Baked Potatoes Bitches!

Are you Greg?

I realize it sounds like a Greg question but I assure you I am not Greg. I just like to learn how to cook food better.

I love them! Had one for dinner tonight as a matter of fact. Never use aluminum foil to wrap it up. Poke it with a fork, rub olive oil on it, sprinkle with kosher salt and garlic powder, bake (or, in my case, I use an air fryer) for 53 minutes. That's it. Crispy on the outside, flaky on the inside.

Only fat whores eat carbs.

Roll in oil and salt, no piercing and no foil. Put in a 475 oven for an hour and fifteen minutes. Remove from oven and drop the potato onto a counter from a height of about a foot. Serve.

Set oven to 425 bake one hour potato light and fluffy, outside flakey and crunchie.

Here you go...

If you ever decide to upgrade from baked to twice baked, these are very good.

Omg fuck you, r8, you beat me to it by mere seconds! 😂

I feel very seen r4

r9, I love Chef Jean Pierre! So many good recipes. His Key Lime Pie and White Chocolate, Orange and Raspberry Creme Brule are also favorites. Plus he taught me the correct way to use a microplane.

6 minutes in the microwave.

I love a good baked potato! 😋

My “recipe” is pretty straightforward - wash the spud, dry it off, pierce all over with a fork, rub some veg oil all over, pop in a pre-heated oven at 350F for about an hour. That’s it!

Now for toppings, I can go from the classic butter, s+p, and sour cream, to butter, s+p, with a pour over of baked beans, or broccoli and cheese. I think you can put everything (within reason of course) on a baked potato.

I should have added I set the temperature at 400.

I only brush on the olive oil when there is 10-15 minutes left to cook. I think I was following an ATK recipe, they explained why but I forget now.

You should always pierce the potato with a fork so it doesn't explode all over your oven.

I like this recipe from Ina Garten, although I've never tried the whipped feta topping that she uses. I'm old school and like sour cream, cheese and chives.

I tried A T K recipe/tip too and it does not work. I do olive oil, salt and pepper. Also rosemary and red pepper flakes. You have to knife poke the potatoes, esp russets.

What do you mean it does not work? I’ve made potatoes like that and they’re delicious.

This reminds me of Hans Moleman's class on How to Eat an Orange.

R17 why is it better to use a knife? Bigger holes for venting?

My method:

Start w/a room-temp, large / huge russet potato.

I put Pam spray on the potato, but you can put oil. Poke holes in potato.

Line a pan with foil. Put potato(es) on top of pan.

Oven: 450 F, middle rack, 50-60 minutes.

Put whatever you like on it. My preference is salt and *tons* of sour cream. .

Thanks for all the ideas! I’m buying more russets at the store today to practice. Any other tips?

Yes room temp of the tater is vital as R21 wisely states. The olive oil put on at the end is to avoid the low flame point, but mixed with ghee or lard prevents that problem so that mix can be applied before baking or roasting . Personally I prefer red or Yukon gold taters that have been boiled in beef or chicken broth spiked with herbs and chilis. I also like to roast them underneath a chicken that I am roasting with onion, garlic and fennel

R5 is spot on

is it my imagination or is baking the potato in a traditional oven better than microwaving?

R16 I have been baking potatoes for years and years and never once pierced them. No explosions. 400 degree oven.

R25, I’ve had my share of microwaved potatoes. They’re not as good as oven -baked. The microwave doesn’t dry out the potato enough to give it the fluffy texture.

I’ve also wrapped potatoes in foil and cooked them in a Smokey Joe type of grill. Very good, dry interior fluffy texture.

Baked potatoes my way:

Wash the spud and then roll it in lube. Stuff is up my asshole and let it roast for 18 hours.

Dinner is served.

R26, I'll take your word for having had no potato explosions. But I think poking holes does serve a function, it lets more water travel out of the potato interior to the skin, where it evaporates. The dry, fluffy interior is the goal.

OP - you have to learn about varieties of potatoes. Because if you want a good baked potato you need a baking potato not a boiling potato. After that, there is NO recipe whatsoever. Wash the potatos. let them dry well. Oil them - animal fat or peanut oil, for example. prick - I use a single, fine screwer and drive it deep, twice.

