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Re: [Phys-L] physics and potatoes

Don’t know about ‘Master Chefs’ and such - but as kids we often had foil wrapped potatoes with lunch during the winter.

Dad had kept a fire going in the living room fireplace that had burned down to a good bed of coals by morning.

Mom wrapped the potatoes in foil and rolled them into the coals.

We three boys walked home from school for lunch and pulled the potatoes out and unwrapped them.

Sure- the cooking was a bit irregular - but so were we.

The foil kept the ashes off of the potatoes and probably trapped some steam to help them cook.
The finished product certainly wasn’t soggy in any way.

On Dec 3, 2018, at 9:11 PM, Jeffrey Schnick <JSchnick@Anselm.Edu> wrote:

We had a pretty lengthy discussion about this a few years back.
Go to https://www.phys-l.org/archives/index.html
and search on
physics and potatoes
or
potatoes foil

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l <phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org> On Behalf Of Anthony
Lapinski
Sent: Monday, December 3, 2018 8:34 PM
To: Phys <phys-l@phys-l.org>
Subject: [Phys-L] physics and potatoes

A colleague recently asked me about the physics of baking potatoes wrapped
in foil. I remember my dad always doing this on the grill when I was younger.
I think restaurants did it back then. Not any more? Or did restaurants cook
the potatoes first and then wrap them in foil to keep them warm (since
restaurants never cook potatoes to order as it takes too long)?

I always though that foil conducted heat and made the potato cook faster.
It then trapped the heat inside to assist in the baking process. I searched
online and read that the foil actually steams the potato since the moisture
can't escape and so the skin will become soggy. But the foil also reflects IR
radiation, making the potato cook slower. Or is foil only good when cooking
potatoes in a campfire or on a charcoal grill? There seems to conflicting info
online with all of this.

Any master chefs on this list? Does anyone know the real physics behind
potatoes and foil?


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