Ask Dr. Potato

Q: We’ve been doing fresh cut French fries from Idaho Russet Burbank potatoes for years and because of the volume we are up to I was wondering if there is a better way to cut the potatoes than a small wall mounted tool that requires a staff worker with an extra strong arm to spend most of the day cutting one potato at a time. Save Save

Q: I recently attended a Media Communications workshop in Denver and the panel on Collaboration included a writer/restaurant reviewer and a restaurant publicist. They brought up a wonderful idea about putting together food or gift packages from your restaurant to deliver to radio or TV hosts in the hopes of getting a story across about your programs and operation. In other words, tempt them with food, rather than sending out blind press releases to 15 local stations at a time. Since you were in the audience too, I noticed that you were nodding your head positively and smiling and overhead you whisper "that really works."  Can you share your experience with this subject?

Q: My husband and I are eating about a pound of baked potatoes a day. With it being summer time I usually cook up about 10 lbs at a time and then keep them in the refrigerator. After cooking them in the oven (without foil as I've read on some of your other posts) and cooling them to room temp, does wrapping them in foil to put in the fridge keep them for any longer or should we just put in the fridge? Also how long will they keep for in the fridge either wrapped or unwrapped?

Q: My goal is to give customers a hot crispy, fresh out of the fryer, five-ounce portion of cooked frozen French fries. However, my employees must be serving more than that because when I do the math we always come up short for the projected yield.

Q: I have to store 5 boxes of Russet potatoes in my walk-in cooler for 1 week at a time. They will then go into my kitchen to be used throughout the next week for French fries, mashed and baked potatoes. My walk-in ranges from 35-40 degrees depending on how often the door is opened. Will that one week in the cooler cause the sugar content to get too high in the potatoes for my cooking needs?

Q: What is the best potato to use for a rosin baked potato?

Q: We spend summers in Washington State and winters in Arizona. Why are all of the potatoes baked in Washington soggy, not fluffy as the ones I bake in Arizona? I have tried russets from about every market source in Washington and the result is always the same - soggy, even if slightly under baked.

Q: I Have a Gourmet Food Truck and want to serve fresh cut French fries.  Can you give me some tips?

Q: I want to ship a carton of Idaho potatoes out of state any tips you would be willing to share?

Q: Can I boil my potatoes with skin on two days before I make potato salad? Using whole potatoes?