[HN Gopher] The almost-lost art of rosin potatoes
___________________________________________________________________
The almost-lost art of rosin potatoes
Author : classichasclass
Score : 121 points
Date : 2024-10-30 02:20 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (thecookscook.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (thecookscook.com)
| stewartbracken wrote:
| if you break the skin, you cannot eat that potato
|
| Be careful out there
| ambyra wrote:
| Yeah, like why would anyone want to revive toxic potatoes.
| serf wrote:
| because it's a unique taste , a unique method, and a cultural
| significance for some people -- no one is forcing you to eat
| it.
|
| Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms?
|
| It's fun and interesting. That's why. Danger be damned.
| hansvm wrote:
| The danger is part of the appeal. When somebody gives you a
| mushroom called "the sickener," which is apparently edible
| with an appropriate combination of brining, fermentation,
| soaking, rinsing, and boiling, it's a little hard to resist
| the temptation to prove everyone else wrong and turn it
| into a tasty treat.
| msrenee wrote:
| Brings fugu to mind. I wish I could get a scientific
| answer to whether there's actually a high associated with
| it or if that's just in people's heads.
| Alex3917 wrote:
| > Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms?
|
| I can't speak to fugu, but collecting wild mushrooms is
| statistically one of the safest hobbies in existence.
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| A truly exhaustive history lesson:
| https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-elusive-roots-...
|
| This was linked by Gemini, which happily chirped that rosin
| potatoes can be great!
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| TLDR: it seems to be a way to preserve the potatoes by sealing
| them
| alwa wrote:
| Where did you get that in the (excellent) article linked? I
| noticed that they mention sealing in the context of pitch and
| resin's industrial applications, but I understood the article
| more to trace the rosin potato thing back to a trendy mid-
| century extrapolation from potatoes cooked in brewers' pitch
| in German-influence regions of Ohio and the northeast...
| cook-and-eat-right-away throughout.
|
| And I was surprised they served them at Cracker Barrel.
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| my bad, I actually got it from this youtube video
| (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFoB5OEtRA), was trying
| to the find the source for it, and that same article came
| up when I searched google for "rosin preserves potatoes"
| MostlyStable wrote:
| I'm someone who loves doing weird culinary things, and has, in
| the past, gone to relatively extreme amounts of effort to make
| something at home rather than buying it (or at least...to try
| making it at home). I am probably in the top 1% or more of people
| willing to expend time and effort on weird food things.
|
| And yet even for me, spending 1.5-2 hours to get 3 baked
| potatoes, which are supposedly just....really nicely baked
| potatoes?...seems like a lot.
|
| I'm glad that there are people out there preserving weird old
| historical cooking methods, but I feel no compulsion at all to
| actually try this myself.
| ajkjk wrote:
| The article linked in another comment offers this by way of
| justification:
|
| > "Because none of the potato's flavor or aroma compounds can
| escape, you get the most intense potato flavor you've ever
| experienced," Brock says. "And they're steaming in their own
| water, which is why you get a totally unique texture."
| morkalork wrote:
| Could you shrinkwrap and sous-vide a potatoe for the same
| effect?
| jszymborski wrote:
| Strikes me to be the case.
| anon84873628 wrote:
| The article says the potatoes bubble and eventually float
| to the top as water is released. So surely some other
| volatile compounds could be released too? Perhaps compounds
| cannot be dissolved in the rosin as they are in a pot
| water? But then why is it better than regular baking?
|
| Sous vide would certainly trap _everything_ , but then
| again, we want a potato that is ultimately dry on the
| outside.
|
| What if instead of rosin we used something safer and more
| available, like a cooking oil? I bet deep fried potatoes
| would taste quite good! :-P
| anon84873628 wrote:
| Thank you. TFA does not seem to say _why_ they are so good...
| saaaaaam wrote:
| And yet the article clearly says that the rosin will bubble
| because odd water escaping. If water can escape why can't the
| aroma compounds?
| jfengel wrote:
| If it's only a slight bubble, then it's much less water
| escaping than in conventional cooking techniques. Frying
| potatoes give off so much water it gives the impression of
| a rolling boil.
| Moru wrote:
| Any article that says "potato flavours" without specifying
| what kind of potatoes should be taken witha large grain of
| salt.
|
| Try almond potatoes and you will eat nothing else.
| jfengel wrote:
| In the US, the default potato is the Russet. It has a good
| flavor and is well suited to high temperature cooking.
