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Russet Potatoes - Bluish Black Spots

post #1 of 4
7/6/12 at 8:10pm
Thread Starter 

I'm part of the kitchen crew for a 300 person weekend retreat.

Friday Lunch includes a baked potato bar, so we wash and poke holes

in the russet potatoes Thursday evening, lay them out on sheet pans and bake

them Friday morning.

They sit out on the sheet pans in bakers racks overnight in the kitchen.

Last year, we had a large number of potatoes that had nasty bluish black spots inside

when we cut them open for service.

Anyone have any ideas why that happened?

Should we not have pierced them until just before being placed in the ovens?

Or were they badly bruised and we didn't know it until after they were baked and split open?

I'd like to know what to do before this years retreat.

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post #2 of 4
7/7/12 at 6:53am

I would imagine it was the hole poking the night before, If you still want to do that, cover them completely with acidulated water after poking the holes, and store them that way until you are ready to put them in the oven.

Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.
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post #3 of 4
7/8/12 at 7:35am

i never understood pricking potatoes before baking them.  my mom did it at home but i have never seen it done in a commercial kitchen.  not sure if it is just a house wife method because i never found a difference.  i just brush with olive oil season lightly and bake until soft and this depends on the size of the potato.  i knew one chef that use to bake them in a pan lined with water softner salt and they came out very nice, well seasoned and the flesh stayed very white.

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post #4 of 4
7/11/12 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you for your replies.  I think we'll skip the piercing this year and see what happens. 

I wasn't sure why we did that anyway other than that is what Mom always did.
 

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