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The almost-lost art of rosin potatoes

SoftTalker 2y ago
"Hey Jim, try this potato, it's cooked in the waste products of distilled turpentine. Don't eat the skin." Jim: "No thanks."
- cogman10 2y ago
  "But it's an ancient lost art like decorating Christmas trees with asbestos!"
stewartbracken 2y ago
if you break the skin, you cannot eat that potato Be careful out there
- ambyra 2y ago
  Yeah, like why would anyone want to revive toxic potatoes.
  - serf 2y ago
    because it's a unique taste , a unique method, and a cultural significance for some people -- no one is forcing you to eat it. Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms? It's fun and interesting. That's why. Danger be damned.
    - hansvm 2y ago
      The danger is part of the appeal. When somebody gives you a mushroom called "the sickener," which is apparently edible with an appropriate combination of brining, fermentation, soaking, rinsing, and boiling, it's a little hard to resist the temptation to prove everyone else wrong and turn it into a tasty treat.
      - msrenee 2y ago
        Brings fugu to mind. I wish I could get a scientific answer to whether there's actually a high associated with it or if that's just in people's heads.
    - Alex3917 2y ago
      > Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms? I can't speak to fugu, but collecting wild mushrooms is statistically one of the safest hobbies in existence.
      - nimish 2y ago
        It's the eating that's the real challenge
AStonesThrow 2y ago
A truly exhaustive history lesson: https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-elusive-roots-of-rosin-potatoes https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-elusive-roots-... This was linked by Gemini, which happily chirped that rosin potatoes can be great!
- pazimzadeh 2y ago
  TLDR: it seems to be a way to preserve the potatoes by sealing them
  - alwa 2y ago
    Where did you get that in the (excellent) article linked? I noticed that they mention sealing in the context of pitch and resin’s industrial applications, but I understood the article more to trace the rosin potato thing back to a trendy mid-century extrapolation from potatoes cooked in brewers’ pitch in German-influence regions of Ohio and the northeast… cook-and-eat-right-away throughout. And I was surprised they served them at Cracker Barrel.
    - pazimzadeh 2y ago
      my bad, I actually got it from this youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFoB5OEtRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFoB5OEtRA), was trying to the find the source for it, and that same article came up when I searched google for "rosin preserves potatoes"
MostlyStable 2y ago
I'm someone who loves doing weird culinary things, and has, in the past, gone to relatively extreme amounts of effort to make something at home rather than buying it (or at least...to try making it at home). I am probably in the top 1% or more of people willing to expend time and effort on weird food things. And yet even for me, spending 1.5-2 hours to get 3 baked potatoes, which are supposedly just....really nicely baked potatoes?...seems like a lot. I'm glad that there are people out there preserving weird old historical cooking methods, but I feel no compulsion at all to actually try this myself.
- ajkjk 2y ago
  The article linked in another comment offers this by way of justification: > "Because none of the potato’s flavor or aroma compounds can escape, you get the most intense potato flavor you’ve ever experienced,” Brock says. “And they’re steaming in their own water, which is why you get a totally unique texture."
  - morkalork 2y ago
    Could you shrinkwrap and sous-vide a potatoe for the same effect?
    - jszymborski 2y ago
      Strikes me to be the case.
    - anon84873628 2y ago
      The article says the potatoes bubble and eventually float to the top as water is released. So surely some other volatile compounds could be released too? Perhaps compounds cannot be dissolved in the rosin as they are in a pot water? But then why is it better than regular baking? Sous vide would certainly trap everything, but then again, we want a potato that is ultimately dry on the outside. What if instead of rosin we used something safer and more available, like a cooking oil? I bet deep fried potatoes would taste quite good! :-P
opwieurposiu 2y ago
Note that rosin is very flammable, but I guess so is cooking oil.
_yb2s 2y ago
This is interesting history, but I am skeptical that this is safe to eat, or better than a regular potato. If people are interested in trying unusual potato cooking methods, I'd recommend making Syracuse Salt Potatoes instead- they are excellent and easy.
- anon84873628 2y ago
  Well I agree that there are better alternatives. But is rosin really that toxic? It seems to cause problems if the fumes are inhaled, but I can't find evidence it is particularly dangerous to consume. Similar to lots of other tree resins, which are even used in traditional chewing gum.
  - teruakohatu 2y ago