|
| I'd be practically certain that is what is intended. It's
| possible it means a semi waxy white potato, which would be
| contemporaneous with the historical setting.
|
| It is very unlikely to mean any of the thousands of more
| exotic varieties.
| CoastalCoder wrote:
| Same for me, although I'm probably in the top 20%, not top 1%.
|
| For us in New England, I wish there were an easy way to see if
| the difference is worth the effort.
| ryoshu wrote:
| Been a long time since I've had one, but I still remember that
| it was the best potato I've ever had. Not sure why. Just really
| good. And you can't eat the skin.
|
| It was a deep south thing in the US, but even within living
| memory not very common.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| The article mentions pine forests of georgia and north
| carolina so it seems to be a SE coastal plains thing. Quite
| different history and culture from what people usually mean
| by deep south.
| ryoshu wrote:
| Family from southern Alabama. Again, not common, but it
| existed outside of Georgia and NC. People always looked at
| me weird when I would talk about it, but certainly a
| memorable experience.
| opwieurposiu wrote:
| Note that rosin is very flammable, but I guess so is cooking oil.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| This is interesting history, but I am skeptical that this is safe
| to eat, or better than a regular potato. If people are interested
| in trying unusual potato cooking methods, I'd recommend making
| Syracuse Salt Potatoes instead- they are excellent and easy.
| anon84873628 wrote:
| Well I agree that there are better alternatives. But is rosin
| really that toxic? It seems to cause problems if the fumes are
| inhaled, but I can't find evidence it is particularly dangerous
| to consume. Similar to lots of other tree resins, which are
| even used in traditional chewing gum.
| teruakohatu wrote:
| Turps is toxic if ingested, and it's not clear if the rosin
| byproduct of turps production still contains some amount of
| turps.
|
| I loathe the smell of turps, I wouldn't eat anything that had
| any chance of coming into contact with it.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I'm not sure about you, but "can't find evidence it is
| particularly dangerous" is not exactly the standard of
| evidence I want when deciding to consume something that isn't
| normally a food item.
|
| I have a tub of oar lubricant, for rowing. I also cannot find
| any evidence that it would be dangerous to eat, but I'm not
| going to fry up my dinner in it. Oar lubricant is
| traditionally just tallow so maybe that's what this is- but
| since it wasn't ever intended as food, do they, e.g. make
| sure it isn't stored and processed with equipment containing
| high lead concentrations, etc.? Maybe this one company adds
| something special and toxic that makes it work better that
| they don't have to disclose because it's not for human
| consumption?
| anon84873628 wrote:
| Yes, but is there already some niche folk history of
| cooking food in oar lubricant? My response was to you
| saying "I am skeptical that this is safe to eat" when
| people have been, apparently, safely eating it.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| Indeed there is- beef tallow is a common cooking oil and
| oar lubricant, and the supplier I buy my oar lubricant
| from does also sell food grade tallow, but it is unclear
| how or if it differs from the marine grade one
|
| "apparently, safely eating it" is also still not the
| standard I want to use for food. The guys down at the
| fishing docks in SF Bay are "apparently safely eating"
| all kinds of fish and sharks that there are big warning
| signs posted all over not to eat.
| variaga wrote:
| Here's a link to the MSDS
|
| https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=AC419175000&.
| ..
|
| > But is rosin really that toxic?
|
| The LD50 is pretty high, so it's not likely to kill you, but
| I don't think you'd want to eat it. "May cause skin, eye, and
| respiratory tract irritation"
| pama wrote:
| I guess that with a steaming hot potato the higher risk is
| to inhale rosin in the steam rather than to eat it. I would
| much rather use duck fat to roast potatoes.
| haccount wrote:
| No mention of alimentary tract irritation ;)
| kragen wrote:
| Their MSDS for sodium chloride says, "Wear personal
| protective equipment/face protection. Ensure adequate
| ventilation. Avoid contact with skin, eyes or clothing.
| Avoid ingestion and inhalation. Avoid dust." and that, in
| case of skin contact, you should "Wash off immediately with
| plenty of water for at least 15 minutes. Get medical
| attention immediately if symptoms occur," to avoid which
| you should "Wear appropriate protective eyeglasses or
| chemical safety goggles as described by OSHA's eye and face
| protection regulations in 29 CFR 1910.133 or European
| Standard EN166. Wear appropriate protective gloves and
| clothing to prevent skin exposure." https://www.fishersci.c
| om/store/msds?partNumber=S64010&produ...
