# How do you eat a baked potato? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749 "2019-06-19T16:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/1 "2019-06-19T16:09:02Z")
I recently saw someone pick up the whole thing and eat it end-to-end like a hot dog. I had never seen anyone do that before. It never even occurred to me that someone would do it like that. How do you do it? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/2 "2019-06-19T16:21:47Z")
Innards with lots of butter, then the shell, which tastes so good. Save the best for last. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/3 "2019-06-19T16:26:39Z")
If you can mash up a baked potato then there’s something wrong with how you cooked the skin. j ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/4 "2019-06-19T16:29:18Z")
While I wouldn’t have ever come up with “shell” to describe the skin of a baked potato, I eat the fluffy innards with lots of butter and sour cream (and sometimes cheese and bacon bits), then usually cut up the skin into bite-size pieces for yums. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/5 "2019-06-19T16:35:01Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > While I wouldn’t have ever come up with “shell” to describe the skin of a baked potato, I eat the fluffy innards with lots of butter and sour cream (and sometimes cheese and bacon bits), then usually cut up the skin into bite-size pieces for yums. More or less the same but I like to add cottage cheese. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/6 "2019-06-19T16:40:46Z")
Load up the potato with butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon, lots of pepper and some salt. Then use my knife to cut into bite-size pieces, skin and all. Then add more pepper. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/7 "2019-06-19T17:00:59Z")
I eat the inside and then maybe half the skin. Unless it’s a supreme example of potato-goodness, I probably won’t eat the bottom half of the skin. No real reason except that I’m usually potatoed out by that point. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/8 "2019-06-19T17:13:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I recently saw someone pick up the whole thing and eat it end-to-end like a hot dog. I have done that. Didn’t seem unusual to me, but my gf thought it was odd. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/9 "2019-06-19T17:17:13Z")
I remove the innereds, eat the skin with butter (heaven!), mash up the innerds. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/10 "2019-06-19T17:18:20Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > While I wouldn’t have ever come up with “shell” to describe the skin of a baked potato, I eat the fluffy innards with lots of butter and sour cream (and sometimes cheese and bacon bits), then usually cut up the skin into bite-size pieces for yums. More or less how I eat it, but just butter, salt, pepper. The skin? Maybe, it depends on how burnt it is. Usually I leave it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/11 "2019-06-19T17:22:35Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I eat the inside and then maybe half the skin. Unless it’s a supreme example of potato-goodness, I probably won’t eat the bottom half of the skin. No real reason except that I’m usually potatoed out by that point. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/12 "2019-06-19T17:29:20Z")
Hold it in both hands and take bites out of the middle, like corn in the cob. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/13 "2019-06-19T17:29:32Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I recently saw someone pick up the whole thing and eat it end-to-end like a hot dog. Was it a Try Guys video? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/14 "2019-06-19T17:36:13Z")
Personally, I use a spoon or a fork. I eat the insides first, then I’ll eat the skin (unless it looks bad). This accounts for my indecision on the appropriate utensil; a spoon works better for the insides while a fork works better for the skin (and I don’t like switching utensils halfway through and getting two of them dirty). The only time I eat them by hand is if they’re little one, like appetizers. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/15 "2019-06-19T17:38:19Z")
I eat it the first way, but I mash the innards and toppings together first. Mandatory toppings are butter, sour cream, chives, salt, pepper. Sometimes I add some grated cheddar and a few dashes of Tobasco. Yum-O! 🙂 Anybody here ever bake them by burying them in the coals of a campfire? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/16 "2019-06-19T17:46:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Was it a Try Guys video? Actually it was! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/17 "2019-06-19T17:47:55Z")
I love potatoes in many forms, but not the baked ones. So if I did had to eat one I would scoop out as much “meat” as I could from the skin and mash it up with a fork, adding butter and salt in a quick approximation of mashed potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/18 "2019-06-19T18:09:27Z")
In another recent food thread I wondered out lout if I was 'eating mashed potatoes incorrectly". I cut it cut it in half, plot some butter on each half, add salt, and mash it up as I go along. I never eat the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/19 "2019-06-19T18:13:32Z")
Cut lengthwise, moosh it several times between the fingers, cut in butter, salt, and pepper, then stir in sour cream. Add more butter, salt, pepper, sour cream as needed. Eat between cutting and eating slices of grilled rib steak. I throw out the shell, as my dear grandpa, the best cook I ever knew, said “The PEEL??? You feed that to the GEESE.” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749/20 "2019-06-19T18:42:04Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I throw out the shell, as my dear grandpa, the best cook I ever knew, said “The PEEL??? You feed that to the GEESE.” To each his own, but grandpa was very wrong. Innards with whatever - then butter & salt & pepper the shell, the tougher the better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-eat-a-baked-potato/835749.md?page=2)