Recipes

[drizzellla]

Has anyone come across potatoes that don't seem to soften?

I made a beef stew a couple weeks ago. The potatoes after cooking for well over an hour were still crunchy. They were cut into bite size pieces. So an hour should have been more than enough time.

So when I cooked a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker, I put the potatoes into the microwave 2 times for 5 minutes each before putting them into the slow cooker. The potatoes were better but some were still crunchy.

Never encountered this before. I never want to buy potatoes like this again. How is it possible? 

[Texas Gray Wolf]

I use the canned sliced or diced potatoes..........

[fthunt]

Common white potatoes?

Perhaps they got frozen somewhere along their travel.  I've had some interesting science projects resulting from fresh veggies being stored in the garage ......when hit with sub-zero temperatures.  Just lost a cabbage head a week ago.

[drizzellla]

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@fthunt wrote:

Common white potatoes?

Perhaps they got frozen somewhere along their travel.  I've had some interesting science projects resulting from fresh veggies being stored in the garage ......when hit with sub-zero temperatures.  Just lost a cabbage head a week ago.

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They were russet potatoes. I looked at the bag and it said "Product of Canada".

Wonder if they did freeze somewhere along the line. Canada can get cold and we have had some cold weather here.

Never encountered this before. Guess I will throw out the rest of the bag. But don't want to encounter it again.

[Kachina624]

My dad, raised in a potato-growing area of Colorado always claimed he could tell when they'd been frozen because they had a sweet taste.  He never mentioned crunchy.

[Foxxee]

I always use red potatoes for beef stew and never have had that problem.

Russet are good for baking, mashed potatoes, and french fries.  

[rms1954]

Red potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes hold up better than russet potatoes in a stew. Russet potatoes can get grainy because they are more starchy. Yukon Gold and Red potatoes are also nice because they don't need to be peeled.

[PickyPicky3]

I always use russets and that has never happened. Try and call the distributor in Canada. Or Google "What happens to russet potatoes if they freeze?"

[BeeChee]

Or..."why did my cooked potatoes stay crunchy?"

[drizzellla]

Why won’t my potatoes soften?

A potato’s cell walls contain pectin, and these pectin chains remain stable when they come into contact with acids. This means that potatoes will remain hard if they are in a dish that has a lot of acid (for example, a dish you’ve added wine to). Potatoes cooked in water alone often won’t soften.


OK - I did cook the pork and potatoes with sauerkraut. But I have cooked them many times that way. And the potatoes cooked just fine before.

And the stew I did add Worcestershire sauce but that was about a tablespoon.