|
| Just to clarify, this is not some potentially contaminated
| crude rock salt product. It's the USP grade of table salt
| for incorporation into pharmaceutical products, which the
| MSDS also recommends against.
|
| Like salt, rosin is an approved food additive in the US: ht
| tps://www.hfpappexternal.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?se.
| ..
|
| There are toxic plants out there, but pine trees are pretty
| safe. You can safely chew even raw pine resin, even without
| boiling out the turpentine. You can make tea from pine
| needles. Try it, it's good.
|
| Frying in rosin is a somewhat risky, even potentially
| fatal, form of food preparation, but the risk isn't that
| the rosin is going to poison you. It's that you'll spill
| hot rosin on yourself and get badly burned.
| akira2501 wrote:
| Fondant potatoes are my new jam.
| omega3 wrote:
| Is the crust edible on these, looking at the photos online that
| seems a lot of salt if it is?
| Jedd wrote:
| Absolute best baked (what some people mistakenly call roast)
| potatoes I've ever had were in a small restaurant in Cornwall,
| England.
|
| They were almost definitely locally grown, doubtless extremely
| fresh, and almost definitely an heirloom variety. (And I
| acknowledge that food always tastes better when you're on
| holiday.)
|
| We were told the preparation was pretty simple: 'boil in a strong
| stock until almost fully cooked, then dry and coat in goose fat,
| and then bake until they look good'.
|
| (Apart from being much faster than conventional baked potatoes,
| and much much faster & safer than this rosin preparation, there's
| little risk of getting sick from this method.)
| fanf2 wrote:
| In Britain, baked potatoes are oven-cooked whole, skin on,
| usually without fat; roast potatoes are peeled, cut into large
| uniform chunks (halved or quartered depending on the size),
| parboiled, then oven-cooked in lots of fat.
| lbotos wrote:
| If you are American and have never had british style roasted
| Potatoes... oh boy are you in for a treat.
| jfk13 wrote:
| That's how my mother used to do it, but I've found that you
| don't actually need to use "lots of fat" -- you can get good
| results with much less (just enough oil or goose fat to cover
| the bottom of the roasting tray), provided you toss the
| potatoes in it (pre-heated) when putting them in, and turn
| them a few times during cooking.
|
| The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor.
| magicalhippo wrote:
| We toss the potatoes on the tray in just enough oil to
| lightly coat them. Don't boil them, just have them in the
| pre-heated oven for 30ish minutes.
|
| I prefer mealy potatoes, typically almond potatoes[1], but
| others work fine too.
|
| Add some herbs, salt and pepper while tossing. Super easy,
| hard to mess up and yum yum.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_potato
| Moru wrote:
| We eat almost only almond potatoes. After eating those,
| there is nothing else that really cuts it any more. Every
| time we get back to Sweden and finaly can eat almond
| potatoes again, it's like "Oh, THIS is how it's supposed
| to taste". If you don't like potatoes, it's because you
| haven't had these. Just cook them carefully, they become
| mashed potatoes _very_ easily. Serve as they are, with a
| piece of butter. I can eat only potatoes the whole week.
|
| Yes, they can be hard to find in southern parts because
| they are harder to grow in warm climate.
| ObscureScience wrote:
| Yeah almond potatoes should not be parboiled in my
| opinion. I prefer to halve them (not smaller/slimmer
| pieces).
| datavirtue wrote:
| But I don't have any geese.
| Jedd wrote:
| Having geese doesn't imply ownership of geese fat --
| having recently _had_ geese _might_.
| fecal_henge wrote:
| You do own the goose fat, you just havent taken it out of
| the box yet.
| bostik wrote:
| I tend to cheat a little. Parboil until the surface layer
| is soft, pour into a large colander. Allow to steam off for
| a while. Toss and turn to get all surfaces properly roughed
| up, move into a large (steel) bowl. Add 3-4 tablespoons of
| goose fat, toss and turn again to coat all surfaces.
|
| Move to a sufficiently deep (steel) baking tray, sprinkle
| with salt, add a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary on top,
| and cook until properly roasted. No need to even turn them
| around.
|
| > _The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor._
|
| Bingo. The more "floury", the better.
