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Bring salt and water to a boil and add potatoes.
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Cook until tender, about 25 minutes.
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Drain potatoes in a strainer and place pot back on stove over medium heat and add butter.
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When just melted, after about a minute, add potatoes and, if desired, herbs and black pepper.
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Toss and serve immediately.
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Note: Finger (Lakes) Food (August 22, 2008) The salt potato, an iconic central New York side dish, got its start in the late 1800s, when salt was distilled by boiling water from marshes around Syracuse, N. Y.
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Workers, many of them Irish, would dump potatoes in the boiling vats and then have lunch.
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In the September issue of CookaTMs Country magazine, Diane Unger explains why a copious amount of salt is essential to the dish.
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Because extra-salty water boils at a higher temperature, the starch in the potatoes cooks more completely.
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ThataTMs why salt potatoes are so creamy.
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And the salty skin that forms on the outside of the potatoes stands up particularly well to herbed or even plain melted butter.
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Many recipes call for a ratio of four pounds of potatoes to one pound of salt.
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This recipe is my adaptation of the one developed in the AmericaaTMs Test Kitchen, the Boston operation that produces both CookaTMs Country magazine and CookaTMs Illustrated.
