Stab potatoes before baking them?

[blissful]

Take potatoes out of the ground? Don't they have people who do that?

We had a small crop of kennebec potatoes, white skin, creamy middles last year. They are my favorite kind of potato right now. (I'm eating low carb but DH and DS are eating carbs) We kept them in bags in the basement where it is cool. They are just starting to grow from the eyes, so in the next couple weeks we'll put in a row about 8 inches deep, stick some potatoes with eyes in, cover them, then mound up the soil. As we might be getting a frost in the next 6-8 weeks, the potatoes will take that long to find the surface, and when they do, we'll mound up more soil around them. Then we'll be the people that take potatoes out of the ground, again.

 

[GotGarlic]

The flavor is in the skin! If you scoop the potato without the skin you are eating pure potato starch.

Nutritionally that is equivalent to eating pure sugar except most sugar is a mixture of glucose and sucrose IIRC.

They all still get metabolized in your stomach and go directly into your blood stream, and end up flooding your blood with sugar. Your pancreas releases insulin if it can, which sends a signal to your cells to convert the sugar flood into fat and store it in your cells.

This is why it is bad to eat large amounts of starches including sugar. They turn directly into fat to be stored in your body's cells.

Nothing gets metabolized in your stomach. That happens in your intestines. Most people don't eat potatoes all by themselves; if you eat them with fats and protein, they slow down absorption of carbohydrates. It's not as bad as you describe and there are nutrients in potato flesh, not just the skin.

 

[Addie]

Nothing gets metabolized in your stomach. That happens in your intestines. Most people don't eat potatoes all by themselves; if you eat them with fats and protein, they slow down absorption of carbohydrates. It's not as bad as you describe and there are nutrients in potato flesh, not just the skin.

I have a chart of vegetables and fruits that shows the nutrients in each one. I was surprised at just how nutritious potatoes are.

 

[Lance Bushrod]

I'm a stabber and the one time I didn't do it my potato exploded.

Is there anything better than a crispy russet skin dripping with butter and sour cream?

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm a stabber and the one time I didn't do it my potato exploded.

Is there anything better than a crispy russet skin dripping with butter and sour cream?

Yup. Add some crispy bacon and shredded cheddar cheese

 

[PrincessFiona60]

LIKE (couldn't find a button that said that)

Thank you, Andy!

Mr. Potato Head complained about you on Facebook...

ROFL! Fantastic response to my sick sense of humor.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Thank you. You made my day.

And you can talk about me all you want to. Because when you are talking about me, you are leaving someone else alone.

You're welcome, Addie.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Yup. Add some crispy bacon and shredded cheddar cheese

Now you're talking.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The only way I would ever nuke potatoes is if I needed the cooked potatoes as an ingredient for a subsequent recipe. Perhaps potato salad. My usual use is to cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces, nuke with some water, drain until dry, then saute in garlic butter, salt and pepper to taste, as a side dish.

More often I use mini-potatoes if I'm doing that recipe.

Mainly I cook full size Russets, and from what I learned in this topic, poke with fork, rub with EVOO and salt the potato, then 375F for 50-55 minutes from what I learned in this topic. Noting I use a convection oven.

This results in a nice tasting, crisp skin, the salt was very nice (I hadn't used the EVOO or salt before) and resulted in 2 servings after cutting in half lengthwise.

I saved the other half for twice baked potatoes one day soon.

Thank you everybody for your advice. I have my standard baked potato recipe now!

 

[Andy M.]

The only way I would ever nuke potatoes is if I needed the cooked potatoes as an ingredient for a subsequent recipe...

I will nuke a russet for 3 minutes before baking to speed up the process. The finished result is the same, just takes less time.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I will nuke a russet for 3 minutes before baking to speed up the process. The finished result is the same, just takes less time.

I'll admit to doing that when I was in a hurry. Fork it, nuke it, put it in the oven. Usually I have plenty of time to just let the oven do its job.

 

[CharlieD]

Growing up my mom never poked holes. Here my wife told me i do it wrong and I should poke the holes. I don't argue. I poke holes.

 

[Dawgluver]

My mom and grandma always poked holes in their baked potatoes.

 

[Kayelle]

I will nuke a russet for 3 minutes before baking to speed up the process. The finished result is the same, just takes less time.

Exactly right Andy. That's just what I said early in this thread, along with cutting a sliver of potato off of each end and you'll never have to poke them all over or have them explode.

 

[Katie H]

Exactly right Andy. That's just what I said early in this thread, along with cutting a sliver of potato off of each end and you'll never have to poke them all over or have them explode.

I used to be a dipped and dyed oven-baked potatoes person then...I was introduced to a thing called a microwave oven. That was pretty much the last time I asked my oven to bake a potato.

However, as many potatoes that have been microwave-baked in my cooking career, I have never had one pop/blow up/explode in the microwave. Perhaps I have been lucky or maybe it's because I usually give a few good knife pokes here and there. At the moment I'm referring to baking white russet-type potatoes rather than sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are a different critter to me. Those, I cut a bit off each end/tip, along with the white potato knife attack. Cutting a bit off each end seems to aid in the cooking process. Creating a vent, as it were, to allow steam to escape.

The "cutting off" part caused me to rethink my white potato baking method. Decided to cut a bit off the potato like I do with sweet potatoes the next time I baked potatoes. Didn't seem to make any difference and tried it several consecutive times. Still no change. Came to the conclusion that it works best with sweet potatoes.

Just my feedback. Now poking a bear....

That's a whole different thing.

 

[caseydog]

Yes, I stab my potatoes...in the back and then I talk about them.

LOL.