| d1sxeyes wrote:
| Add a sprinkle of semolina next time
| NikkiA wrote:
| You missed the important step after parboiling - you toss the
| potatoes in the pan used for parboiling, so that the outside
| gets slightly mashed around the edges; basically just give
| them all a single smack against the inside of the drained
| pan.
| MattPalmer1086 wrote:
| Yep, that helps to get them golden and crispy while
| roasting.
| margalabargala wrote:
| As an American, we have the same names for the same types of
| potatoes and cooking methods. I have no idea what OP is on
| about.
|
| If I ordered a baked potato in a restaurant and did not
| receive an entire, whole, skin-on potato, optionally sliced
| open across the top, I would be shocked and would have a
| negative opinion of the restaurant.
|
| We make roasted potatoes all the time, much like you
| describe. When we do it at home, we'll frequently use Idaho
| Gold potatoes that do not need to be peeled, and we'll skip
| the parboiling step. Plenty of places make this without
| skipping those steps, and they're delicious, just more labor
| intensive.
| anon84873628 wrote:
| That's similar to Jamie Oliver's "famous" recipe. He also
| suggests chuffing up the outsides a bit before baking, to
| create a crispy outer layer.
| germinalphrase wrote:
| J. Kenji Lopez-Alt does it similarly. Alkaline water and a
| roughing up before roasting.
| riiii wrote:
| That wasn't at The Rising Sun by any chance?
| OJFord wrote:
| The small restaurant in Cornwall, must be yeah.
| thom wrote:
| On the off chance that somebody reading this is planning a
| culinary tour of Cornwall, Salamander in Mevagissey is also
| a great spot.
| OJFord wrote:
| > Absolute best baked (what some people mistakenly call roast)
| potatoes I've ever had were in a small restaurant in Cornwall,
| England.
|
| > [...]
|
| > We were told the preparation was pretty simple: 'boil in a
| strong stock until almost fully cooked, then dry and coat in
| goose fat, and then bake until they look good'.
|
| You had roast potatoes.
|
| I won't tell you how to make Buffalo wings or Chicago pizza.
| jimnotgym wrote:
| I don't think we are mistaken to call the potatoes we put in
| the roasting tin with our roasting meat for a classic Sunday
| roast....roast potatoes.
|
| Baked potatoes are baked skin-on whole in the oven.
|
| I don't think 'mistakenly' is the word you were looking for.
| Otherwise we can start on a 'who invented English anyway'
| thread of food naming.
|
| + crisps that some people mistakenly call chips
|
| + chips that some people mistakenly call fries
|
| + biscuits that some people mistakenly call cookies
|
| Etc
| fakedang wrote:
| "some people"
| portaouflop wrote:
| Mostly people living in a troubled, oil-rich former British
| colony with a history of political violence.
| fecal_henge wrote:
| Nigeria?
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| I thought the above was a joke but literally what else
| fits? The british empire never held most of what we know
| to be oil-rich now.
| portaouflop wrote:
| It's the United States dummy
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| The oil-rich parts were never a british colony.
| profquail wrote:
| Pennsylvania has oil and was formerly a British colony:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_oil_rush
| sandworm101 wrote:
| Canada was. Lots of oil in canada.
| fecal_henge wrote:
| Lots of rosin also.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| Canada is not a part of the United States, though.
| Neither is Nigeria. Surprising this needs to be stated.
| margalabargala wrote:
| You're making this out to be some British/American difference
| but it isn't. OP is just wrong about potatoes.
|
| In America also, baked potatoes are baked skin-on whole in
| the oven. Often wrapped in aluminum foil.
|
| Roasted potatoes are cut up, tossed in oil, salt, and
| sometimes other herbs, and baked that way.
| derefr wrote:
| It's not even specific to potatoes. "Bake" and "roast" are
| distinct culinary jargon terms. Quoth ChatGPT:
|
| > Baking occurs at a moderate temperature, and is generally
| used to cook and solidify foods without browning them
| excessively. This technique creates a consistent, even
| texture throughout the food.
|
| > Roasting, meanwhile, uses a higher temperature, and
| focuses on achieving a crispy, browned exterior with a
| tender interior, enhancing flavors through caramelization
| and the Maillard reaction.
|
| Anything you put in an oven covered completely in aluminum
| foil --like a baked potato -- is only going to end up
| baked, not roasted.
| adriand wrote:
| > Anything you put in an oven covered completely in
| aluminum foil --like a baked potato -- is only going to
| end up baked, not roasted.
