Ask Dr. Potato

Q: Dr. Potato which uses more oil when frying, fresh cut or frozen fries?

Q: I read your Q and A about washing the potatoes and putting them in the oven the night before a work lunch. Would you poke them the night before or in the morning before turning the oven on? Just worried about getting gray streaks through my potato.

Q: Can I use an electric roasting pan to keep russet potatoes warm after baking?

Q: I want to make potato latkes. I want to prep the potatoes including grinding them up in the food processor ahead of time. I will have to travel with them for two hours and latkes are only good as soon as you fry them. What can I do to keep the potato batter from turning brown?

Q: Can I bake a potato and bacon at the same temperature in the oven for breakfast? I thought I saw a breakfast stuffed potato and egg recipe from Mr. Food a couple of years ago and want to try this over the holidays.

Q: I bought some Yukon gold potatoes this weekend because my mother bought some and mashed them up and she said they tasted earthy. I figured she had purchased a lesser brand or something so I purchased some Yukon gold and made mashed potatoes too. I think they were Sieverson Yukon golds. Anyway when done they looked right but they tasted EARTHY...ish. Why is this happening? They were peeled before I boiled them, so I didn't leave any dirt on them. Do you know why they are tasting earthy?

Q: Sometimes when I make fries (frozen fries) they come out like they just absorbed a lot of oil, hard on the outside and filled with tons of oil on the inside, it looks and tastes horrible. Do you know why this might happen?

Q: Can I make my mashed potatoes around 10am to serve at 4pm? Could I put them in a crock pot on warm for that long?

Q: Can the Slow Cooker Mashed Potato recipe be doubled from 8 servings to 16 servings and still cook ok in the slow cooker?

Q: How long can I store par cooked French fries at room temperature?