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Idaho® Potatoes Are Rock Hard After Cooking Them in a Slow Cooker

Q:

I bought a five pound bag of grown in Idaho® Russet Burbank potatoes .I put them in a slow cooker on low for six hours. The meat that was cooking along with the potatoes was cooked but the potatoes were hard as bricks. I tried nuking them and it helped a little but not enough. I then tried frying them and that helped some more, making them edible with lots of catsup. What is wrong with these potatoes?

A:

There are so many variables it is hard to know where to start. The only experience I have had with a slow cooker is with a pretty high powered one, it is an All Clad and has a metal insert which I use to cook items partially first and then put the insert into the slow cooker to finish it off or hold. This version costs a couple of hundred dollars so not the usual one most people purchase.

Even when I use it I cut the potatoes up into 1 inch cubes or 1/2 inch slices to get them to cook thoroughly. I found this out when doing a stew as both the carrots and the potatoes were rock hard after several hours.