Ask Dr. Potato

Q: Can I bake a potato and bacon at the same temperature in the oven for breakfast? I thought I saw a breakfast stuffed potato and egg recipe from Mr. Food a couple of years ago and want to try this over the holidays.

Q: I bought some Yukon gold potatoes this weekend because my mother bought some and mashed them up and she said they tasted earthy. I figured she had purchased a lesser brand or something so I purchased some Yukon gold and made mashed potatoes too. I think they were Sieverson Yukon golds. Anyway when done they looked right but they tasted EARTHY...ish. Why is this happening? They were peeled before I boiled them, so I didn't leave any dirt on them. Do you know why they are tasting earthy?

Q: Sometimes when I make fries (frozen fries) they come out like they just absorbed a lot of oil, hard on the outside and filled with tons of oil on the inside, it looks and tastes horrible. Do you know why this might happen?

Q: Can I make my mashed potatoes around 10am to serve at 4pm? Could I put them in a crock pot on warm for that long?

Q: Can the Slow Cooker Mashed Potato recipe be doubled from 8 servings to 16 servings and still cook ok in the slow cooker?

Q: How long can I store par cooked French fries at room temperature?

Q: We have decided to open a restaurant concept that will serve fresh cut French fries, similar to gourmet burger fast casual but focused on chicken sandwiches. I know we need to keep the chicken breaded breasts in a separate fryer from the potatoes, and want to use Idaho russets. If you were to pretend that I am the student and you are the educator, what do I need to know about Idaho potatoes and fryer oil? Do you have a presentation I could share with my operations team?

Q: Dear Dr. Potato, What’s the difference between poutine and loaded fries?

Q: Dr. Potato what recipes on your website would you say are your top ten favorite chef recipes from 2015?

Q: Dr. Potato what recipes on your website would you say are your top ten favorite blogger recipes from 2015?