This is what I do every time I make russets. I like devour the innards and then briefly re-bake on high heat (like 450) which further crisps the remains to a crunchy texture. Even if I’m too busy to do it that evening, I set them aside and do the same later for a side, heavy snack or the like. And if you want to throw caution to the wind, then you can add bacon pieces, scallions and cheese.
I’ll have to try your herb treatment. I keep Herbes de Provence for salmon on the grill (basted on with butter and garlic), but I’ll bet the mixture would be delicious on spuds, too.
I have a particular beloved pot for preparing cubed potatoes with olive oil and herb-of-one’s-choice (my favorite is always rosemary), tossed with olive oil and whole cloves or garlic. I roast them at a high temperature (425F) for awhile, giving them a stir after about 20 minutes. Delicious at any time of day and an especial favorite when served alongside Eggs Benedict.
They’re equally at home on a plate with a perfectly prepared steak and a sauce made with butter, shallots, beef stock, flamed brandy and a wee spoonful of Dijon mustard. The whole roasted garlic cloves make a nice spread for bread.
Damn, I may have to rearrange what I’m making for dinner tonight…
Getting back on track with baked potatoes, I’ve had the foil-wrapped-boiled-potato-texture baked potatoes, and for me, no thank you. Give me a salted crispy skin every time, please.
I rarely bake potatoes in the microwave, but when I do, I never forget to poke 'em!
Oh, I can imagine. Garrgghh.
Personally, I’d put it to this Order of Awful from worst to less worse: Cleaning up pounds of stray flour everywhere in the kitchen due to dropping the open container; cleaning up exploded sweet potato in a toaster oven, and cleaning up exploded Russet potato in the microwave.
FWIW, when I had a potato explode in my oven, for as terrifying as the sound was, cleaning it was no big deal. I think it stayed mostly contained to the peel…it was a long time ago, so the details are fuzzy, but I may have been salvaged enough to eat it anyway.
I’m glad your experience was less traumatic than mine.
I’ve always been a potato-poker, coming from a long line of potato farmers on my dad’s side. My husband wasn’t, though. He nuked a fairly small potato, but the explosion was outsized. It scared the whole household.
The worst part of the cleanup was trying to get the potato out of the little grill holes that vent steam to the outside during cooking. No way to remove the grills to clean them, so I had to clean with toothpicks. Slow and painstaking, not totally effective. Icky.
Funny enough we were discussing baked potatoes yesterday in this thread starting a few posts above this one of mine:
And in fact last night I made 5 using that recipe: 3 russets & 2 sweets. Each poked about 4 times with a fork. No explosions. But …
To melt the butter for the mid-bake baste I put about 1/3stick of sorta-soft butter in a ramekin in the microwave. I melt butter in there all the time & know how to modulate things so I don’t boil the butter or get a mess. Normalement.
After just 15 seconds I hear a loud PLORP!! from the microwave. About 90% of the butter is liquid and dripping off the oven ceiling, door, walls, etc. There’s a big puddle under the turntable and both top & bottom of the turntable itself is dripping butter.
It made the kitchen smell wonderful. It didn’t help my morale a bit. :smack:
I’ve had some good success with putting the spud in the microwave for 10 minutes on full nukage, then coving in olive oil and salt and dropping in the air fryer for 15 minutes or more. It’s maybe not quite as good as the full oven bake, but a whole lot quicker and gets a soft flaky middle and crunchy outside.
The oil and salt is essential.
I use an ice pick, wet the potatoes and wrap them in a paper towel. Microwave for five minutes per spud. Remove the towel and wrap them in aluminum foil while getting the rest of dinner ready.
How much effort, if any, must you put toward not hearing this in your head ?
My association is to Walter Freeman’s icepick lobotomies, but Psycho’s good, too.
I draw a line with a knife (so I can cut them open later), then poke with a fork about 5 times.
No explosions - but jolly nice jacket potatoes!