"The salty skin that forms on the outside of the potatoes stands up particularly well to herbed or even plain melted butter."

The Salt Potato:

"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. Workers, many of them Irish, would dump potatoes in the boiling vats and then have lunch."