Boil pieces of potatoes in salted water until soft (takes about 20 min), then remove them from the water.
ingredients: approx. 300g potatoes (if you plan to eat them directly, use preferably a firm variety; if you want to use them for mashed potatoes, use a floury potato variety), salt.
Detailed instructions: Wash the potatoes (hold them under running water while rubbing the surface with your fingers) if necessary (the wash step can be omitted if the potatoes appear clean, i.e. if their skin is smooth and no dirt particles stick to the skin) and peel them (using a vegetable peeler). Cut away any bad parts, if there remain any (zones where the potato itself is black or dark brown). Put the peeled potatoes onto a cutting board and cut them into 2-8 pieces (depending on the size of the potato; each piece should be somewhere between 15 and 50 cm3), then place the pieces into a pot and add tap water so that all pieces are just covered. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Place the pot on the stove, cover the pot with its lid and heat at maximum. Stay close and watch out for signs of the water boiling (which should happen after 3 to 15 min, depending on your combination of stove, pot and amount of water). Once the water boils, reduce the heat (to about 30% of the maximum) and leave the pot on the stove (with the lid on and the water slightly boiling). After 5 min., verify whether the water still boils (increase heat if it’s not, or reduce heat if the bubbles coming to the surface are > approx. 1.5 cm in diameter). Leave it slightly boiling with the lid on for 15 min. To test wheter they are well cooked, prick one of the largest pieces in the pot with a fork: if the fork enters almost effortlessly to the middle of the piece (or if falls apart), they are done. If not, keep cooking and check every 5 min wheter they are well cooked. When this is the case, remove them from the water (you can pick them up with a fork, for example) and place them on a large plate or in a bowl, or pour off the water and leave them in the pot. They are ready to be eaten now (caution hot!); or you can use them in another dish (such as mashed potatoes).