This weekend, my wife and went camping. I tried to impress her with a surprise meal (much more than the usual smokies or hotdogs roasted on a stick). I went for steak, potatoes, mushrooms, salad and a corn on the cob. Everything turned out great --- except for the potatoes.
ISSUE
Potatoes were only cooked after 4 hours in the coals.
TECHNIQUE
Got the fire food and hot (at least 350F, used an infrared thermometer to check). I put the potatoes (Yellow, baking potatoes if it matters) in the hot coals. I have made them like this before, and it typically took 2 hours. And I rotated them periodically (so as to not let the foil burn from prolonged contact). As I mentioned above, I've made potatoes like this before...but never had them take so long to cook.
By the way the rest of the food turned out just fine (actually better than fine, it was the best back country camping meal I had ever made). We ended up using the potatoes for hashbrowns the next morning because we didn't want to wait for them to finish before making/eating the rest of the dishes.
QUESTION
Given the above technique, why did my potatoes not cook like they should.