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Asked by dragonskull99 to Rachel on 13 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by atto5.
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Rachel Edwards-Stuart answered on 13 Mar 2013:
Recipes books often tell you to add vinaigrette to potatoes when they are still hot, rather than when they have cooled down. I was testing whether it made a difference or not. The results showed that when you add the oil to the potatoes while they are still hot, more oil gets absorbed by the potatoes than if they were cold. However, whether this made the flavour better depended on how oily you like your potatoes! I also found out that it is very hard to do an experiment on a potato – they are so variable!
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Comments
Grant commented on :
The reason for this is, as ever, bubbles – or at least air. As the potatoes cool down, the air in them contracts. Whatever is at the surface will be sucked in to fill up the space left by the contracting air. If there’s air at the surface (there’s nothing on the potatoes), that will be sucked in – then, when the potatoes are cold and you add your vinaigrette, there’s nothing to suck it in. But if the vinaigrette is already on the surface when the potatoes are hot, then as the air in the potatoes cools and contracts, it will suck the vinaigrette in.