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?

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.