baking potatoes

Subject: baking potatoes
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking

From: mw106 at yahoo.com (mw)
Date: 20 Dec 2001 15:47:13 -0800
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I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven. How do I wash the potatoes before baking? Do I simply rub the potatoes with my fingers under water, or do I have to scrub the potatoes with a brush? Thank you for your answer. Al Brown

From: Sheryl Rosen (nospam at optonline.net)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 01:33:47 GMT
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mw wrote:
> I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven. How do I wash the
> potatoes before baking? Do I simply rub the potatoes with my fingers
> under water, or do I have to scrub the potatoes with a brush? Thank
> you for your answer. Al Brown

how clean do you want your potatoes?

If you think just rubbing with your fingers will suffice, then go for it.

Doesn't matter how you cook 'em. Matters how clean you want'em.

From: Jean (piejean at gte.net)
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 00:15:06 GMT
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Sheryl Rosen wrote:
> Doesn't matter how you cook 'em. Matters how clean you want'em.

I remember once watching someone pick up a kitchen scrubby-sponge and scrub the potatoes. - Not a clean one, mind you, the one in the sink being used for all kinds of things! BLEKK!!!

(Of course, I consider sponges to be single use items - I wipe something down or wash a sink of dishes - that sponge goes in the laundry and a new one comes out.)

From: Edwin Pawlowski (esp at snet.net)
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 06:22:18 GMT
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pieJean wrote:
> (Of course, I consider sponges to be single use items - I
> wipe something down or wash a sink of dishes - that sponge
> goes in the laundry and a new one comes out.)

If you rinsed the sponge with dishwashing liquid under hot water, wouldn't you accomplish the same thing? I often spray it with the bleach bottle I keep on the sink also. Dilute bleach makes a good sanitary rinse around the food prep areas.

From: Vinny Marinara (Vinny at nunyourbiz.net)
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 21:26:14 -0500
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pieJean wrote:
> - I
> wipe something down or wash a sink of dishes - that sponge
> goes in the laundry and a new one comes out.)

Got news...putting a sponge into the washer does not sterilize it. Unless you're running it through with beach.

From: katie1151 at webtv.net (Kathy)
Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2001 14:06:41 -0500 (EST)
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The subject od washing potaoes w/a sponge prompted replies re. the cleanliness of the sponge. To "sterilize" a sponge, just nuke it for ~45 sec in the microwave. :-)

From: amoorman at visi.com (Alan)
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 10:18:33 -0600
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Kathy gave this insight:
:The subject od washing potaoes w/a sponge prompted replies re. the
:cleanliness of the sponge. To "sterilize" a sponge, just nuke it for
:~45 sec in the microwave. :-)

And what does that do for it, except get it warm?

Get it warm enough and it will melt.

I think that running it through the dishwasher is likely to do as much, if not more, good!

BTW, I once let a soft, small-holed plastic sponge (the kind that is is a coarse "bag" which is the scrubby part) soak for a couple of days in a bowl of bleach.

When I took it out, the sponge part had disappeared completely, leaving just the scrubby 'bag' part!!!!!

From: Edwin Pawlowski (esp at snet.net)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 04:09:39 GMT
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mw wrote:
> I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven.

You can't "bake" anything in a microwave. You can cook potatoes in it though. Brush them under water and then cook. Nothing to it.

Baking requires dry heat, as in an oven. That is what makes a superior baked potato. I cook spuds in the MW at works sometimes. They are OK, but not nearly as good as one baked for an hour at 400 degrees.

From: dancertm (dacertm at exo.com)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 09:06:45 -0800
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mw wrote:
> I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven.

Try poking holes in them with a fork. Don't over cook, and then let them rest wraped in foil. They will continue to cook. You can rub before with oil, or butter, or margerine. I cook two for 8 mins, and then put in foil.

From: Vinny Marinara (Vinny at nunyourbiz.net)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 20:57:51 -0500
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dancertm wrote
> let
> them rest wraped in foil. They will continue to cook.

That's good if you like soggy skins. I nuke my taters until done throughout, and then into a 450 degree oven for 5-10 minutes to get crispy skins.

