Physics prevents this from being cooked anything other than inconsistently.
As the fins rise and spread out, the amount of moisture that can dissipate can be plotted on a curve with the bottom of the potato always representing the least amount of moisture dissipation, and the outer part at the top always having the most.
And it gets more complicated because as the potato curves on each axis it becomes thinner on the edges so there’s a gradient in moisture dissipation there too.
In a practical sense this means that every X, Y, Z point on this potato is cooked different. Some points will be perfect but by definition it means other points will not and cannot be perfect. And other points must be awful.
There is a fundamental flaw in this design, which changing the temperature or cooking duration cannot solve.
I mean, I’ve had this prepared professionally and it was exceptional and consistent. And I knew immediately I probably didn’t ever want to prepare it myself.
I wonder if the tater could be sous vide after slicing to perfect temp and then somehow flash crusted. Similar idea to twice cooked fries that are boiled, frozen, then fried.
To get a more consistently cooked product, I think the geometry of the surface would need to change or we would need to use a cooking device that could deliver a different amounts of heat energy to different points.
Maybe next time you could try lower heat for longer. Or not, if this is not for you, you do you.
Physics prevents this from being cooked anything other than inconsistently.
As the fins rise and spread out, the amount of moisture that can dissipate can be plotted on a curve with the bottom of the potato always representing the least amount of moisture dissipation, and the outer part at the top always having the most.
And it gets more complicated because as the potato curves on each axis it becomes thinner on the edges so there’s a gradient in moisture dissipation there too.
In a practical sense this means that every X, Y, Z point on this potato is cooked different. Some points will be perfect but by definition it means other points will not and cannot be perfect. And other points must be awful.
There is a fundamental flaw in this design, which changing the temperature or cooking duration cannot solve.
I mean, I’ve had this prepared professionally and it was exceptional and consistent. And I knew immediately I probably didn’t ever want to prepare it myself.
So its a skill issue. Check.
Too much delta t leads to too much delta T.
I wonder if the tater could be sous vide after slicing to perfect temp and then somehow flash crusted. Similar idea to twice cooked fries that are boiled, frozen, then fried.
To get a more consistently cooked product, I think the geometry of the surface would need to change or we would need to use a cooking device that could deliver a different amounts of heat energy to different points.
Id wrap the top half in foil, cook it upside down for 50-75% of the cook time, then flip rightside up and take the foil off to finish.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cook_potatoes_sous_vide/
Go for it, let me know how it turns out!