I just popped a couple of Idahos in the microwave, but first, I poked them about 10-12 ties w/ a fork. Got me thinking. Is poking really necessary? How many times do you poke a potato? What is the minimum to be effective? Why not poke/slive them with th etip of a knife?
(Yeah, I’m really THAT BORED w/ work today!)
I stab it with a fork 3-4 times so 12 to 16 holes.
I can’t even remember why I started this, something my Mom told me a long time ago.
Never had one blow up on you in the Nuker, eh? It’s rare, but I once watched it happen. It made a believer out of me for poking.
Plus, what makes a nice flaky Russet baked potato is letting the steam free.
Poke yer spuds, sir.
(And I’m so bored today I actually answered this question. 
)
Absolutely, you want to do that. If you don’t, the expanding gasses in the potato can cause it to explode. This can happen in a oven, but is even more likely in a microwave where there is less time for the gas to escape, and the heating is likely to be more localized within the potato.
You certainly can use a knife for the purpose, just as well as a fork (I usually use a knife).
I always did. Then for a while I stopped. Just brought it home and tossed it in the oven. Did that a few times a month for years before I finally had one explode. Sounded like a bomb went off in my kitchen. It took me a minute to even figure out what the noise could have been (keeping in mind I put it in the oven probably 45 minutes earlier).
For nearly zero effort and reducing the risk of ruining my dinner, not to mention making a mess, I’ve gone back to poking holes in them.
I prefer to use the tip of a sharp paring knife since that one time I almost put a fork through my hand trying to get the dull tines in (okay, I exaggerate, but still hurt stabbing a fork into my hand!). And on at least one occasion, it wasn’t enough! I was doing a looong lower heat bake on sweet potatoes to bring out the sweetness and the hardened sugar that seeped out sealed my small cuts. About 80 minutes in, one of the red garnet yams exploded all over my toaster oven. No fun to clean at all.
In all sincerity … aren’t there some microwaves with sensors that know when the spuds are done … and that – along with spud explosion prevention – require the holes/slices in order for the steam to properly escape and be ‘registered’ by the MW ?
You’re making me feel better about the enormous open, full container of flour that slipped out of my hands on Sunday. That was fun.
Ugh.
Nuclear winter.
Good description.
It really was awful, and not something I had time for. An important reminder to pay better attention to what I’m doing! I’d rather clean up the mess of an exploded potato than go through that again…
So I actually googled - and there is no clear consensus. At best, they say exploding spuds are mighty rare, but have been known to happen, and poking takes so little time/effort, so why not.
But I think I’ve been TOTALLY overdoing it - and likely putting myself at risk for repetitive stress injury - w/ my 10-15 pokes! 
All right, so now I’ve eaten, stumbled around the Dope, and the boring work is STILL there! Maybe I’ll walk the dog!
I usually do two to three stabs with a paring knife.
Considering that some people like to wrap potatoes in foil before baking, I find it hard to believe that poking them to help ventilate steam is really necessary in a regular oven (for ordinary baking potatoes of the Russet type). I can see that it may be helpful in a microwave, though. I’ve never done it, and never had one explode, but I don’t nuke potatoes very often, except to reheat.
Just because it’s the Dope and we’re into arguing these sorts of minutiae…
Same.
I used to poke potatoes before I put them in the microwave, but then I stopped for whatever reason years ago and I’ve never had a problem. But some of these replies make me think that maybe I’ve been playing Russian Roulette (or Irish Roulette?) for years and maybe I should start poking again.
Two to three stabs with whatever is closest to hand-fork or paring knife.
FWIW, I don’t wrap them in foil. I just wash 'em and throw them in the oven on a baking sheet. Rubbing them in olive oil and then salting sounds interesting. It’s similar to what I routinely do with either mini potatoes or potatoes parisienne – just simply toss them in olive oil in a plastic bag, then add a few generous dashes of dried Herbs de Provence, toss some more, and bake on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
I’ve had baby potatoes inside a container explode in the microwave. Would not want a large potato to do that to the inside of the microwave. It was also very loud.
You might be surprised. After 80 minutes of slow cooking, it had a caramel-like consistency that while tasting amazing, became a nightmare of burned on sticky sugar on the sides of the hot toaster oven. Still probably not as bad as pounds of flour that gets everywhere, but I was regretting using the toaster over - if it had been the main oven, I’d have thrown up my hands and done an oven-cleaning cycle due to how bad it was.