    Turps is toxic if ingested, and it’s not clear if the rosin byproduct of turps production still contains some amount of turps. I loathe the smell of turps, I wouldn’t eat anything that had any chance of coming into contact with it.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    I'm not sure about you, but "can't find evidence it is particularly dangerous" is not exactly the standard of evidence I want when deciding to consume something that isn't normally a food item. I have a tub of oar lubricant, for rowing. I also cannot find any evidence that it would be dangerous to eat, but I'm not going to fry up my dinner in it. Oar lubricant is traditionally just tallow so maybe that's what this is- but since it wasn't ever intended as food, do they, e.g. make sure it isn't stored and processed with equipment containing high lead concentrations, etc.? Maybe this one company adds something special and toxic that makes it work better that they don't have to disclose because it's not for human consumption?
    - anon84873628 2y ago
      Yes, but is there already some niche folk history of cooking food in oar lubricant? My response was to you saying "I am skeptical that this is safe to eat" when people have been, apparently, safely eating it.
Jedd 2y ago
Absolute best baked (what some people mistakenly call roast) potatoes I've ever had were in a small restaurant in Cornwall, England. They were almost definitely locally grown, doubtless extremely fresh, and almost definitely an heirloom variety. (And I acknowledge that food always tastes better when you're on holiday.) We were told the preparation was pretty simple: 'boil in a strong stock until almost fully cooked, then dry and coat in goose fat, and then bake until they look good'. (Apart from being much faster than conventional baked potatoes, and much much faster & safer than this rosin preparation, there's little risk of getting sick from this method.)
- fanf2 2y ago
  In Britain, baked potatoes are oven-cooked whole, skin on, usually without fat; roast potatoes are peeled, cut into large uniform chunks (halved or quartered depending on the size), parboiled, then oven-cooked in lots of fat.
  - lbotos 2y ago
    If you are American and have never had british style roasted Potatoes… oh boy are you in for a treat.
  - jfk13 2y ago
    That's how my mother used to do it, but I've found that you don't actually need to use "lots of fat" -- you can get good results with much less (just enough oil or goose fat to cover the bottom of the roasting tray), provided you toss the potatoes in it (pre-heated) when putting them in, and turn them a few times during cooking. The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor.
    - magicalhippo 2y ago
      We toss the potatoes on the tray in just enough oil to lightly coat them. Don't boil them, just have them in the pre-heated oven for 30ish minutes. I prefer mealy potatoes, typically almond potatoes[1], but others work fine too. Add some herbs, salt and pepper while tossing. Super easy, hard to mess up and yum yum. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_potato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_potato
acyou 2y ago
This is so dumb, I can hardly believe that it is real. I would need to talk to someone who had experienced it firsthand to fully believe. Water (stew) is... in every aspect possible a superior cooking medium. How could this ever have been economical? How hard is it to make a cooking fire, or share a rosin melting fire with a cook pot? I think it's essentially an old sarcastic joke, that people took too literally?
- oh_my_goodness 2y ago
  No, it's real, it's just three or four generations back in time. Fire was essential. Without fire the potatoes wouldn't cook.
- z2 2y ago
  Water is a solvent, and unless pressurized, liquid water is limited to a maximum temperature of 100C. Many foods cook differently (one may even say better) at higher temperatures, or if parts don't get dissolved into the water. Not defending using a poisonous rosin instead, but just pointing out why we don't all just stew potatoes.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
throwup238 2y ago
Well, now I’m curious if other things often called rosins can be used the same way. Would cannabis rosin extracted by the solventless method work? It’s edible so probably not dangerous to eat like turpentine rosin. Can I make cannabis rosin potatoes for danksgiving?
- dmurray 2y ago
  I think you'd need industrial quantities for a recipe like this. Maybe you can infuse some animal fat (or vegetable oil) with the cannabis rosin, though, and roast the potatoes in it.
  - dole 2y ago
    It mentions requiring 2 1-gallon “paint cans” of rosin to start cooking 3 potatoes. While possible, that sounds like a LOT of cannabis rosin to attempt to make or collect, but I’d be happy to help.
    - SoftTalker 2y ago
      The paint can reference was weird to me. A gallon is a gallon. Is rosin sold in gallon cans?
ChumpGPT 2y ago
I've spent time reading some old baking books and looking at recipes, thinking I would discover some amazing technique, ingredient, or recipe that would be a game changer. What I discovered was that baking 50 to 200 years ago was primitive and offers very little other than some interesting history. Modern baking ingredients, techniques, and equipment are at such a higher level that there is little usefulness found in these old publications. I would imagine the same is true for cooking. Our ingredients, equipment (such as temperature control), and techniques are so much better than these old ways of doing things, they just can't compare when it comes to taste and quality. Cooking and baking are sciences that have come a long way and are remarkably better than they have ever been. There is no reason to cook with poisons or questionable practices just for nostalgia's sake.
- LarsAlereon 2y ago
