Cooking With Potatoes

TIPical Mary Ellen : Episode TIP-229 -- More Projects »

To prevent having to reach into the oven over and over to grab baked potatoes, try putting the potatoes in muffin tins. To prevent sogginess in your mashed potatoes when they are finished before the rest of the meal, put a folded towel underneath the lid to prevent condensation from dripping into the potatoes.

TIPical Mary Ellen host Mary Ellen Pinkham gives a variety of tips for cooking with potatoes as well as other possible uses for them.

The best way to store potatoes is in a plastic container filled with dry, fine sand in a cool, dry place (50 degrees or cooler). The should keep for months without sprouting.
Idaho, russet and white creamer are high starch, low-moisture potatoes that have a fluffy, dry texture, which is good for baking. Yukon gold, yellow fin and purple Peruvian are medium-starch potatoes, which are great for mashing. Red bliss, white rose and red creamer are low-starch, high-moisture potatoes, which are great for roasting and boiling. They also taste great in potato salad.
Baked potatoes need to be pricked with a fork to release steam while baking. This will keep them from becoming soggy.
Rub butter over potatoes before baking to prevent skin from cracking and to add flavor. A potato will bake faster if the skin is oiled, but a potato will taste better un-oiled and cooked slowly at 350 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes.
"Bake" potatoes quickly by pricking them with a fork and putting into the microwave for seven minutes on high. Another alternative is to cook in the microwave for 3-1/2 minutes and finish in the oven.
To boil potatoes in less time, remove a strip of skin from one side of the potato. This will also make peeling easier.
Add a teaspoon of baking powder to mashed potatoes to make them light and creamy.
For creamy mashed potatoes, try using buttermilk and a tiny amount of the water from the pot in which the potatoes were boiled. Another alternative to cream, milk or butter is to just add chicken broth to them.
To prevent heavy and soggy mashed potatoes, make sure the liquid you add is heated first.
If you want to put garlic in with your mashed potatoes, be sure to bake the garlic first until it is really soft, then puree it and put it in with the potatoes.
To make French fries more golden brown, fry until soft, then let rest for 20 minutes. Fry again at 375 degrees until a dark brown color.

Also in this Episode

TIPical Mary Ellen : Episode TIP-229
•	Fun Children's Games
•	Fireplace Maintenance
•	Cooking With Potatoes
•	Tip of the Day

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Cooking With Potatoes

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