Once again, my housemate, Dan, presented a bag of goods to me asking: what is the fastest way to cook these?
This time his needs were:
To be able to get back to his work as quickly as possible and be able to maintain his focus, which required:
- the shortest thought process
- the fastest prep
- no babysitting
So – here’s what I told him, not as succinctly as I’m stating here, yet he got the message and had success:
1. Moist heat is faster than dry heat (b/c heat is transferred more efficiently with moisture, see Tips: Methods of cooking, coming soon), yet this method has two requirements: a bit more prep time and babysitting enters into the play.
2. With either cooking method the food cooks faster when there is more surface area exposed to the heat, so, cut the potato with maximum exposure.
Dan had success with these steps:
The process:
- Turn oven to 400 degrees
- Wash potatoes (optional; Dan didn’t do this b/c he doesn’t eat the skins)
- Cut potatoes down the center (length-wise and width-wise)
- Place on baking sheet, skin down / flesh up
- Put in oven, set timer for 40 minutes, walk away
This traditional method is good: click here…. yet not fast enough for Dan, a busy triathlete/more-than-full-time-worker.