cooking a potatoe

Larry,

Yes, you can bake a potatoe in the microwave. It is actually very easy. Wash your potatoe to get
rid of any dirt, take a fork or knife and pierce the skin in two or three place to let out steam
so it doesn't "explode" and make a mess, then cover it with a clean kitchen towel and "nuke" it.

Use a good plate (no paper or plastic disposable plates) because it will get hot. I typically use
a cloth kitchen towel but, paper towels work too. If it is not "clean", you will cook what ever is
on the towel itself. I once set a cloth towel on fire that had a bit of grease or cheese on it
from prior use that caused a little excitement but, it smoked so much that I caught it early and
no damage was done other then scorching the towel itself.

Depending on your microwave and the size of your potatoe, you may have to experiment a little to
get the cooking just right. Small potatoes cook faster then large ones. You can take a large
potatoe and cut in half to for faster cooking. If you cook multiple potatoes (or pieces), place
them in a "ring" with nothing in the center so that they will all cook evenly. If your microwave
doesn't have a turntable, turn you plate halfway through the cooking process. In my microwave
(1300Watts), a large potatoe cooks in about 11 minutes. Small potatoes cooking in about 8 minutes.
With multiple small potatoes (or slices) placed in a ring formation, try 8 minutes plus 1 minute
for each additional potatoe.

I never really learned how to cook at home because my Mom felt the only reason I would leave home
is to get married and my wife would cook for me. Needless to say, I am not married and living on
my own. I was fortunate enough to have some older ladies at work who I became friends with. They
"mothered" me a little and helped me learn how to cook during our "water cooler" conversations.
The other thing that helped, getting rid of the cheap pans I had to cook with. I got a couple of
really good Calphalon "try me" pans that were thick heavy anodized aluminum and I quit offering
burnt sacrifices to the "garbage can gods" thanks to the great heat distribution on those pans.
Good pans also helped overcome the poor quality stoves in the apartments I lived in. I also
learned that properly seasoned Lodge cast iron (like you find at Wal-mart) worked really great on
those bad stoves - it took a while to get them hot but, they heated evenly and cooked like a
dream after those old age "geezer" stoves finally coughed and sputtered out enough BTU's to warm
the pan up.

I hope this helps ;-) Sid

"larry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe

in

Quoted message said:

a microwave.

Larry [email hidden]

"larry" <[email hidden]> wrote in

Quoted message said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe in a microwave.

General cooking suggestion: In the cooking section of any large general bookstore, there will be
cookbooks intended for college students who have never before done their own cooking. -"This is a
stove. This is a frying pan. This is an egg."- Most of these are at a more elementary level than
cookbooks for children. (The previous sentence is not a joke.)

--
Dan Goodman Journal dsgood.blogspot.comdsgood.blogspot.comOpen ↗ or livejournal.comdsgoodOpen ↗ Whatever
you wish for me, may you have twice as much.

"larry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe

in

Quoted message said:

a microwave.

Larry [email hidden]

Yes. Microwaves cook food by exciting the water molecules within the food. This creates the heat
that cooks the food.

Generally the larger the potato the more steam or vent holes are necessary to create an "even
cook". I like to use a 2 tine corn holder and pierce the potato on each end and around the
circumference as well.

Dimitri

In article
<[email hidden]>,

larry said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe in a microwave.

Larry [email hidden]

Nuking spuds works well, if you do it right. :-) It works if you seal the potatoe in something. I
prefer a covered corningware with a little added water, but wrapping the spud in waxed paper works
pretty well also.

Cooking time will depend on the size of the tuber. You will have to experiment.

K.

--
^ ^ Cat's Haven Hobby Farm ^ ^ [email hidden] ^ ^

Quoted message said:

,,< >,,< >,,<

Dan Goodman said:

General cooking suggestion: In the cooking section of any large general bookstore, there will be
cookbooks intended for college students who have never before done their own cooking. -"This is a
stove. This is a frying pan. This is an egg."- Most of these are at a more elementary level than
cookbooks for children. (The previous sentence is not a joke.)

Let me add to this excellent advice.

First, don't be put off by getting a basic cookbook. Everyone has to start somewhere, and you'll be
a happier cook in the long run if you learn the basics well and build from there.

