Ask Dr. Potato

Q: I am in charge of serving 60 men for a steak barbeque for a fishing tournament.  I will have available two large 5 burner gas barbeque grills, chafing dishes, and a couple of heavy duty two burner stoves.  I am considering serving baked potatoes.  I plan on pre-cooking the potatoes on Saturday, and refrigerating them until Tuesday night for the barbeque, at which time I will reheat them.  What suggestions can you give me?

Q: I’d like to peel and cut my Idaho® potatoes the night before.  I plan to cover them in cold water and store them in the refrigerator.  However, I have a question about that.  I’m making potato soup so I assume I want the starch in the water.  If I add 1 ½ Tbl of salt, or vinegar or lemon to the water, I’ll have to pour it off.  Will it work to not add anything to the water and use the soaking water for the soup?  If not and I pour off the water, will I be losing too much starch for my soup to thicken as much as the recipe would have otherwise?  Lastly, could I soak them in chicken broth vs. water and use the broth in the soup?  Mostly I’m concerned about losing the starch if I pour off liquid, be it water or broth.

Q: I have a historical question to ask. Was Morton’s Steakhouse the first major restaurant chain to feature giant baked Idaho® potatoes?

Q: I am looking for some inexpensive Idaho® potato appetizer ideas that don’t include a lot of meat proteins. Any ideas?

Q: For the past 6 months all the varieties of potato I have bought have been very watery and don't cook properly.  For instance, the baked potato is wet with no taste and is over cooked and mushy on the outside and raw in the center. With mashed potatoes, it just goes to slush.  Can you tell me if this is due to growing conditions or too cold a storage at the supermarket?

Q: Is it ok to store Idaho® potatoes in the refrigerator?

Q: Steak Houses seem to have re-introduced the twice stuffed baked potato as a side dish. Do you have a recipe?

Q: I want to fix something with pork but also include potatoes in the same dish and serve it with a side of green vegetables to my dinner guests. Any ideas?

Q: Can you tell me approximately when the potato skin as an appetizer actually came to be on restaurant menus?

Q: Can you give me anything “new” to try with Idaho® Fingerling potatoes besides roasting or putting in a potato salad?