Usually when I want a potato, I boil it. The inner flesh comes out nice & fluffy and the skin is really soft and easy to eat.
Lately though, I’ve been wanting baked potatoes. So I looked up the basic recipe which is spreading oil on the potato, sprinkling some salt on it, poking some holes in it with fork, and baking it on the oven rack at 375 for about an hour.
The inner flesh seems ok. Maybe a bit more mushy than the fluffiness I like in my boiled potatoes. The skin though, is pretty chewy & tough. Hard to cut except with a sharp knife. Not that much fun to eat.
What I want is the baked potatoes you get at some restaurants, where the skin is nice & crispy crunchy while the inner flesh is nice & fluffy.
How do I get that? Got some preferred baked potato recipes? I don’t think I’m talking about a twice baked potato, am I?
One thing I’ve found that seems to help make sure the inside is cooked through is to use one of those aluminum nails that you push through the center of the potato (long-wise). They are made for this very purpose and are probably sold in the “baking” aisle of your grocery store.
There’s no need to poke holes, stick things through it, or anything else. Just give it a long cooking time - at least 90 minutes. That way, the skin gets more crisp. Also make sure you’re pre-heating the oven, which will also help.
I was taught to rub them with oil and salt, and optionally rosemary and garlic but never to pierce them until almost done - they don’t burst and stay moist and fluffy.
I read somewhere that when you oil. butter or wrap the skin of a potato in foil, you are essentially steaming it, not baking. That’s why the skin gets that nasty texture. Another article said that the reason for pricking the skin is to allow steam to escape, also reducing the ‘steamed’ potato taste, not to mention the danger of exploding potatoes .
I agree with the other folks—simple is better. Prick the skin with a fork a few times, put the potatoes into a hot, pre-heated oven (425 works for me) and bake for 60-90 minutes. Or, you can reduce the temperature and cook them longer. I really don’t think you can over-bake a potato.
Yes, you can pre-nuke them and finish them off in the oven, but I’ve never actually done it.
I have cooked potatoes in the microwave though. The cooking time depends on your microwave, but on mine I think the suggestion was about 8 minutes, then remove from the microwave, wrap the potato in foil and let it sit 5 minutes to finish cooking through.
Ooooh, yes you can.
I did it last night. I decided to try baking one for the 90 minutes suggested, then came back to the boards, got distracted then left the potato in the oven way longer than 90 minutes.
Funny thing though, the outside of the skin wasn’t burnt, just really crispy. The inside of the skin however, was burnt almost black. Strange. The inner flesh was overcooked, not burnt, just overcooked.
I found a potato chunk at the bottom of an oven, and I have no idea how long it had been there. Its crystalline black all the way through: a shiny piece of coal. So stop at 90 min.
This happened to me last week. I forgot to prick the skins and about 60 minutes in, I heard a loud pop from the oven. I’m still cleaning potato bits out of the thing.
I don’t usually cook them at that high a temperature, probably because I’m generally cooking something else at the same time. My oven is usually between 325 and 375, and I cook them for just over an hour. I’ve never bothered to oil or season the skin, and they usually come out reasonably crispy.
