3 ms·

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 co

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.
- jpalomaki 2y ago
  How about wrapping the potato on something that seals it before heating it up? Some recipies instruct you to wrap the potatoes with aluminium foil. I’ve always thought this is useless, but maybe should give it a try.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  Probably the rosin is just at a lower temperature. Set oil to 275°F instead of 350°F and you'd achieve the same effect, if that's the case. (As you suggest.) Or if the rosin is creating some kind of impermeable seal (unlikely since it's liquid at this temperature, but let's suppose it chemically reacts with the skin somehow) then you achieve the same thing by wrapping the potato in aluminum foil. That's the whole reason for foil around baked potatoes at steakhouses. The point is, the rosin isn't doing anything special you can't already easily do. There's no special flavor here.
  - 1attice 2y ago
    > The point is, the rosin isn't doing anything special you can't already easily do. There's no special flavor here. Pure armchair-ism. There's only one way to find out.

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.

jpalomaki 2y ago
How about wrapping the potato on something that seals it before heating it up? Some recipies instruct you to wrap the potatoes with aluminium foil. I’ve always thought this is useless, but maybe should give it a try.
crazygringo 2y ago
Probably the rosin is just at a lower temperature. Set oil to 275°F instead of 350°F and you'd achieve the same effect, if that's the case. (As you suggest.) Or if the rosin is creating some kind of impermeable seal (unlikely since it's liquid at this temperature, but let's suppose it chemically reacts with the skin somehow) then you achieve the same thing by wrapping the potato in aluminum foil. That's the whole reason for foil around baked potatoes at steakhouses. The point is, the rosin isn't doing anything special you can't already easily do. There's no special flavor here.
- 1attice 2y ago
  > The point is, the rosin isn't doing anything special you can't already easily do. There's no special flavor here. Pure armchair-ism. There's only one way to find out.