From: Buckler (buckkler at yahoo.com)
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:13:10 GMT
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Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>You can't "bake" anything in a microwave. You can cook potatoes in it
>though. Brush them under water and then cook. Nothing to it.
>
>Baking requires dry heat, as in an oven. That is what makes a superior
>baked potato. I cook spuds in the MW at works sometimes. They are OK, but
>not nearly as good as one baked for an hour at 400 degrees.

I'll often microwave a potato until the flesh is nearly done, then finish it in an oven as a time-saver. The skin comes out nice and crinkly, and the potato is done well.

From: val189 (gwehrenb at bellsouth.net)
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 20:07:31 -0500
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Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>Baking requires dry heat, as in an oven. That is what makes a superior
>baked potato. I cook spuds in the MW at works sometimes. They are OK, but
>not nearly as good as one baked for an hour at 400 degrees.

I agree - if you don't have the time for conventional baking of a spud, may as well have mashed. I like 450 for an hour and a half - we like that nice crisp shell of a jacket. And Idahos are our preference.

From: Pat Meadows (pat at meadows.pair.com)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 13:46:16 GMT
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mw wrote:
> How do I wash the
>potatoes before baking? Do I simply rub the potatoes with my fingers
>under water, or do I have to scrub the potatoes with a brush?

I scrub the potatoes with a brush or plastic dish-scrubber, under running water.

From: stan at temple.edu
Date: 21 Dec 2001 14:46:54 GMT
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mw wrote:
> I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven. How do I wash the
> potatoes before baking? Do I simply rub the potatoes with my fingers
> under water, or do I have to scrub the potatoes with a brush? Thank
> you for your answer. Al Brown

Regardless of how I intend to cook potatoes, I just wash them under cold running water and scrub them with my hands for a few minutes. I have been doing it this way upwards of thirty years. My parents have been cleaning potatoes the same way for much longer. It works well for us. The cooking method does not dictate how one cleans potatoes.

As for baking a potato in a microwave, that's not possible. Although potatoes can certainly be cooked in a microwave, baked potatoes require "baking" hence the name. Baking requires cooking in a gas or electric oven that gives off real heat. Some people speed up the process of cooking baked potatoes by nuking them for a few minutes prior to baking them in an oven, but expecting to baked potatoes entirely in a microwave oven is simply unrealistic.

From: Vinny Marinara (Vinny at nunyourbiz.net)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 18:33:07 -0500
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Doesn't make any difference how you wash them as long as they get washed...it ain't rocket science..

From: amoorman at visi.com (Alan)
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 19:50:26 -0600
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mw gave this insight:
: How do I wash the
:potatoes before baking?

I never wash them. They just get deep holes poked into them with a fork, and then they get "nuked" in the microwave.
Or, I put them in water and boil them.
Or, I bake them in the Real Oven.

From: Darrell Daniels (ddaniel1 at san.rr.com)
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 10:05:27 GMT
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Alan wrote:
> I never wash them.

Yikes Alan, ever grow potatoes? they grow underground, in the dirt. Put a stopper in your sink and wash a few and look at the water to see what you have been eating. They go through a conveyer wash at the growers but it doesnt come near to getting all the dirt off. I guess you could call that a HIGH fiber diet. :)

From: amoorman at visi.com (Alan)
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 10:18:23 -0600
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Darrell Daniels gave this insight:
:Yikes Alan, ever grow potatoes? they grow underground, in the dirt.

I grew up on a farm.

Dirt isn't bad -- the food we eat grows in it!!!!

From: robdgot at aol.com (Bob Gottlieb)
Date: 24 Dec 2001 16:45:10 GMT
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Don't forget to poke smome holes in the potato before microwaving.

From: dwheeler at ipns.com (Daniel B. Wheeler)
Date: 24 Dec 2001 18:16:22 -0800
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Alan wrote:
> Dirt isn't bad -- the food we eat grows in it!!!!

Well...some of it does. A soil scientist at Oregon State University once defined dirt as...feces. And while a certain amount of this material undoubtedly gets into the food chain, I don't eat it if I can help it.

Among other things, it can transfer a bunch of diseases.

So if you wouldn't add a pasture pie to your pizza...wash them taters!

From: nonamefem at cs.comnodrek (noname)
Date: 22 Dec 2001 15:14:52 GMT
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>I would like to bake potatoes in the microwave oven. How do I wash the
>potatoes before baking?

"Washing" potatoes before baking is mainly to get the dirt off. A brief brushing under cold water will dislodge dirt in crevices.