Peeling potatoes the easy way

Teresa · February 19, 2010, 12:36:55 AM

How to peel a potato the easy way..
I love to make potato salad but hate peeling the hot sticky potatoes.. this just makes it a snap..

larryJ · February 19, 2010, 08:56:58 AM

Teresa---------------------------is it "pelling" or "peeling?" I have never "pelled" a potato. I have done lots of interesting things with potatoes, but never "pelled" one.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist this one.

Larryj (that's smartass to you)

Diane Amberg · February 19, 2010, 09:10:34 AM

Thank you Larry...you saved me from getting slapped by an old grump who pops up once in awhile !

Teresa · February 19, 2010, 05:42:25 PM

I changed it.. and maybe it WAS pelling..

I mean .. I have peeled.. I have pelled and I have.........never mind.. I have no idea where I was going with this..
( sighhh just another crazy day in the life and mind of Teresa)

greatguns · February 19, 2010, 06:24:22 PM

Teresa, thanks. This old girl made a note and is going to give it a shot.

Joanna · February 20, 2010, 08:02:59 AM

I think I'll try it too! I hate peeling potatoes (I also dislike pealing them and pelling them). I used to trade off chores with my family because I'd rather wash dishes than peel the potatoes. Life is so hard for me sometimes

I read an email that said you can also wash potatoes in an empty dishwasher, then air dry and store them. I haven't tried that, but it's on my list

larryJ · February 20, 2010, 08:28:49 AM

When my wife was growing up, her job was to peel the potatoes for dinner. To this day, she hates that chore. So, I usually will peel the potatoes. In watching this video, it says to keep them in the water for fifteen minutes. Do you know how many potatoes I can peel in fifteen minutes? And, is the potato tender enough to mash or (my favorite) cut into quarters and bake? I think I will just do it the old fashioned way with an antique peeler we have had for years which is better than the peelers that are out there today.

Larryj

Joanna · February 20, 2010, 08:38:09 AM

Larry, don't feel alone... my husband always gets to peel the potatoes too, unless he's not here when it's time. I peel them with a paring knife, but he uses a vegetable peeler too.

I thought 15 minutes is a long time for peeling to loosen and too short to cook the potato... I feel an experiment coming on

frawin · February 20, 2010, 08:44:59 AM

I, too, have peeled many potatoes. I worked in restaurants in high school, and that was long before the day of frozen french fries, hash browns, etc. I really never minded it. We used a potato (vegetable peeler) and actually, it goes pretty fast. Now days, we only use red or gold potatoes and I leave the skins on them, as the vitamins are right under the peel and we destroy them when we peel them. We don't use Irish potatoes, as Frank is Type II Diabetic and they have many more carbs.
Myrna

W. Gray · February 20, 2010, 08:58:43 AM

When I went into the service during the winter time, I was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training. This was back in the days when they still had un-insulated wood barracks, pot belly coal fired stoves, and issue long johns. [rumors were that if a two-story barracks with a capacity of about 80 men, or so, caught fire it was totally gone in seven minutes]

It was not long before I was tagged for KP duty and I was dreading the thought of that job based on all the stories I had heard during my short lifetime.

Right away I was given the job of peeling potatoes.

My thoughts immediately went to Beetle Bailey and company moving heavy sacks of potatoes and sitting down and peeling potatoes at a breakneck speed all day long.

I was quite surprised when one of the mess cooks showed me how to do it. All I had to do was throw an amount of potatoes into a hopper and turn on the peeler. The machine did the peeling and I might have had one of the easiest jobs in the mess hall. (The hardest and dirtiest, in my opinion, was cleaning the grease trap, which I eventually had to do)

The water fed machine bounced the potatoes around against some hard edges and the peelings came off and automatically went into a garbage disposer. I did have to inspect the potatoes and use a small knife to cut off anything the machine did not remove.

One of the cooks even came to my work area and retrieved the potatoes as I was working and I don't recall if he cut them up further or just mashed them all.