It's a mystery! (RL)

[thistlechaser]

Since FFXI is down at the moment, I went out to get lunch at an all you can eat salad bar place. The place's quality has gone way way down (wilted lettuce at a salad bar? Um, hello?), but I got what I wanted: a baked potato!

Lunch cost me $10 and change (I think they charged dinner prices since it was a holiday) and it struck me as silly to pay $10 when all I really wanted was a baked potato, so I bought a couple of potatoes on the way home.

Then I got home. And I looked at the potatoes. And I scratched my head.

It amazes me that people know what to do with these things! I said to myself 'You don't just take a potato, add 'bake', and get a baked potato!" but maybe you do, so I checked Google and yeah. But, um, I thought potatoes had to bake for like four or five hours? Alton Brown (who would never steer us wrong!) said bake one hour at 350. Dude? Is that long enough? And how in the world would you tell if it's done in the middle?

Cooking seems like magic to me: People take some of this and some of that and a pinch of this other thing and somehow come up with something good to eat.

Oh, and Catlove will be up in a couple hours, so yay!

Edit: Downtime's been extended for an hour, for anyone who hasn't checked the POL site yet. :/

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

If you have a microwave, you can "bake" a potato in that for about 8-10 minutes. It'll even sing while you do it! (Potatoes emit a high humming sound when their interior gets hot- dunno why.) Just poke about 3 sets of holes in it with a fork before you throw it in there. And to check if it's done, just squeeze it a little. If it gives, and/or the skin looks wrinkly and a little too big for the potato, then it's done. That goes for potatoes that are cooked in the regular oven, too.

[sukashi.livejournal.com]

Businesses can get away with charging ridiculously exorbitant amounts of money for food mainly because people are so lazy, like me. $10 for someone else to make you a meal in under ten minutes, or $10 for a full day's worth of meals in an hour of preparation time... sadly, people always go for the former instead, because they need that 50 minutes to waste on something else... like WAITING FOR THE AIRSHIP. GRAH! :{

Edit: Downtime's been extended for an hour, for anyone who hasn't checked the POL site yet. :/
Ha! FFXI will be down for me all night. Even longer if I'm feeling incredibly lazy. :(

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

(Potatoes emit a high humming sound when their interior gets hot- dunno why.)

Easy! It's actually the steam escaping from the potato at a high speed. There's a lot of water in potatoes (which makes sense, seeing as they're... essentially food/water storage for the plant) and when it gets hot the steam rushes out. Kinda like a teapot! Only... not.

i r teh smrt!!11!11oneone

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes perfect sense! U *r* teh smrt!!!11! :)

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Haha, I've made dinner -during- an exp party before... Thank goodness for NIN tanks XD.
Draymor casts Hasts on Tank.
//ruuuuns to check on boiling pasta. Stir twice.
Draymor casts Regen 3 on Tank.
//ruuuuns to check chicken stirfry. Add pepper.
I'm still amazed nobody died for my food X_x

If you want potatoes to cook even faster, cut a slit right down the middle before you throw them in the microwave. Be sure to cover it though or you may end up with potato jerkin...

[tersa.livejournal.com]

If you baked a potato for 4-5 hours, you would get a briquette. :)

What the other commenter said is correct about the microwave, except I am going to stress the "poke holes in it" part. If you don't, then the potato will explode, and you really don't want to clean-up either nuclear hot potato spew or rockhard cold potato spew from the inside of your microwave.

How long you microwave the potato depends on the size. If it's small (fist) sized, like maybe 4" x 2", I would do it for about 6 minutes on HIGH. Large potatoes (6" x 3" or larger) should be in the 8-10 minutes range suggested in the other comment.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Stabbing a potato with a fork is also excellent stress relief!

[sukashi.livejournal.com]

That's a rather moot point; stress is also relieved when you stab other things, like uh... kitties. >:{

[mark356.livejournal.com]

1 hour (or a little more) at 400°ish.