  I came to this same conclusion after reading Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" as well. Prior to modern cooking science, it seems like a lot of recipes involved something akin to a religious ritual that accidentally did something beneficial to your food. Now that we understand what is happening, we can use modern techniques to get much better results. It might have been that book that talked about untapped potential for better flavors by making certain sauces in a microwave oven. The basic theory (as I recall) was that the microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets suspended in a watery sauce, and this would better extract flavor compounds into the oil while not heating the overall sauce enough to damage flavors.
  - senkora 2y ago
    > the microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets I think it would be the opposite. It would selectively heat the water, because water is polar. That would still be consistent with the effect.
    - webmaven 2y ago
      IIUC, while the water heats faster, it has a lower upper limit (the boiling point), while oil and fat keep getting hotter. Source: I have ruined a few plastic containers by heating greasy food in the microwave, because the fat easily gets hot enough to melt the plastic. Homemade Bolognese sauce seems particularly dangerous in this regard, because it is both acidic and greasy, and that will absolutely EAT plastic. P. S. Even if you don't damage the plastic per-se, heating oily food in the microwave in a plastic container isn't a good idea, quite a few nasty compounds will leach into the oil more readily than into water.
tcbawo 2y ago
It seems that the boiling point and flash point of rosin is quite high, somewhere close to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. So, transferring the heat directly into potato probably has some positive effect on cooking, but I would think cooking potatoes at that temperature in high temp cooking oil would produce a similar effect without toxicity. Giving up reusability seems like a good tradeoff.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  I doubt the rosin is more reusable than cooking oil. Restaurants often reuse the same fry oil for very long periods of time.
  - giraffe_lady 2y ago
    Not "very long" no. The oil can be cleaned and reused a few times but even with light use a week is pushing it. Places that do a lot of frying are changing oil every other day, possibly even daily at like a fried chicken place.
    - _yb2s 2y ago
      I think this is going to depend on the quality of the restaurant and any regulations they're subject to... in any case a week of restaurant use is probably equivalent to a person at home reusing the same oil for years
      - giraffe_lady 2y ago
        I've never worked in a jurisdiction where the health code covered this. The oil starts smoking at cooking temperatures and foams and doesn't cook right. The food coming out of it looks and tastes and smells bad. You also can't go years with it at home even with few uses. After you've fried in it once the oxidation goes much faster even if you don't use it again. Maybe if you freeze it between uses but I've never heard of that.
        2y ago
turtlebits 2y ago
Shouldn't these be boiled potatoes and not baked? Would this taste much different from a potato cooked in oil but not deep fried (confit)?
bjackman 2y ago
Hmm nothing in this article explains the effect the rosin is supposed to have? "This is the best way to cook potatoes. Everything about it is difficult and dangerous. You have to try it!"
- FounderBurr 2y ago
  It probably has to do with the boiling point of pine resin. There are probably other less noxious substances that boil in the 300c range that would produce similar results without the risk of fire or poisoning.
  - Giorgi 2y ago
    hence the "lost art"
  - cogman10 2y ago
    I mean, frying oil. You could almost certainly achieve the same effect frying a whole potato in sunflower/peanut oil at 230C
- pinkmuffinere 2y ago
  +1, I desperately want to know why I should try this.
  - LarsAlereon 2y ago
    It's basically just deep frying in an uncommon (and possibly not food-safe?) oil.
- NelsonMinar 2y ago
  I can't find the reference but another article I read asserted the higher cooking temperature made a better texture of potato.
- OJFord 2y ago
  That frustrated me too. I suspect it's hardening around the skin of the potato (hence can't eat the skin) and essentially letting the potato steam itself? Kind of like if you deep-fried it submerged in oil, but with even less ingress, and much less than boiling. I commented this elsewhere and someone suggested sous vide ought to be very similar then, of course. (Added benefit perhaps: you can eat the skin!) Only difference might be that the rosin can get hotter, more like oil, than boiling water circa 100C.
userbinator 2y ago
I use rosin regularly as flux for soldering. Cooking a potato in it doesn't sound appetising, especially after the warning to not eat the skin, as the skin is not impermeable either. That said, the Wikipedia page for rosin says it is "an FDA approved food additive".
- tommiegannert 2y ago
  Hmm. The state of California would probably argue that both the potatoes and the rosin has turned into cancer-generating zombie paste, at temperatures where using rosin for cooking makes sense.
- amelius 2y ago
  Actually, I love the smell of my rosin-based flux. (But I know it is not healthy to inhale it)
tdeck 2y ago
I wonder if baking in fine sand or salt would have a similar effect with less risk. Or perhaps wrapping in aluminum foil before putting the potato in the rosin pot.
- sitharus 2y ago
