Ask Dr. Potato

I will be using a commercial convection oven to bake 70 potatoes wrapped in foil.  Can you advise me on the length of time and what temperature to set the oven on?  I know that it will take less time but do not know what temperature to set the oven?

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?

Can I slice potatoes with the skin on, wrap in foil and keep in the refrigerator without the potatoes turning gray or black. I will be grilling them 4-5 hours after prepping them

We have a restaurant located in Mountain Home, Arkansas. We buy all of our restaurant needs from Performance Foodservice.  We are currently buying your potatoes (approximately 15 to 20 cases per week).  When our delivery comes (twice a week), our potatoes come in off the truck and appear to be in good condition, wet and cool from the humidity from a refrigerated truck.  The potatoes temp between 50-55 degrees.  It has been a very hot and humid summer here.  Today, for instance, our heat index are in the triple digits.  The potatoes appear to be solid and in good shape.  We bring them into the restaurant, we have a stored area under a window with a window air conditioner blowing right on them.  We immediately foil wrap about 3/4 of them and put them back under the window until the potatoes are used.  The air conditioner is set as low as it can go, but at times, it seems blows out warm-ish air.  We use the potatoes within a week.  When we take the potatoes over to start wrapping them, some of the potatoes have black spots on them (pictures attached).  Some that appear to be good are wrapped and stored but when cooked they turn to mush and stink.  We do cook them in foil.  We tried cooking them without foil but customers complained about them getting cold.  It does get very hot in the kitchen.  We have had to complain to our vendor on a weekly basis for the past 6-8 weeks.  Do you feel it is something on the vendor’s side or are we doing something wrong in our restaurant? Any information and advice would be greatly appreciated.

We had fish fry at church last night, we got there about noon, washed and wrapped 170 potatoes in tin foil and baked them in a confection oven till they were 210 degrees F and then kept them in a cooler, until the fish fry began at 5pm. The insides had all turned brown. What did we do wrong? There must be some way diners keep baked potatoes for a long time without this happening. Any help you can give us would be appreciated.

What's wrong with this foil wrapped baked potato picture?

I made a slow cooker meal with chunks of Idaho potatoes that I placed in a tin foil pack in the bottom of the slow cooker. I put a whole fryer chicken on top of the foil pack and cooked the chicken on low for 7 hours. After 7 hours, I opened up the foil to find some very gray potato chunks. What happened? Are they safe to eat?

Last night I started cooking green beans and potatoes in the crock pot, which I covered first with aluminum foil and then the lid, which didn’t fit tightly. I set the crockpot to warm overnight, but when I checked it this morning some of the potatoes were blackened. Are they still safe to eat?

Is it safe to wash russet potatoes and wrap them in aluminum foil the night before they are cooked? And is it safe to leave them at room temperature until they are baked?

Our church group made a potato and ham casserole with a cheese sauce. This consisted of cubed ham, sliced potatoes (raw), some milk and cheese. The casseroles were placed in aluminum baking pans, covered with foil and frozen (about 1½ to 2 weeks), then thawed in the refrigerator and baked. The potatoes turned dark (almost) black. Obviously, they were not able to be eaten. What did we do wrong?