|
| Actually, this produces a steamed potato. Covering it in
| foil is a poor technique for this reason. To properly do
| this: wash the potato, stab the skin a few times with a
| fork (failure to do this may produce an exploded potato),
| sprinkle with salt while still damp so the salt adheres,
| then roast directly on the oven rack (or in a barbecue)
| until squeezing it gives a fair bit of give.
| jspash wrote:
| Explain how you cook jacket potatoes then. Keep em in the
| side pocket of your jacket for a week or so until it's ready
| to eat?
| jimnotgym wrote:
| Btw I never knew a restaurant in Britain use locally grown
| heirloom varieties of anything without making a big deal about
| it. Although I suppose in American terms all produce grown in
| Britain is fairly local. Potato growing tends to be quite
| regional.
|
| 'New potatoes', the thin skinned spring type, usually eaten
| boiled with the skin on, come first from Jersey (Jersey
| Royals). Then Cornwall, but more commonly Pembrokeshire (just
| over the Bristol Channel from Cornwall). The thick skinned
| general purpose types come later from places with deep stone
| free soils. I think more of Lincolnshire, although they are
| grown in pockets all over. I like the ones from the localised
| sandy soils in mid Shropshire, but I grew up on them so I'm
| probably biased. Those are the ones I would roast.
| ifwinterco wrote:
| You are definitely describing roast potatoes
|
| Most likely they were maris pipers (actually a post war
| invention), maybe king edwards
| sourcepluck wrote:
| I think other responders have suitably highlighted how you did
| in fact have roast potatoes, but what I'd like to know is how
| you became so convinced you had baked potatoes in the first
| place? Could you describe for us what you think roast potatoes
| and baked potatoes are?
| switch007 wrote:
| Boil in stock? That's genius. Not sure why I haven't thought of
| that.
| AndrewVos wrote:
| Which restaurant was this? I live in Cornwall so want to check
| it out!
| acyou wrote:
| This is so dumb, I can hardly believe that it is real. I would
| need to talk to someone who had experienced it firsthand to fully
| believe.
|
| Water (stew) is... in every aspect possible a superior cooking
| medium.
|
| How could this ever have been economical? How hard is it to make
| a cooking fire, or share a rosin melting fire with a cook pot?
|
| I think it's essentially an old sarcastic joke, that people took
| too literally?
| oh_my_goodness wrote:
| No, it's real, it's just three or four generations back in
| time. Fire was essential. Without fire the potatoes wouldn't
| cook.
| z2 wrote:
| Water is a solvent, and unless pressurized, liquid water is
| limited to a maximum temperature of 100C. Many foods cook
| differently (one may even say better) at higher temperatures,
| or if parts don't get dissolved into the water. Not defending
| using a poisonous rosin instead, but just pointing out why we
| don't all just stew potatoes.
| throwup238 wrote:
| Well, now I'm curious if other things often called rosins can be
| used the same way. Would cannabis rosin extracted by the
| solventless method work? It's edible so probably not dangerous to
| eat like turpentine rosin.
|
| Can I make cannabis rosin potatoes for danksgiving?
| dmurray wrote:
| I think you'd need industrial quantities for a recipe like
| this. Maybe you can infuse some animal fat (or vegetable oil)
| with the cannabis rosin, though, and roast the potatoes in it.
| dole wrote:
| It mentions requiring 2 1-gallon "paint cans" of rosin to
| start cooking 3 potatoes. While possible, that sounds like a
| LOT of cannabis rosin to attempt to make or collect, but I'd
| be happy to help.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| The paint can reference was weird to me. A gallon is a
| gallon. Is rosin sold in gallon cans?
| ChumpGPT wrote:
| I've spent time reading some old baking books and looking at
| recipes, thinking I would discover some amazing technique,
| ingredient, or recipe that would be a game changer. What I
| discovered was that baking 50 to 200 years ago was primitive and
| offers very little other than some interesting history. Modern
| baking ingredients, techniques, and equipment are at such a
| higher level that there is little usefulness found in these old
| publications.
|
| I would imagine the same is true for cooking. Our ingredients,
| equipment (such as temperature control), and techniques are so
| much better than these old ways of doing things, they just can't
| compare when it comes to taste and quality. Cooking and baking
| are sciences that have come a long way and are remarkably better
| than they have ever been. There is no reason to cook with poisons
| or questionable practices just for nostalgia's sake.
| LarsAlereon wrote:
| I came to this same conclusion after reading Harold McGee's "On
| Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" as well.
