clock. Stop as soon as you see it: the longer you shake, the more likely the potatoes are to collapse.
- Take the pan off the heat, cover it with a cloth and leave it two minutes before serving.
Serve it with. Mojo verde on fish nights, mojo picón on meat nights, and both if the table is arguing.