  Well Hāngī potatoes are delicious and those are slow-roasted in a stone heated earth oven, so I expect sand or salt cooked would be really good.
InMice 2y ago
Personally this cooking method in the link to me is disgusting. Ive settled on my favorite way to cook potatoes - microwave. They get the gentle cook of a boil without the water soluble nutrient loss. Sometimes I let them chill overnight in the fridge then give them a gentle reheat before eating to decrease glycemic load and increase resistant starch. This makes them a lot more filling to me. I eat the skin always.
- phito 2y ago
  I love throwing sweet potatoes in the microwave. Ready in 7 minutes and delicious.
wslh 2y ago
I wonder how that tastes. In Argentina, it’s common to put potatoes directly inside and on top of the charcoal on a parrilla. Jump to 5:30 here: https://youtu.be/kpp_AzckMiA?si=6tlhwi7V6v6-T0W7 https://youtu.be/kpp_AzckMiA?si=6tlhwi7V6v6-T0W7.
mojosam 2y ago
It sounds like most commenters here have never had a rosin tater. When I was kid, a very popular, upscale restaurant called Planters Back Porch in seafood mecca Murrells Inlet, SC specialized in rosin taters. They were very good, enough for there to always be long lines to get in. In case it’s not clear from the description, after removing the potato from the rosin, and wrapping in paper, the thin layer of remaining rosin quickly solidifies into a hard shell, so you can then cut through it to get access to the flesh of the potato without accidentally eating rosin.
- 1attice 2y ago
  Yes. This comments section is peak HN. A lot of speculation by people with absolutely zero experience or data. The article is admittedly tare on the _differences in outcome_, over and against more conventional methods, which I think drives a lot of the speculation here, but approached with curiosity, this becomes, "hmm, I wonder what, if any, the benefits might be?" instead of, "you could definitely replicate this with canola and also btw I solder with rosin"
Giorgi 2y ago
they pushed amazon affiliate link, but it is not formed well.
crazygringo 2y ago
None of this makes any sense at all. This sounds like it belongs in the same category as gold-plated HDMI connectors improving your TV's image quality. Some comments suggest it's because it's cooked at a higher temperature than boiling. That doesn't matter because the inside of the potato obviously never goes above boiling, since it continues to have lots of water inside after being cooked. The same exact effect should be achievable simply with deep-frying the potato at the same temperature. Other comments suggest something somehow preserves the potato's flavor more than other methods. But that's not how cooking/flavor works. If the rosin (or boiling water or frying oil) were seeping into the inside of a potato then sure any or all of them could be leaching out flavor compounds, or reacting with existing compounds... but they're not. All this is doing is heating the inside of the potato, where literally the only variables are the amount of heat being applied and the moisture escaping at the surface. If you were eating the skin then yes there's a massive difference between boiling vs. frying vs. roasting. But not on the inside (except for how much water vapor escapes which is a question of temperature and wrapping). And this article is literally about eating only the inside of the potato, since the rosin itself is apparently not fit for consumption. Best I can guess, this is just a novelty thing about eating potatoes encased in newspaper that has wound up essentially glued to a hard potato shell? Seems like it's more about the experience, and nothing whatsoever to do with flavor or taste.
- margalabargala 2y ago
  I'm not sure this is true. Like you said, the cooking of the inside is a function of the water vapor escape, which is a function of temperature and wrapping. People elsewhere in this thread have said they have tried both methods, and commented on how when deep frying a whole baked potato, the escaping water vapor causes the oil to visibly, vigorously boil, but this doesn't happen with rosin, suggesting the vapor remains trapped inside. While liquid water cannot go above 100C, water vapor certainly can. That water remains in the potato after cooking can just be re-condensed vapor. How the expanded gas would remain in the potato I have no idea. My interpretation is that the difference from deep-frying is that something about the rosin method prevents as much water vapor from escaping. Maybe it's just typical cooking temperatures, and a deep fryer set to the same temperature as the rosin pot would yield a similar result, they just usually aren't set to that temperature.
anvil-on-my-toe 2y ago
If you're a slave in antebellum North Carolina, you have rosin on-hand and an open fire, no oven. You can cook your potatoes on the hot coals and ash or boil them in water in a pot. This method might have been more thermally efficient than either of those options and resulted in a nicer inner texture, while also conveniently sealing the cooked potato in a waxy later so it could be consumed later.
omnibrain 2y ago
My wife and I like to microwave potatoes. We call them "sexy microwave potatoes" after the Reddit story that brought us this idea: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jdnt43/aita_for_eating_sexy_potatoes/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jdnt43/aita_...
bargle0 2y ago
I wonder if similar results could be had by cooking the potato in clay or a salt crust.
geon 2y ago
> you can not eat the skin But the skin is the best part! Seems lika a stupid cooking method.