Second, you'll find more potato recipes on the web if you spell it P-O-T-A-T-O. (I'm not
normally one to go around correcting spelling, but in this case, it makes a difference in
achieving your goal.)

--Lia

"Julia Altshuler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:KJgIb.8070$I07.14374@attbi_s53...

Quoted message said:

First, don't be put off by getting a basic cookbook. Everyone has to start somewhere, and you'll
be a happier cook in the long run if you learn the basics well and build from there.

Second, you'll find more potato recipes on the web if you spell it P-O-T-A-T-O. (I'm not
normally one to go around correcting spelling, but in this case, it makes a difference in
achieving your goal.)

He must have been referring to a Dan Quayle type of potato.

larry said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

Quoted message said:

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe in a microwave.

You can certainly cook a potato in a microwave oven. There are many ways to cook potatoes in a
microwave oven, just as their are many ways to cook a potato in a regular oven. Could you be more
specific about how you prefer to cook your potatoes (.e.g., scalopped, whole, french fried, etc.)?

Julia Altshuler said:

Second, you'll find more potato recipes on the web if you spell it P-O-T-A-T-O. (I'm not
normally one to go around correcting spelling, but in this case, it makes a difference in
achieving your goal.)

"Potatoe" isn't technically a misspelling. It's an antiquated spelling (according to the Oxford
English Dictionary). It would be like saying "ye" is a misspelling of "the".

Quoted message said:

--Lia

--
-Brian James Macke [email hidden] "In order to get that which you wish for, you must first
get that which builds it." -- Unknown

Donna Pattee said:

In article said:

Julia Altshuler said:

First, don't be put off by getting a basic cookbook. Everyone has to start somewhere,* and you'll
be a happier cook in the long run if you learn the basics well and build from there.

Second, you'll find more potato recipes on the web if you spell it P-O-T-A-T-O. (I'm not
normally one to go around correcting spelling,* but in this case,* it makes a difference in
achieving your goal.)

Commas are not decorations, nor are parentheses. I know, you're an obsessive-compulsive punctuator
and/or a hesitant speaker.

The first of the two commas you flagged were used correctly.

The first of the two commas you flagged *was* used correctly.

Quoted message said:

The third comma was not necessary.

If the rule being applied is "when a conjunction connects two clauses that could stand alone as
separate sentences, then a comma precedes it," the sentence doesn't need the second comma.

But it may also be correctly punctuated, "I'm not normally one to go around correcting spelling but,
in this case, it makes a difference in achieving your goal." A non-essential phrase should be set
off by commas. And a serious pedant would even put another comma in front of the "but" so it reads
"...spelling, but, in this case, it makes..."

Dueling rules...

Quoted message said:

One way to tell if a comma is needed is to try the parts of the sentence as separate sentences.
Doing this you will see that both "Everyone has to start somewhere." and "You'll be a happier cook
in the long run if you learn the basics well and build from there." stand alone as proper
sentences. Thus, putting them together with "and" means that a comma is required.

The rule is that the comma is to be used with a conjunction in a compound sentence when punctuation
is necessary for clarity. Otherwise, it may be omitted and generally should be. The sentence quoted
here doesn't need it to be properly understood.

Pastorio

[email hidden] wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

larry said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

Quoted message said:

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends...
I do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to
make mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe in a microwave.

You can certainly cook a potato in a microwave oven. There are many ways to cook potatoes in a
microwave oven, just as their are many ways to cook a potato in a regular oven. Could you be more
specific about how you prefer to cook your potatoes (.e.g., scalopped, whole, french fried, etc.)?

I don't really see how you can cook scalloped or French fried potatoes in a microwave oven.
Please explain.

"Brian Macke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Julia Altshuler said:

Second, you'll find more potato recipes on the web if you spell it P-O-T-A-T-O. (I'm not
normally one to go around correcting spelling, but in this case, it makes a difference in
achieving your goal.)

"Potatoe" isn't technically a misspelling. It's an antiquated spelling (according to the Oxford
English Dictionary). It would be like saying "ye" is a misspelling of "the".

Quoted message said:

--Lia

Actually "ye" IS a mispelling, because the revival of "ye" as in "ye olde coffee shoppe" is based on
a misreading of the anglo saxon letter 'thorn' which was pronounced as 'th' but written something
like a 'y' in manuscripts, which the revivers obviously did not know.