I cut a deep cross into potato - about 1/8 inch wide. No piercing just the cross. Save wedges & put in water.

Over 420 degrees.

Bake for 55-60 minutes.

Take out and spread open cross a bit more.

5 more minutes back in oven.

Perfect.

I used to coat with salt but it made my blood pressure rise. Just cutting out that kind of over salting brought it down considerably.

If you have enough wedge cut outs from a few days or lots of potatoes at one meal you can quick fry them up in oil for a snack or with breakfast eggs.

The original recipe called for 90 - 120 minutes baking but I found that wasn't necessary and starting that long before dinner was never convenient.

R11/R8, what is the correct way to use a microplane? I didn't realize there's a wrong way....

You can get a crisp skin in the microwave if you poke holes in it, microwave it on high for 5 minutes, wrap it in foil immediately and let it sit for 10 minutes. Delicious! I agree it's not as fluffy as an oven baked 'tater but it's great if you're in a hurry!

My microwave has a "potato" button that seems to do an OK job. I usually stop it and flip over the potato at some point, though.

r32 When I use a microplane I apply pressure from the handle to the tip, it's in this direction that the actual grating/rasping occurs. If you apply pressure on the return trip, you risk flattening the blades, making the tool less efficient, because less of each blade comes in contact with the food.

For large items, citrus e.g., hold the fruit in your hand and turn the tool so you're looking at the underside. Draw the zester across the rind, again, only in the cutting direction, and the zest accumulates in the channel. This also ensures you're getting just the zest and not the bitter pith, because you can actually see the color change(which you can't if you are holding the tool and fruit in the usual orientation)

YMMV

I’ve notice that potatoes taste less earthy and more sweet lately, and it ruins the Russet experience. I store them at room temp, but I seem to be disappointed. I know there is a thing called zebrization where potatoes lose their starch and go sugary with stripes….but that’s no what is happening. Anybody else notice this?

Thanks, R35. That's how I do it with small items, but I'll have to try the upside-down method with citrus and see if that's preferable to the "regular way".

R36, maybe switch to storing potatoes in the fridge. No, I've never had the sugary / stripes thing happen.

If you still want to store at room temp, maybe store in a cooler / darker place than what you've been doing.

Wonderful ideas. Thank you everyone.

The skin is the best part and it's supposed to be a little tough so you can soften it up.with loads of butter.

Don't store potatoes in the fridge, it's the cold that causes the conversion of starch into sugar(in yams/sweet potatoes, the conversion goes the other way) Keep your potatoes in a dark, RELATIVELY cool place and away from onions. If you have stored potatoes in the fridge, leave them at room temperature for several days, the sugar will revert to starch.

We don't know for sure where potatoes have been store by various handlers along the way, but it's a safe bet they've been subjected to cold temps somewhere up the line. I can tell you that supermarket potatoes get delivered with all the other refrigerated produce, so bear that in mind when you are considering storage places.

Be sure to wash/scrub potatoes thoroughly, because all non-organic spuds are sprayed with a solution that inhibits the growth of the potatoes' "eyes," lord knows what else THAT does. IIRC one of the chemical solutions has the lovable cutesy name of 'Sprout-Nip.' Use a specially-formulated produce washing product and a soft plastic dish scrubber to get rid of all kinds of nasties that potatoes come in contact with.

R23 could you please give me the recipe for those potatoes boiled in broth? They sound delicious!

Make sure you use a fork to POP your baked potato!

What other kind of potatoes make a good baked potato besides russet?

If I want to make some baked potatoes to eat the next day should I cut them open after getting them out of the oven first? Or should I leave them as they are? I know I should let them cool off a bit before refrigerating.

Baked taters! Glad I found this and making some now!

Don't bake a potato with olive oil, which is destroyed in a hot oven. Use animal fat. Butter, lard, etc. If you must oil the skin use canola. maybe peanut. I suppose you could buy refined olive oil. just don't use extra virgin cold pressed.

R47 how about bacon fat?