"Hey Jim, try this potato, it's cooked in the waste products of distilled turpentine. Don't eat the skin." Jim: "No thanks."

cogman10 2y ago
"But it's an ancient lost art like decorating Christmas trees with asbestos!"

stewartbracken 2y ago

if you break the skin, you cannot eat that potato Be careful out there

ambyra 2y ago
Yeah, like why would anyone want to revive toxic potatoes.
- serf 2y ago
  because it's a unique taste , a unique method, and a cultural significance for some people -- no one is forcing you to eat it. Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms? It's fun and interesting. That's why. Danger be damned.
  - hansvm 2y ago
    The danger is part of the appeal. When somebody gives you a mushroom called "the sickener," which is apparently edible with an appropriate combination of brining, fermentation, soaking, rinsing, and boiling, it's a little hard to resist the temptation to prove everyone else wrong and turn it into a tasty treat.
    - msrenee 2y ago
      Brings fugu to mind. I wish I could get a scientific answer to whether there's actually a high associated with it or if that's just in people's heads.
  - Alex3917 2y ago
    > Why would anyone eat fugu or collect wild mushrooms? I can't speak to fugu, but collecting wild mushrooms is statistically one of the safest hobbies in existence.
    - nimish 2y ago
      It's the eating that's the real challenge

AStonesThrow 2y ago

A truly exhaustive history lesson: https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-elusive-roots-of-rosin-potatoes https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-elusive-roots-... This was linked by Gemini, which happily chirped that rosin potatoes can be great!

pazimzadeh 2y ago
TLDR: it seems to be a way to preserve the potatoes by sealing them
- alwa 2y ago
  Where did you get that in the (excellent) article linked? I noticed that they mention sealing in the context of pitch and resin’s industrial applications, but I understood the article more to trace the rosin potato thing back to a trendy mid-century extrapolation from potatoes cooked in brewers’ pitch in German-influence regions of Ohio and the northeast… cook-and-eat-right-away throughout. And I was surprised they served them at Cracker Barrel.
  - pazimzadeh 2y ago
    my bad, I actually got it from this youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFoB5OEtRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFoB5OEtRA), was trying to the find the source for it, and that same article came up when I searched google for "rosin preserves potatoes"

MostlyStable 2y ago

I'm someone who loves doing weird culinary things, and has, in the past, gone to relatively extreme amounts of effort to make something at home rather than buying it (or at least...to try making it at home). I am probably in the top 1% or more of people willing to expend time and effort on weird food things. And yet even for me, spending 1.5-2 hours to get 3 baked potatoes, which are supposedly just....really nicely baked potatoes?...seems like a lot. I'm glad that there are people out there preserving weird old historical cooking methods, but I feel no compulsion at all to actually try this myself.

ajkjk 2y ago
The article linked in another comment offers this by way of justification: > "Because none of the potato’s flavor or aroma compounds can escape, you get the most intense potato flavor you’ve ever experienced,” Brock says. “And they’re steaming in their own water, which is why you get a totally unique texture."
- morkalork 2y ago
  Could you shrinkwrap and sous-vide a potatoe for the same effect?
  - jszymborski 2y ago
    Strikes me to be the case.
  - anon84873628 2y ago
    The article says the potatoes bubble and eventually float to the top as water is released. So surely some other volatile compounds could be released too? Perhaps compounds cannot be dissolved in the rosin as they are in a pot water? But then why is it better than regular baking? Sous vide would certainly trap everything, but then again, we want a potato that is ultimately dry on the outside. What if instead of rosin we used something safer and more available, like a cooking oil? I bet deep fried potatoes would taste quite good! :-P

opwieurposiu 2y ago

Note that rosin is very flammable, but I guess so is cooking oil.

_yb2s 2y ago

This is interesting history, but I am skeptical that this is safe to eat, or better than a regular potato. If people are interested in trying unusual potato cooking methods, I'd recommend making Syracuse Salt Potatoes instead- they are excellent and easy.

anon84873628 2y ago
Well I agree that there are better alternatives. But is rosin really that toxic? It seems to cause problems if the fumes are inhaled, but I can't find evidence it is particularly dangerous to consume. Similar to lots of other tree resins, which are even used in traditional chewing gum.
- teruakohatu 2y ago
  Turps is toxic if ingested, and it’s not clear if the rosin byproduct of turps production still contains some amount of turps. I loathe the smell of turps, I wouldn’t eat anything that had any chance of coming into contact with it.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  I'm not sure about you, but "can't find evidence it is particularly dangerous" is not exactly the standard of evidence I want when deciding to consume something that isn't normally a food item. I have a tub of oar lubricant, for rowing. I also cannot find any evidence that it would be dangerous to eat, but I'm not going to fry up my dinner in it. Oar lubricant is traditionally just tallow so maybe that's what this is- but since it wasn't ever intended as food, do they, e.g. make sure it isn't stored and processed with equipment containing high lead concentrations, etc.? Maybe this one company adds something special and toxic that makes it work better that they don't have to disclose because it's not for human consumption?
  - anon84873628 2y ago
    Yes, but is there already some niche folk history of cooking food in oar lubricant? My response was to you saying "I am skeptical that this is safe to eat" when people have been, apparently, safely eating it.

