>>21424179My mom comes from a catering family business, and in the 70s and 80s they would use big #10 cans of those potatoes for their baked chicken & potatoes. They'd get kinda chewy and crispy exteriors and hold their shape, and it was convenience for the scale they cooked for.
To this day she gets nostalgic for those canned potatoes, she swears they taste different when baked, and will make them once or twice a year. I don't like them all that much, they're not horrible, but the brine from the can adds a kind of watery metallic taste that I can personally do without.