To mers that cook: yes or no question

**Mermaid Varshana** · 07-31-2013, 06:59 PM

Hi all,

I want to cook a sweet potato while I'm at the gym, which happens to involves the amount of time it takes to bake the perfect yam. We all know that we cook things in a crock pot when we're not home. Do you think it would be safe to leave a potato in the oven unattended for an hour or so?

**Marlin** · 07-31-2013, 07:23 PM

I wouldn't. You might burn your house down.

**deepblue** · 07-31-2013, 07:29 PM

My answer is: No.

I'd cook it while home, and then leave it in the fridge, and warm it when I get back. Which is not a yes or no answer, and why I worded it as what I would do.

**MerAnthony** · 07-31-2013, 07:57 PM

I was a cook in the ARMY an I also cook alot at home. NO is my answer. It's not safe to leave an oven on unattended.

**Anahita** · 07-31-2013, 08:06 PM

No!!! OMG no no, that's how house fires start (well, that and DIY electrical jobs). Never leave the house while the oven is on, all it takes is a few minutes for everything to get out of control. If you want your sweet potatoes to cook faster, try forking them (a LOT) and then wrapping them in foil. You can also cube and steam them. to get them to cook faster.

**Mermaid Varshana** · 07-31-2013, 08:18 PM

The only reason I questioned it is because I've never, ever experienced or known anyone to experience a fire due to cooking in the oven. Stove range? Oh yeah. Bad electric wires? Yup. Christmas trees? You betcha. Space heaters? Worst offenders! Something in the oven? Never. But I won't do it.

**Mermaid Veruliya** · 07-31-2013, 08:23 PM

Lol I've burnt plenty in the oven. And microwave, and toaster. It just gets so hot it turn black and catches. My house smelled like burnt plastic for a week when I overcooked some easy Mac. It's an awful smell

**Anahita** · 07-31-2013, 09:07 PM

My sister has had things catch fire in the oven. She has a separate oven from the stove-top, as do I, and most of the houses my family members live in actually..... I know most houses have that oven-stovetop combo, which probably makes stuff safer. We had fireballs of biscuits or whatever it was my sister was cooking (I actually doubt it was biscuits, it really looked like a grease fire) flare up out of the oven in a cloud of smoke and start going after the paneling. The entire kitchen was filled with smoke too.

**Miyu** · 07-31-2013, 10:28 PM

I can't leave my oven going without supervision, it's propane and we run out in the middle of cooking all the time -_-; so I'm a proponent of watching the oven LOL!

**Echinacea** · 07-31-2013, 10:33 PM

I have had good luck cooking sweet potatoes in the microwave. Prick them with a fork or knife beforehand (to allow steam to escape), wrap them in a paper towel, and microwave on 'high' for about 7 minutes, check if they are soft yet, and microwave another 5 minutes if not. You can usually peel them pretty easily after that, and mash them or cube them, or whatever you want to do with them. It also means you can go do something else, and cook them when you get home.

**Mermaid Varshana** · 07-31-2013, 10:39 PM

The way I like sweet potatoes, you can only get em that way in the oven, set at 425 degrees for an hour. You know it's done when the caramelization starts oozing from the holes. It tastes like baked pastry. No microwave will do

**cryptomancy** · 08-01-2013, 01:46 AM

I think the biggest problem with leaving the oven on is basically...what if something happened and you didn't get back in an hour? That's when you run into problems. I've never heard of anyone burning their house down from leaving an oven on, but I did know someone that had a turkey literally catch fire in her oven. Of course she is also the kind of person that sort of thing happens to relatively frequently...very bad luck...but yeah I think it's mostly just that you never know what might happen while you're gone and if you don't make it back and something happens then you can't stop it from getting out of control.

And I know what you mean about fixing sweet potatoes like that, they are literally the best thing ever. Ever. In fact I am so totally having that for lunch tomorrow...

**aWittleNoob** · 08-01-2013, 10:37 AM

No........ Just stab it a few times with a metal fork, put in the mircrowave for a few seconds, and then cut it in half.

**Ciesl2ja** · 08-01-2013, 10:39 AM

No! Just wash it, stab it with a fork, put it on a plate, and stick it in the microwave for five minutes. When five minutes is up, flip it over and put it in for another five. Perfect potato <3