You’ve encountered the words “fork tender” a lot in this blog in reference to potatoes especially when the post is about adobo or stews. I’m sure you’ve read cookbooks and heard chefs on TV using the term as well. Basically, fork tender pertains to how soft the potatoes are after boiling or adding into a dish.
Soft yet not mushy. When you stick a fork in a cooked potato for testing, the fork goes through but won’t break the potatoes at all. Fork Tender means soft but the shape and texture remain. A good trick to keep potatoes fork tender is not stirring too much while cooking especially with adobo.
When you’re cooking adobo, soups/stews, fork tender is the kind of texture you want for the potatoes. You’ll have to boil much longer for making mashed potatoes.
