Ask Dr. Potato

Q: I bought a five pound bag of grown in Idaho® Russet Burbank potatoes .I put them in a slow cooker on low for six hours. The meat that was cooking along with the potatoes was cooked but the potatoes were hard as bricks. I tried nuking them and it helped a little but not enough. I then tried frying them and that helped some more, making them edible with lots of catsup. What is wrong with these potatoes?

Q: I need to make Jansson's Temptation (a Swedish version of scalloped potatoes) for a group of 70+ as a part of a holiday dinner.  Can scalloped potatoes be frozen before baking (or at least refrigerated), to allow me to put this dish together a few days before serving?

Q: We have 4 different sized ovens and need to cook 150 pounds of Idaho® potatoes for a fundraiser. Is there a formula we can use to determine the appropriate cooking time for all these potatoes?

Q: I want to wow my guests with more than one version of mashed potatoes. Any suggestions?

Q: I got a great buy on ten pounds of Idaho potatoes and now I have discovered the skin is green. Are they safe to eat?

Q: I have always made twice baked Idaho® potatoes for our holidays.  Our family has grown and I want to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas.  I will need enough twice baked potatoes for 30 people.  How far in advance can they be made before baking in the oven Christmas Day?

Q: I love garlic and want to pair a recipe up with potatoes. Seems like the restaurants I go to that serve garlic mashed potatoes are afraid that they will offend someone who orders this side dish, I can hardly ever taste the garlic… any suggestions?

Q: What secret ingredients, if any, will make my Idaho® mashed potatoes sparkle when I serve them to my family?

Q: As a potato expert can you advise me on a situation that has developed at our restaurant?  We serve fresh cut Idaho® Russet Potatoes, we have been doing this for 4 years. Potato quality was consistent over the period. Recently, the over the last month all of the potatoes turn dark in the fryers before they are done. Finished product is very dark and not crispy. We are using the same vegetable fry oil we have always used and change it every 3 days. We 1st cut the potato and then let them sit in 5 gallon buckets of fresh water, until we immerse them in the oil based on orders to the kitchen. Our customers have noticed the change and our quality has suffered. Changing suppliers did not help. I assume there may be a difference in this falls crop? Will the amount of starch or sugars in the potato have something to do with it?

Q: Can I freeze raw potatoes?