Jedd 2y ago

Absolute best baked (what some people mistakenly call roast) potatoes I've ever had were in a small restaurant in Cornwall, England. They were almost definitely locally grown, doubtless extremely fresh, and almost definitely an heirloom variety. (And I acknowledge that food always tastes better when you're on holiday.) We were told the preparation was pretty simple: 'boil in a strong stock until almost fully cooked, then dry and coat in goose fat, and then bake until they look good'. (Apart from being much faster than conventional baked potatoes, and much much faster & safer than this rosin preparation, there's little risk of getting sick from this method.)

fanf2 2y ago
In Britain, baked potatoes are oven-cooked whole, skin on, usually without fat; roast potatoes are peeled, cut into large uniform chunks (halved or quartered depending on the size), parboiled, then oven-cooked in lots of fat.
- lbotos 2y ago
  If you are American and have never had british style roasted Potatoes… oh boy are you in for a treat.
- jfk13 2y ago
  That's how my mother used to do it, but I've found that you don't actually need to use "lots of fat" -- you can get good results with much less (just enough oil or goose fat to cover the bottom of the roasting tray), provided you toss the potatoes in it (pre-heated) when putting them in, and turn them a few times during cooking. The variety of potatoes used is also a critical factor.
  - magicalhippo 2y ago
    We toss the potatoes on the tray in just enough oil to lightly coat them. Don't boil them, just have them in the pre-heated oven for 30ish minutes. I prefer mealy potatoes, typically almond potatoes[1], but others work fine too. Add some herbs, salt and pepper while tossing. Super easy, hard to mess up and yum yum. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_potato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_potato

acyou 2y ago

This is so dumb, I can hardly believe that it is real. I would need to talk to someone who had experienced it firsthand to fully believe. Water (stew) is... in every aspect possible a superior cooking medium. How could this ever have been economical? How hard is it to make a cooking fire, or share a rosin melting fire with a cook pot? I think it's essentially an old sarcastic joke, that people took too literally?

oh_my_goodness 2y ago
No, it's real, it's just three or four generations back in time. Fire was essential. Without fire the potatoes wouldn't cook.
z2 2y ago
Water is a solvent, and unless pressurized, liquid water is limited to a maximum temperature of 100C. Many foods cook differently (one may even say better) at higher temperatures, or if parts don't get dissolved into the water. Not defending using a poisonous rosin instead, but just pointing out why we don't all just stew potatoes.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

throwup238 2y ago

Well, now I’m curious if other things often called rosins can be used the same way. Would cannabis rosin extracted by the solventless method work? It’s edible so probably not dangerous to eat like turpentine rosin. Can I make cannabis rosin potatoes for danksgiving?

dmurray 2y ago
I think you'd need industrial quantities for a recipe like this. Maybe you can infuse some animal fat (or vegetable oil) with the cannabis rosin, though, and roast the potatoes in it.
- dole 2y ago
  It mentions requiring 2 1-gallon “paint cans” of rosin to start cooking 3 potatoes. While possible, that sounds like a LOT of cannabis rosin to attempt to make or collect, but I’d be happy to help.
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    The paint can reference was weird to me. A gallon is a gallon. Is rosin sold in gallon cans?

ChumpGPT 2y ago

I've spent time reading some old baking books and looking at recipes, thinking I would discover some amazing technique, ingredient, or recipe that would be a game changer. What I discovered was that baking 50 to 200 years ago was primitive and offers very little other than some interesting history. Modern baking ingredients, techniques, and equipment are at such a higher level that there is little usefulness found in these old publications. I would imagine the same is true for cooking. Our ingredients, equipment (such as temperature control), and techniques are so much better than these old ways of doing things, they just can't compare when it comes to taste and quality. Cooking and baking are sciences that have come a long way and are remarkably better than they have ever been. There is no reason to cook with poisons or questionable practices just for nostalgia's sake.

