How do you bake a potato?

[Caslon]

You're not supposed to use a nail you pulled out from under a kitchen shelf, Cas.

Potato starch is too hard to clean off of rusty nails afterwards, so I've discontinued that baked potato cooking method.
I don't see that it does any good.

 

[Andy M.]

Aluminum nails made for potato baking. Work much better than construction nails. Aluminum conducts heat into the potato’s interior much better than regular nails and they don’t rust.

 

[Kayelle]

Here's a link to a hot off the press ATK video on baked potatoes (skip ahead to 13:20). I'm going to give this a try the next time I make them (as I've been doing it all wrong!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBe6xEPi42k

For the record, last night I used some of the baked potato hints from the video link from ATK.
First I scrubbed and cut the ends off of them..which is something I've done for years.
Then I rolled them around in salt water and baked them qt 400 degrees till nearly done. Removed them from the oven and brushed with olive oil and finished baking to 210 probe tested degrees.
I'm convinced there really isn't a better way to bake a potato than the America's Test Kitchen way. Hey, that's why they get paid the big bucks I guess.

 

[larry_stewart]

For the record, last night I used some of the baked potato hints from the video link from ATK.
First I scrubbed and cut the ends off of them..which is something I've done for years.
Then I rolled them around in salt water and baked them qt 400 degrees till nearly done. Removed them from the oven and brushed with olive oil and finished baking to 210 probe tested degrees.
I'm convinced there really isn't a better way to bake a potato than the America's Test Kitchen way. Hey, that's why they get paid the big bucks I guess.

+1
I saw this episode a few months ago. Wanted to try it, but never got around to it, then forgot about it, until this thread.

today, on my way home from work, I was daydreaming about baking a potato this way, so when I got home, thats what I did.

I didn't have an internal thermometer to check the temp, so I just baked for 50 minutes.

It was so good. the skin crisped up like potato chip.
It tasted like a potato chip encrusted baked potato.

Definitely will do it this way again

 

[Kayelle]

+1
I saw this episode a few months ago. Wanted to try it, but never got around to it, then forgot about it, until this thread.

today, on my way home from work, I was daydreaming about baking a potato this way, so when I got home, thats what I did.

I didn't have an internal thermometer to check the temp, so I just baked for 50 minutes.

It was so good. the skin crisped up like potato chip.
It tasted like a potato chip encrusted baked potato.

Definitely will do it this way again

Larry, that's a perfect description of the ATK baked potato!! Thanks!

 

[Snackmeister]

Stab it all up and down with a fork! A little olive oil coat on the outside, wrap in some foil, throw it in the oven at 400F for like 30-40 minutes or until it gets all squishy. Salt, pepper, butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, possibly bacon if your feeling frisky. Call it a night!

 

[CraigC]

Since I consider a baked potato as the vehicle for the goodies that go in it, I just microwave until done, the same for twice bakers and the same thing when making tater skins, just scoop out the meat then deep fry the skins.

 

[JustJoel]

I like to slice a sweet potato lengthwise, brush the cut sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then bake it, cut sides down on a baking pan til the flesh is very soft. Making sure to keep the skins intact, scoop out the flesh and mash it with some grated cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese, stir in some black beans and seeded chopped tomato and just a bit of hot sauce. Then I put the unfilled skins under the broiler til they’re very crisp and browned, remove from the broiler and stuff with flesh mixture. Top with a little more cheese and pop it in the broiler again to melt the cheese on top. It’s kind of a sweet potato burrito!

 

[forty_caliber]

Scrub with nylon brush under running water.
Sprinkle with kosher salt
Wrap in aluminum foil
Throw on smoker with ribs / chicken / sausage for 4-5 hours at ~200 degrees.

.40

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Scrub with nylon brush under running water.
Sprinkle with kosher salt
Wrap in aluminum foil
Throw on smoker with ribs / chicken / sausage for 4-5 hours at ~200 degrees.

.40

Hiya! How you been?

 

[Wyshiepoo]

My mum has always called them 'roasticoats'.

I clean them, fork them, lightly oil and salt them and pop them in the oven.

 

[Mad Cook]

My mum has always called them 'roasticoats'.

I clean them, fork them, lightly oil and salt them and pop them in the oven.