| Prior to modern cooking science, it seems like a lot of recipes
| involved something akin to a religious ritual that accidentally
| did something beneficial to your food. Now that we understand
| what is happening, we can use modern techniques to get much
| better results.
|
| It might have been that book that talked about untapped
| potential for better flavors by making certain sauces in a
| microwave oven. The basic theory (as I recall) was that the
| microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets suspended in a
| watery sauce, and this would better extract flavor compounds
| into the oil while not heating the overall sauce enough to
| damage flavors.
| senkora wrote:
| > the microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets
|
| I think it would be the opposite. It would selectively heat
| the water, because water is polar. That would still be
| consistent with the effect.
| webmaven wrote:
| IIUC, while the water heats faster, it has a lower upper
| limit (the boiling point), while oil and fat keep getting
| hotter.
|
| Source: I have ruined a few plastic containers by heating
| greasy food in the microwave, because the fat easily gets
| hot enough to melt the plastic. Homemade Bolognese sauce
| seems particularly dangerous in this regard, because it is
| both acidic and greasy, and that will absolutely EAT
| plastic.
|
| P. S. Even if you don't damage the plastic per-se, heating
| oily food in the microwave in a plastic container isn't a
| good idea, quite a few nasty compounds will leach into the
| oil more readily than into water.
| leni536 wrote:
| I recommend Max Miller's Tasting History series on youtube. He
| certainly covers some unusual recipes and ingredients that
| still look interesting. Admittedly, I didn't try much of his
| recipes.
| tcbawo wrote:
| It seems that the boiling point and flash point of rosin is quite
| high, somewhere close to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. So, transferring
| the heat directly into potato probably has some positive effect
| on cooking, but I would think cooking potatoes at that
| temperature in high temp cooking oil would produce a similar
| effect without toxicity. Giving up reusability seems like a good
| tradeoff.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I doubt the rosin is more reusable than cooking oil.
| Restaurants often reuse the same fry oil for very long periods
| of time.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| Not "very long" no. The oil can be cleaned and reused a few
| times but even with light use a week is pushing it. Places
| that do a lot of frying are changing oil every other day,
| possibly even daily at like a fried chicken place.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I think this is going to depend on the quality of the
| restaurant and any regulations they're subject to... in any
| case a week of restaurant use is probably equivalent to a
| person at home reusing the same oil for years
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| I've never worked in a jurisdiction where the health code
| covered this. The oil starts smoking at cooking
| temperatures and foams and doesn't cook right. The food
| coming out of it looks and tastes and smells bad.
|
| You also can't go years with it at home even with few
| uses. After you've fried in it once the oxidation goes
| much faster even if you don't use it again. Maybe if you
| freeze it between uses but I've never heard of that.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| I intentionally used the words "very long" instead of an
| exact time specifically to avoid pedantic replies along
| the lines of "no not actually that long but slightly
| shorter" because my point was that cooking oil, like
| rosin, is sometimes reused in some contexts and by some
| people. Please replace "very long" with whatever exact
| period of time you think is the longest time the shadiest
| possible restaurant with awful food might let their
| cooking oil go for.
|
| I'll admit that I pretty much deserve this, because
| pointing out that cooking oil can also be reused, was
| itself a pretty pedantic and pointless thing to mention.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| idk why don't you instead just admit you were confidently
| spouting off about something you know nothing about
| SoftTalker wrote:
| I used to work at McDonald's. The deep fryer oil was
| filtered and the fryers cleaned every night. You could tell
| when the oil needed to be changed, it was dark and smokey.
| 5-7 days was about the limit, we always discarded the oil
| from at least one fryer every night, and we had 6.
|
| When they switched from beef tallow to vegetable oil, it
| seemed like they needed to be changed a little more often.
| turtlebits wrote:
| Shouldn't these be boiled potatoes and not baked? Would this
| taste much different from a potato cooked in oil but not deep
| fried (confit)?
| bjackman wrote:
| Hmm nothing in this article explains the effect the rosin is
| supposed to have?
|
| "This is the best way to cook potatoes. Everything about it is
| difficult and dangerous. You have to try it!"
| FounderBurr wrote:
| It probably has to do with the boiling point of pine resin.
| There are probably other less noxious substances that boil in
| the 300c range that would produce similar results without the
| risk of fire or poisoning.