LarsAlereon 2y ago
I came to this same conclusion after reading Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" as well. Prior to modern cooking science, it seems like a lot of recipes involved something akin to a religious ritual that accidentally did something beneficial to your food. Now that we understand what is happening, we can use modern techniques to get much better results. It might have been that book that talked about untapped potential for better flavors by making certain sauces in a microwave oven. The basic theory (as I recall) was that the microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets suspended in a watery sauce, and this would better extract flavor compounds into the oil while not heating the overall sauce enough to damage flavors.
- senkora 2y ago
  > the microwaves would selectively heat oil droplets I think it would be the opposite. It would selectively heat the water, because water is polar. That would still be consistent with the effect.
  - webmaven 2y ago
    IIUC, while the water heats faster, it has a lower upper limit (the boiling point), while oil and fat keep getting hotter. Source: I have ruined a few plastic containers by heating greasy food in the microwave, because the fat easily gets hot enough to melt the plastic. Homemade Bolognese sauce seems particularly dangerous in this regard, because it is both acidic and greasy, and that will absolutely EAT plastic. P. S. Even if you don't damage the plastic per-se, heating oily food in the microwave in a plastic container isn't a good idea, quite a few nasty compounds will leach into the oil more readily than into water.

tcbawo 2y ago

It seems that the boiling point and flash point of rosin is quite high, somewhere close to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. So, transferring the heat directly into potato probably has some positive effect on cooking, but I would think cooking potatoes at that temperature in high temp cooking oil would produce a similar effect without toxicity. Giving up reusability seems like a good tradeoff.

_yb2s 2y ago
I doubt the rosin is more reusable than cooking oil. Restaurants often reuse the same fry oil for very long periods of time.
- giraffe_lady 2y ago
  Not "very long" no. The oil can be cleaned and reused a few times but even with light use a week is pushing it. Places that do a lot of frying are changing oil every other day, possibly even daily at like a fried chicken place.
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    I think this is going to depend on the quality of the restaurant and any regulations they're subject to... in any case a week of restaurant use is probably equivalent to a person at home reusing the same oil for years
    - giraffe_lady 2y ago
      I've never worked in a jurisdiction where the health code covered this. The oil starts smoking at cooking temperatures and foams and doesn't cook right. The food coming out of it looks and tastes and smells bad. You also can't go years with it at home even with few uses. After you've fried in it once the oxidation goes much faster even if you don't use it again. Maybe if you freeze it between uses but I've never heard of that.
      - 2y ago

turtlebits 2y ago

Shouldn't these be boiled potatoes and not baked? Would this taste much different from a potato cooked in oil but not deep fried (confit)?

bjackman 2y ago

Hmm nothing in this article explains the effect the rosin is supposed to have? "This is the best way to cook potatoes. Everything about it is difficult and dangerous. You have to try it!"

FounderBurr 2y ago
It probably has to do with the boiling point of pine resin. There are probably other less noxious substances that boil in the 300c range that would produce similar results without the risk of fire or poisoning.
- Giorgi 2y ago
  hence the "lost art"
- cogman10 2y ago
  I mean, frying oil. You could almost certainly achieve the same effect frying a whole potato in sunflower/peanut oil at 230C
pinkmuffinere 2y ago
+1, I desperately want to know why I should try this.
- LarsAlereon 2y ago
  It's basically just deep frying in an uncommon (and possibly not food-safe?) oil.
NelsonMinar 2y ago
I can't find the reference but another article I read asserted the higher cooking temperature made a better texture of potato.
OJFord 2y ago
That frustrated me too. I suspect it's hardening around the skin of the potato (hence can't eat the skin) and essentially letting the potato steam itself? Kind of like if you deep-fried it submerged in oil, but with even less ingress, and much less than boiling. I commented this elsewhere and someone suggested sous vide ought to be very similar then, of course. (Added benefit perhaps: you can eat the skin!) Only difference might be that the rosin can get hotter, more like oil, than boiling water circa 100C.

userbinator 2y ago

I use rosin regularly as flux for soldering. Cooking a potato in it doesn't sound appetising, especially after the warning to not eat the skin, as the skin is not impermeable either. That said, the Wikipedia page for rosin says it is "an FDA approved food additive".

tommiegannert 2y ago
Hmm. The state of California would probably argue that both the potatoes and the rosin has turned into cancer-generating zombie paste, at temperatures where using rosin for cooking makes sense.
amelius 2y ago
Actually, I love the smell of my rosin-based flux. (But I know it is not healthy to inhale it)

tdeck 2y ago

I wonder if baking in fine sand or salt would have a similar effect with less risk. Or perhaps wrapping in aluminum foil before putting the potato in the rosin pot.

sitharus 2y ago
Well Hāngī potatoes are delicious and those are slow-roasted in a stone heated earth oven, so I expect sand or salt cooked would be really good.