I have a guilty secret ...... I do them in the Microwave (slinks away with head bowed and wringing hands). It isn't worth turning on the oven for an hour or more for one spud. If I have a house full of people who want "jackets" I will use the oven.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have a guilty secret ...... I do them in the Microwave (slinks away with head bowed and wringing hands). It isn't worth turning on the oven for an hour or more for one spud. If I have a house full of people who want "jackets" I will use the oven.

Cooking for one stinks, hold your head up and grin, you are not the only one who resorts to microwaving. Besides saves energy and utility costs.

 

[Mad Cook]

Cooking for one stinks, hold your head up and grin, you are not the only one who resorts to microwaving. Besides saves energy and utility costs.

I know. It must be particularly difficult for you at present. The only thing I can suggest is that it doesn't take much more to make, say, a casserole for 6 than it does for 1 and it seems to taste better. I have a cooking day about once a month when I have a freezer-filling day. The slow cooker works over time with stews or bolognaise sauce and the contents are decanted into individual Lock N Lock boxes (and labelled). Soups (particularly soothing when you're having a bad day), shepherd's pie, "ocean" pie, curries, macaroni cheese and other pasta bakes can be made in bulk and frozen in individual portions and I bake enough for the next few weeks, both cake, biscuits and sweet and individual savoury & sweet pies, (guilty secret no.2 - I buy ready-made pastry!). I sometimes make bread as well - I used to do it as a form of therapy when I'd had a bad week at the "chalk face" - thumping bread dough is less likely to get you sacked than thumping a child!


I find cooking quite soothing and you always have something to feed to unexpected visitors and if you have a friend who is going through the mill you can always take them something to eat

I hope this doesn't sound patronising but if you don't eat properly you can't deal with the vicissitudes of life. Been there, done that and made the fruit cake!

Wishing you the best.

Love from

Mad Cook

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Technically, cooking a potato in the microwave is not baking, it's steaming.

 

[Caslon]

You don't need to pre-heat the oven for baked potatoes, saves a little on electricity or gas.
Also, I tried microwaving a potato in those cloth pouches. I didn't notice any real difference than just microwaving them. I sometimes buy those baker potatoes that are wrapped in plastic. One reason besides them zapping up okay is that they have a much longer storage life.

 

[blissful]

You don't need to pre-heat the oven for baked potatoes, saves a little on electricity or gas.
Also, I tried microwaving a potato in those cloth pouches. I didn't notice any real difference than just microwaving them. I sometimes buy those baker potatoes that are wrapped in plastic. One reason besides them zapping up okay is that they have a much longer storage life.

I'm just going to mention this. We had a potato cloth pouch, probably cotton, possibly some poly in it, microwaved potatoes for years using it. One night 15 minutes after making a potato, it was hung up on the rack we have for hot pads. It started a fire, thousands of dollars in damage to floors and cabinets and I put out the fire with water from the kitchen faucet. Microwaving cotton or any polyester may work for years but then one year it nearly burns down the house. Same problem with people dying (stories especially in the UK) with rice bags to warm the bed, anything with fabric going in the microwave can create the hazard. It's not worth risking your life, be safe and not sorry.



Sir Loin of Beef, you are technically correct but my stomach doesn't know the difference.

 

[JustJoel]

If I’m only baking one potato, I too tend to turn to the microwave. Poke a few holes all around it, wrap it in a damp paper towel and nuke it for 7 minutes.

I usually make twice-baked though; after I nuke it I scoop out the flesh, mix it with spices and cheese, refill the skins and add more cheese on top, then bake it in a very hot (450°) until the cheese on top is just turning brown.

 

[Caslon]

Damp paper towel, thanks. Zapping potatoes, mine get overcooked in some areas of the potato. A moist towel might lessen that. I'll try it. Oven baked potatoes are the best.

 

[Rascal]

If I’m only baking one potato, I too tend to turn to the microwave. Poke a few holes all around it, wrap it in a damp paper towel and nuke it for 7 minutes.

I usually make twice-baked though; after I nuke it I scoop out the flesh, mix it with spices and cheese, refill the skins and add more cheese on top, then bake it in a very hot (450°) until the cheese on top is just turning brown.

Snap,lol.

Russ