Baked Potatoes

I rarely order them in restaurants so I'm not much help. I don't do fake bacon bits, though. I've always wondered why POC did that.

Boil them in a pot with an obscene amount of salt in the water. When they are tender let them dry on a rack. Heat them in the oven to crisp the skins before serving.

Salt
Pepper
Sweet Cream Butter
Sour Cream
Chives

Lucy is on a binge for this...

Get about 5 or 6 small reds at the grocery. Cut each in half and toss with olive oil and the spices you like. I use kosher salt, red pepper, chili powder and cumin.

Put on a sheet, cut side down and bake at 375 for half an hour till skin is crisp.

The people that do that method of wrapping don't know they are steaming the potato in it. Piercing a baked potato before cooking it is just as bad an approach as wrapping one. Unwrapped, unpoked is the way to do them. Google James Beards tater recipe which is considered the best one by a very large crowd, his cooking time seems obscene as it is close to two hours.

quote:

---

Unwrapped, unpoked is the way to do them.

---

Unwrapped I agree with but not unpoked. Poking them lets the steam out and even more importantly it prevents them from exploding in the oven. I know that from personal experience.

Baked potatoes are my absolute least favorite side dish

quote:

---

I like a good crispy skin and fluffy on the inside.

---

I like the crispy skin too.. I leave them unwrapped and bake at 425 for almost an hour, til they pierce through easily with a fork.

This is a recipe for Twice Baked Potatoes.. alot of times seafood restaurants serve these.. The cooking temp is 350.. Anyways..

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes

8 slices bacon

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

8 green onions, sliced, divided


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour.

3. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

4. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 the green onions. Mix with a hand mixer until well blended and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top each with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon.

5. Bake for another 15 minutes.

The steam inside an unwrapped potato is what lets/makes the starch inside a potato develop the way it should. Paying attention to a potato moving around on the rack/rotating it and determining how far in the cooking process it is via the fingers acting as a gauge is how to stop explosions in your oven.


ETA I have cooked a lot of 50 lb. boxes at once with very few bombs going off.

I pierce them with a fork, then put them in the microwave for a couple minutes. I then run them with oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and throw them in the oven at 350. I don't ever remember how long. I cook until they're about 200 degrees in the middle or a little over. Middle ends up perfect and the skin is very good.

quote:

---

They tear when you're trying to mix the toppings with the potato and the skin is the pits. I like a good crispy skin and fluffy on the inside.

---

They're fluffy on the inside every time I bake them wrapped in foil. The skin tears when you mix the toppings? You must be piercing the skin with the fork when you're mixing it up.