Cooking Yukon Gold Potatoes

[Ro3bert]

Some weeks ago I did a slow Cooker recipe that called for Gold potatoes. The recipe called for 8 hours on slow.

I'd quartered the potatoes as called for. At the end of the cooking time some of them were still hard and crunchy.

Recently I decided to finish what was left of the potatoes. I microwaved them two or three times but they still had crunchiness just under the skins.

What went wrong? How does one cook them so they come out soft?

Robert

[RPCookin]

I've never had a problem with them, so i can't really help. I've roasted them, boiled them, simmered them in a stew, never had any issues.

[blissful]

You might need to check the temperature of the slow cooker, on low, to see the temperature the potatoes were cooked at. (ending a sentence with a preposition!!) I have heard that potatoes must reach 180 degrees F and another source said they must reach boiling. The low temperature in an older slow cooker might be too low, even for safety. It's probably best to check the temperature. Just put in a couple cups of water, turn it on low, and after an hour, put the thermometer in it.

[GotGarlic]

How long did you microwave them? I do this regularly and it takes 10-15 minutes on high power to cook them completely.

Baked potatoes must reach 210 degrees to be fully cooked. I imagine it's the same for potatoes cooked in other ways.

[Ro3bert]

blissful

I'll have to do that. Hadn't thought of doing that.

GotGarlic

Seems to me I'd read potato cooking in a microwave should only take about 4 min. These were microwaved for tree minutes so maybe that was the problem. I didn't think so as the centers were all soft as I'd expected.

I really like Golden Yukon potatoes so was very disappointed. Next time I'll cook them for your suggested time(s). I'll also cook them ahead for whatever recipe calls for them.

Robert

[Oldvine]

One medium potato might cook in 4 minutes, but the more potatoes, the more time the microwave needs to work. I'm not sure what it means to microwave them two or three times. I would toss in two medium to large potatoes and push in 9 minutes in my microwave.

[erehweslefox]

Microwave cooks from the inside out, which is helpful for something like our friend the potato. I am not usually a fan of microwave cookery, but it seems designed for potatoes, a solid piece of starch, get those molecules a-vibrating.

I with Yukon gold's slice them quite thin and sautee them in butter with some chives.

TBS (E-F)

[Andy M.]

Originally Posted by erehweslefox

Microwave cooks from the inside out...

Not so.

Cooking in a microwave is like cooking in an oven. The microwaves heat the outer layer and then the heat transfers inward.

[buckytom]

Microwaves are a tricky thing. They create heat by agitation water molecules, so it depends on where the most moisture is. But microwave ovens also only have so much power, so the agitation is limited in a more dense thing being heated. So it's not just inside out, or outside in. But once the energy is created, it transfers to areas of lesser heat.
Does that make any sense?

Btw, imo, Yukon Gold spuds aren't really the best for nuking. They're more waxy than russet/baking type. They're called all purpose potatoes, but I think they lean waxy.

Skin, boil, then squeeze 'em through a ricer. Or cube and boil, and and make a salad.

[erehweslefox]

Originally Posted by buckytom

Btw, imo, Yukon Gold spuds aren't really the best for nuking. They're more waxy than russet/baking type. They're called all purpose potatoes, but I think they lean waxy.

I agree with this up there.

And, totally knew as soon as I hit post, someone would say something like, 'microwave ovens don't really cook from the inside out', Let my comment stand not as a description of the physics of it, but a convenient mental cheat I use to conceptualize the difference between microwave cookery and methods that use a radiant heat source.

TBS (E-F)