"Potatoe" is not a mispelling if it is placed in quotes and given as an example of an antiquated
spelling, as you have done, but any proofreader in commercial publication would correct it without
hesitation.

We do it all the time and it works real well. You can boil them, bake them and do just about
anything you can anyother way in just a few minutes.

larry said:

Greetings and Happy New Year.

I feel somewhat awkward with this question... Me and the kitchen are not the best of friends... I
do know how to boil water but... Can you cook a potatoe in a microwave. I just learned how to make
mashed potatoes however can you cook a potatoe in a microwave.

Larry [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Can you cook a potatoe

############
Who are you Dan Quayle? BG

[email hidden] :

|| We do it all the time and it works real well. You can boil them, bake them and do just about
|| anything you can anyother way in just a few minutes.
||

Why would you eat something that is directly related to Microwaves and radiation. Wouldn't you
rather just use a gun it would be much faster.

😉

--
"Pooh," said Rabbit kindly, "you haven't any brain." "I know," said Pooh humbly.

On 12/31/2003 2:34 PM, in article [email hidden], "Richard
Periut" <[email hidden]> opined:

Quoted message said:

Sandy n ne said:

You can cook a potato in the microwave. Just be sure to poke it a few times with a fork first to
let out steam (you definately don't want it blowing up on you!)

Sandra

I like to butter the skin, poke holes with a fork, and give it 6 minutes, turn, then another 6.

Love the hard crunchy crust that forms.

Rich

I have always been disappointed with nuked potatoes.

I still do it the old fashioned way, 1:00 @ 425š
--
====================================================
"Fast Eddie, let's play some pool," Minnesota Fats.
====================================================

(snip)

Quoted message said:

steam can pass through the flesh of the potato, but not through the skin, just like frying a
sausage. However I don't think this is so. In Wal-Mart (I think) you can buy potatoes wrapped in
film that you just pop in the microwave for 7 minutes and they come out really nice without holes.
Also, I have often nuked potatoes without film or fork holes and they do just fine with no
explosions.

Yes, it is a fallacy. I have been nuking my potatoes for years without poking holes in them. They've
never blown up on me and I've nuked some large taters.

Kilikini

You have a strange sense of humor.

If you are serious, you need some more education from a reputable school.

"peecee" <[email hidden] > wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] :

|| We do it all the time and it works real well. You can boil them, bake them and do just about
|| anything you can anyother way in just a few

minutes.

Quoted message said:

||

Why would you eat something that is directly related to Microwaves and radiation. Wouldn't you
rather just use a gun it would be much faster.

😉

--
"Pooh," said Rabbit kindly, "you haven't any brain." "I know," said Pooh humbly.

It is my understanding that there is NO radiation evidenced in the end product. We did contact a
scientist at the Livermore Lab in regarding this problem. He wrote back that there would be less
radiation that ones is exposed to daily in background radiation. I hope this helps you understand
microwaving processes better. Matt

peecee said:

[email hidden] :

|| We do it all the time and it works real well. You can boil them, bake them and do just about
|| anything you can anyother way in just a few minutes.
||

Why would you eat something that is directly related to Microwaves and radiation. Wouldn't you
rather just use a gun it would be much faster.

😉

The Wolf <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 12/31/2003 2:34 PM, in article [email hidden], "Richard Periut"
<[email hidden]> opined:

Quoted message said:

Sandy n ne said:

You can cook a potato in the microwave. Just be sure to poke it a few times with a fork first
to let out steam (you definately don't want it blowing up on you!)

Sandra

I like to butter the skin, poke holes with a fork, and give it 6 minutes, turn, then another 6.

Love the hard crunchy crust that forms.

Rich

I have always been disappointed with nuked potatoes.

I still do it the old fashioned way, 1:00 @ 425?

If you wash a medium-sized potato, pierce 3-4 times and wrap in a paper towel (still damp), nuke
about 3 minutes, turn it over and nuke about 2 additional minutes (not quite done), then WRAP IN
ALUMINIUM FOIL and let it set on a counter top for about 5 minutes to internalize the heat, the
potato will taste like a regular baked-in-foil (steamed) potato.

I often do this, then pop them into the oven for the last 5-10 miuntes while the main
course finishes.

-L.