| Giorgi wrote:
| hence the "lost art"
| cogman10 wrote:
| I mean, frying oil. You could almost certainly achieve the
| same effect frying a whole potato in sunflower/peanut oil at
| 230C
| pinkmuffinere wrote:
| +1, I desperately want to know why I should try this.
| LarsAlereon wrote:
| It's basically just deep frying in an uncommon (and possibly
| not food-safe?) oil.
| NelsonMinar wrote:
| I can't find the reference but another article I read asserted
| the higher cooking temperature made a better texture of potato.
| OJFord wrote:
| That frustrated me too.
|
| I suspect it's hardening around the skin of the potato (hence
| can't eat the skin) and essentially letting the potato steam
| itself?
|
| Kind of like if you deep-fried it submerged in oil, but with
| even less ingress, and much less than boiling.
|
| I commented this elsewhere and someone suggested sous vide
| ought to be very similar then, of course. (Added benefit
| perhaps: you can eat the skin!) Only difference might be that
| the rosin can get hotter, more like oil, than boiling water
| circa 100C.
| croisillon wrote:
| I guess a similar effect of "steaming potato within its
| hardened skin" can be reached wrapping potatoes in aluminum
| and then putting them in a fireplace
| msrenee wrote:
| If you've never done it, deep fried whole potatoes are
| amazing. It gets creamy in a way that good mashed potatoes
| do. Just be careful as they can explode like anything else
| with a lot of water. You want to poke holes in it so the
| steam can escape.
|
| I will not allow myself to purchase a deep fat fryer because
| it's not healthy to live exclusively off of fried potatoes
| and associated toppings.
| ricardobeat wrote:
| The potato itself will not go above 100C until the entirety
| of its water has boiled off, so that's unlikely to have a
| meaningful effect. I imagine deep-frying, or a slow confit
| will have the exact same effect with a lot less danger.
| fakedang wrote:
| Yeah, got the same vibe from the article. Try cooking in this
| possibly noxious stuff, it's the best!
|
| You need a dedicated setup to cook your potatoes and you can't
| even eat the skin. That for me is an instant disqualifier.
| cogman10 wrote:
| Don't worry, if you accidentally pierce the skin you'll
| simply poison yourself.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| The skins the best bit of a baked potato anyway, if you're just
| gonna eat the inside then mash or roast would be better anyway.
| userbinator wrote:
| I use rosin regularly as flux for soldering. Cooking a potato in
| it doesn't sound appetising, especially after the warning to not
| eat the skin, as the skin is not impermeable either.
|
| That said, the Wikipedia page for rosin says it is "an FDA
| approved food additive".
| tommiegannert wrote:
| Hmm. The state of California would probably argue that both the
| potatoes and the rosin has turned into cancer-generating zombie
| paste, at temperatures where using rosin for cooking makes
| sense.
| amelius wrote:
| Actually, I love the smell of my rosin-based flux.
|
| (But I know it is not healthy to inhale it)
| tdeck wrote:
| I wonder if baking in fine sand or salt would have a similar
| effect with less risk. Or perhaps wrapping in aluminum foil
| before putting the potato in the rosin pot.
| sitharus wrote:
| Well Hangi potatoes are delicious and those are slow-roasted in
| a stone heated earth oven, so I expect sand or salt cooked
| would be really good.
| InMice wrote:
| Personally this cooking method in the link to me is disgusting.
| Ive settled on my favorite way to cook potatoes - microwave. They
| get the gentle cook of a boil without the water soluble nutrient
| loss. Sometimes I let them chill overnight in the fridge then
| give them a gentle reheat before eating to decrease glycemic load
| and increase resistant starch. This makes them a lot more filling
| to me. I eat the skin always.
| phito wrote:
| I love throwing sweet potatoes in the microwave. Ready in 7
| minutes and delicious.
| wslh wrote:
| I wonder how that tastes. In Argentina, it's common to put
| potatoes directly inside and on top of the charcoal on a
| parrilla. Jump to 5:30 here:
| https://youtu.be/kpp_AzckMiA?si=6tlhwi7V6v6-T0W7.
| mojosam wrote:
| It sounds like most commenters here have never had a rosin tater.
| When I was kid, a very popular, upscale restaurant called
| Planters Back Porch in seafood mecca Murrells Inlet, SC
| specialized in rosin taters. They were very good, enough for
| there to always be long lines to get in.