InMice 2y ago

Personally this cooking method in the link to me is disgusting. Ive settled on my favorite way to cook potatoes - microwave. They get the gentle cook of a boil without the water soluble nutrient loss. Sometimes I let them chill overnight in the fridge then give them a gentle reheat before eating to decrease glycemic load and increase resistant starch. This makes them a lot more filling to me. I eat the skin always.

phito 2y ago
I love throwing sweet potatoes in the microwave. Ready in 7 minutes and delicious.

wslh 2y ago

I wonder how that tastes. In Argentina, it’s common to put potatoes directly inside and on top of the charcoal on a parrilla. Jump to 5:30 here: https://youtu.be/kpp_AzckMiA?si=6tlhwi7V6v6-T0W7 https://youtu.be/kpp_AzckMiA?si=6tlhwi7V6v6-T0W7.

mojosam 2y ago

It sounds like most commenters here have never had a rosin tater. When I was kid, a very popular, upscale restaurant called Planters Back Porch in seafood mecca Murrells Inlet, SC specialized in rosin taters. They were very good, enough for there to always be long lines to get in. In case it’s not clear from the description, after removing the potato from the rosin, and wrapping in paper, the thin layer of remaining rosin quickly solidifies into a hard shell, so you can then cut through it to get access to the flesh of the potato without accidentally eating rosin.

1attice 2y ago
Yes. This comments section is peak HN. A lot of speculation by people with absolutely zero experience or data. The article is admittedly tare on the _differences in outcome_, over and against more conventional methods, which I think drives a lot of the speculation here, but approached with curiosity, this becomes, "hmm, I wonder what, if any, the benefits might be?" instead of, "you could definitely replicate this with canola and also btw I solder with rosin"

Giorgi 2y ago

they pushed amazon affiliate link, but it is not formed well.

crazygringo 2y ago

None of this makes any sense at all. This sounds like it belongs in the same category as gold-plated HDMI connectors improving your TV's image quality. Some comments suggest it's because it's cooked at a higher temperature than boiling. That doesn't matter because the inside of the potato obviously never goes above boiling, since it continues to have lots of water inside after being cooked. The same exact effect should be achievable simply with deep-frying the potato at the same temperature. Other comments suggest something somehow preserves the potato's flavor more than other methods. But that's not how cooking/flavor works. If the rosin (or boiling water or frying oil) were seeping into the inside of a potato then sure any or all of them could be leaching out flavor compounds, or reacting with existing compounds... but they're not. All this is doing is heating the inside of the potato, where literally the only variables are the amount of heat being applied and the moisture escaping at the surface. If you were eating the skin then yes there's a massive difference between boiling vs. frying vs. roasting. But not on the inside (except for how much water vapor escapes which is a question of temperature and wrapping). And this article is literally about eating only the inside of the potato, since the rosin itself is apparently not fit for consumption. Best I can guess, this is just a novelty thing about eating potatoes encased in newspaper that has wound up essentially glued to a hard potato shell? Seems like it's more about the experience, and nothing whatsoever to do with flavor or taste.

margalabargala 2y ago
I'm not sure this is true. Like you said, the cooking of the inside is a function of the water vapor escape, which is a function of temperature and wrapping. People elsewhere in this thread have said they have tried both methods, and commented on how when deep frying a whole baked potato, the escaping water vapor causes the oil to visibly, vigorously boil, but this doesn't happen with rosin, suggesting the vapor remains trapped inside. While liquid water cannot go above 100C, water vapor certainly can. That water remains in the potato after cooking can just be re-condensed vapor. How the expanded gas would remain in the potato I have no idea. My interpretation is that the difference from deep-frying is that something about the rosin method prevents as much water vapor from escaping. Maybe it's just typical cooking temperatures, and a deep fryer set to the same temperature as the rosin pot would yield a similar result, they just usually aren't set to that temperature.

anvil-on-my-toe 2y ago

If you're a slave in antebellum North Carolina, you have rosin on-hand and an open fire, no oven. You can cook your potatoes on the hot coals and ash or boil them in water in a pot. This method might have been more thermally efficient than either of those options and resulted in a nicer inner texture, while also conveniently sealing the cooked potato in a waxy later so it could be consumed later.

omnibrain 2y ago

My wife and I like to microwave potatoes. We call them "sexy microwave potatoes" after the Reddit story that brought us this idea: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jdnt43/aita_for_eating_sexy_potatoes/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jdnt43/aita_...

bargle0 2y ago

I wonder if similar results could be had by cooking the potato in clay or a salt crust.

geon 2y ago

> you can not eat the skin But the skin is the best part! Seems lika a stupid cooking method.