[tamd.livejournal.com]

Wash the potatoes to remove dirt. Poke the skin to prevent the potato from bursting. Coat the potato with vegetable oil, this will make the skin become crispy and prevents shrinkage during holding. If you want the skin to be soft, wrap the potato with aluminum foil before baking. A fork should easily pierce the potato when it's done. 425 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Cut it open and top it till your heart's content. =)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Man, you make it sound so easy! I can't wait to try it! Maybe tomorrow night! :D

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's so strange. I thought it took hours and hours. Basically as long as it took a turkey to cook (which makes no sense looking back on it now :P ).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Meep! No stabbing kitties!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

If you baked a potato for 4-5 hours, you would get a briquette. :)

Heehee! Somehow, somewhere, I got the impression that to bake a potato took as long as it took to bake a turkey. Thinking about it now, I see that makes no sense. :P

Thanks for the info! (And by the way, the place was Fresh Choice. They've gone so far downhill! Very sad.)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Haha, I've made dinner -during- an exp party before... Thank goodness for NIN tanks XD.

Ha ha, that's so funny. As RDM, I somethimes do something similar: Throw out all the enfeebles (stick or not, who cares!), go through the refresh/haste cycle... then I'm free to AFK till it's time to refresh/haste again! :P I try not to do that too often though, I'd feel horrible if someone died.

And thanks for the potato info!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Okay, I so totally need to cook a potato, just so I can hear it hum/sing! That's so cool!

Thanks for the info!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*rolls* Teapot potato! That's so funny. :D

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*cackles* Exactly! I don't have time to (cook|clean|exercise), I have to farm! Craft! Wait for the &$#&$1 airship!

Ha! FFXI will be down for me all night.

Awww. And I have a screenshot for you! I'll have to post it tonight. :D

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

Once you've mastered Oven and Microwave baked potatoes you can do your skill up test of BBQ baked potato or CampFire baked potato... (Same idea already explained in previous posts; use the foil and roll them into the fire for an hour :3 )

[draymor.livejournal.com]

They tastes like nostalgia :3

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

Coat ... with vegetable oil, this ... prevents shrinkage during holding...

I'm sorry, Thistle, but that is just so -you-, I had to butcher their innocent comment.

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

Abuh? I've never paid $10 for a meal in my life, even when I've gone to a fancy place to eat. I guess where I live is much, much cheaper than where Thistle lives. Wow.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heh. I live in one of the most expensive places in the whole country, even more so than the most expensive parts of New York City. :( Sucks.

I can't even say that $10 is average, that's barely over fast food prices... You couldn't go to a "family style" place (like Chilli's or one of those places with junk on the wall) and get a meal for twice that.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*dies* You're so horrible!

...hey, Aurian, wanna oil my potato?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

...but where would I get a fire? Do they sell that at the grocery store?

;)

But seriously, mmmm! That sounds really good. Do they taste better? Like all smokey?

[wanderingscribe.livejournal.com]

It sure sounds like it does. I've gone to a place like Chilli's and paid less than twenty for a full meal and dessert for two people. (Then again, I'm really anal about money since I'm poor as dirt, so...)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I was told 350 degrees is a misperception--it's too low for a potato. You get...not-quite-done potato. But if you try 425-450 for an hour, it's supposed to come out beautifully.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! Okay, thanks, I'll try that! :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That rocks. :) When I went there alone, just a meal and a drink (no dessert) cost me over $20. :/ Just for chicken fingers, nothing fancy or anything...

I've not been there in ages, which at least saves me money.

[loneguardian.livejournal.com]

... No. And you're supposed to put the potato down the -front-, Thistle. ~.~

[gbeans.livejournal.com]

Everything tastes different when cooked that way P: Man, it's been so long since I've BBQed ._.;

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I-- Em-- That is--

What?

c.c

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

It amazes me that people know what to do with these things!
Cooking seems like magic to me: People take some of this and some of that and a pinch of this other thing and somehow come up with something good to eat.

It's even stranger than you think, when you consider that the process started by people grabbing random parts of a plant (in this case a root of a plant) and applying heat in various ways, BUT that the initial experiment was done with something not even resembling a potato. Once the original item proved edible, it then had to undergo generations of cross-breeding and artificial selection to bring us the variety of potatoes we know and love today. As well as many varieties of non-potato foods that share a common ancestor.

Corn's story is even stranger... it used to be a grass like wheat, closer to a foxtail than today's corn. Someone figured out it could be a food and then over thousands of generations, made it grow tall and yellow and sweet.

I guess we should never underestimate the power of hungry people with centuries of time on their hands. And, on the off chance there's a food source that humans don't discover, good chance that some other animal will discover it and a human will then learn by example. Hmm.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! I had heard the story of corn somewhere, but not potato. Interesting!