|
| In case it's not clear from the description, after removing the
| potato from the rosin, and wrapping in paper, the thin layer of
| remaining rosin quickly solidifies into a hard shell, so you can
| then cut through it to get access to the flesh of the potato
| without accidentally eating rosin.
| Giorgi wrote:
| they pushed amazon affiliate link, but it is not formed well.
| crazygringo wrote:
| None of this makes any sense at all. This sounds like it belongs
| in the same category as gold-plated HDMI connectors improving
| your TV's image quality.
|
| Some comments suggest it's because it's cooked at a higher
| temperature than boiling. That doesn't matter because the inside
| of the potato obviously never goes above boiling, since it
| continues to have lots of water inside after being cooked. The
| same exact effect should be achievable simply with deep-frying
| the potato at the same temperature.
|
| Other comments suggest something somehow preserves the potato's
| flavor more than other methods. But that's not how cooking/flavor
| works. If the rosin (or boiling water or frying oil) were seeping
| into the inside of a potato then sure any or all of them could be
| leaching out flavor compounds, or reacting with existing
| compounds... but they're not.
|
| All this is doing is heating the inside of the potato, where
| literally the only variables are the amount of heat being applied
| and the moisture escaping at the surface. If you were eating the
| _skin_ then yes there 's a massive difference between boiling vs.
| frying vs. roasting. But not on the _inside_ (except for how much
| water vapor escapes which is a question of temperature and
| wrapping). And this article is literally about eating only the
| inside of the potato, since the rosin itself is apparently not
| fit for consumption.
|
| Best I can guess, this is just a novelty thing about eating
| potatoes encased in newspaper that has wound up essentially glued
| to a hard potato shell? Seems like it's more about the
| experience, and nothing whatsoever to do with flavor or taste.
| margalabargala wrote:
| I'm not sure this is true.
|
| Like you said, the cooking of the inside is a function of the
| water vapor escape, which is a function of temperature and
| wrapping.
|
| People elsewhere in this thread have said they have tried both
| methods, and commented on how when deep frying a whole baked
| potato, the escaping water vapor causes the oil to visibly,
| vigorously boil, but this doesn't happen with rosin, suggesting
| the vapor remains trapped inside.
|
| While liquid water cannot go above 100C, water vapor certainly
| can. That water remains in the potato after cooking can just be
| re-condensed vapor. How the expanded gas would remain in the
| potato I have no idea.
|
| My interpretation is that the difference from deep-frying is
| that something about the rosin method prevents as much water
| vapor from escaping. Maybe it's just typical cooking
| temperatures, and a deep fryer set to the same temperature as
| the rosin pot would yield a similar result, they just usually
| aren't set to that temperature.
| jpalomaki wrote:
| How about wrapping the potato on something that seals it
| before heating it up?
|
| Some recipies instruct you to wrap the potatoes with
| aluminium foil. I've always thought this is useless, but
| maybe should give it a try.
| crazygringo wrote:
| Probably the rosin is just at a lower temperature. Set oil to
| 275degF instead of 350degF and you'd achieve the same effect,
| if that's the case. (As you suggest.)
|
| Or if the rosin is creating some kind of impermeable seal
| (unlikely since it's liquid at this temperature, but let's
| suppose it chemically reacts with the skin somehow) then you
| achieve the same thing by wrapping the potato in aluminum
| foil. That's the whole reason for foil around baked potatoes
| at steakhouses.
|
| The point is, the rosin isn't doing anything special you
| can't already easily do. There's no special flavor here.
| anvil-on-my-toe wrote:
| If you're a slave in antebellum North Carolina, you have rosin
| on-hand and an open fire, no oven. You can cook your potatoes on
| the hot coals and ash or boil them in water in a pot. This method
| might have been more thermally efficient than either of those
| options and resulted in a nicer inner texture, while also
| conveniently sealing the cooked potato in a waxy later so it
| could be consumed later.
| omnibrain wrote:
| My wife and I like to microwave potatoes. We call them "sexy
| microwave potatoes" after the Reddit story that brought us this
| idea:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jdnt43/aita_...
| SoftTalker wrote:
| "Hey Jim, try this potato, it's cooked in the waste products of
| distilled turpentine. Don't eat the skin."
|
| Jim: "No thanks."
| cogman10 wrote:
| "But it's an ancient lost art like decorating Christmas trees
| with asbestos!"
| bargle0 wrote:
| I wonder if similar results could be had by cooking the potato in
| clay or a salt crust.
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