On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:47:09 -0500, Damaeus
> wrote:

>Reading from news:rec.food.cooking,
>sf > posted:
>
>> On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:26:49 -0500, Damaeus
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >This house loves potatoes, so much so I'm surprised we don't have an
>> >electric peeler of some kind. But how do those power peelers handle those
>> >huge baking potatoes? My friend picked up some about a week ago that were
>> >massive, stretched from my fingertips, up to past my wrist and were very
>> >thick. It took two and a half hours to bake them in the oven at 365
>> >degrees.
>>
>> Thanks for the putting it into US terms. I bake potatoes at 400°.
>
>Hmmm... Maybe that's why ours turn out a bit starchy -- baking at too low
>of a temperature. The package for frozen french fries says to fry at 400
>degrees. If I fry lower than that, the inside is starchy and the outside
>tends to go rather soft and limp if not eaten quickly. So perhaps 400
>degrees until done is right for all potatoes, regardless of the size. I
>had assumed it was somewhat like casseroles. To avoid burning the outside
>and having a cold inside, turn the temperature down and bake it longer.

Was this potato peeled or not peeled first? If it was unpeeled, the
only thing that should happen is the crusty part will be a little
thicker and crustier. IMO, it's not a bad thing if you like eating
potato skins. Of course, I don't bake potatoes as huge as the one you
described - so I could be completely off the mark.
>
>Also, I was baffled what you meant at first by thanking me for putting it
>in US terms. I checked my message again, and the only thing I could
>figure is you were somehow making an indirect jab at my spelling of
>"potatoes", as related to Dan Qayle writing "potatoe". But yeah, the
>plural, in my dictionary, is "potatoes", not "potatos".
>
I was confused by you saying 365°. Americans usually go in 25°
increments... 25, 50, *75*, 00, so I didn't know if you were cooking
in C and converting or really cooking in F.

I think also that the baking time not only had to do with size, but
freshness. I baked a potato last night that was not particularly
massive, but it took a lot longer than I'd estimated. I made it just
for me, so I wasn't holding up anybody else's dinner to get it cooked
the way I wanted without resorting to the microwave.


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.