# So what do you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248 "2003-03-22T01:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/1 "2003-03-22T01:05:36Z")
Take the tin foil off the baked potato or eat the your potato with the foil left on? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/2 "2003-03-22T01:09:37Z")
I nuke mine. No need for aluminum foil. ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/3 "2003-03-22T01:23:05Z")
Slice and peel the foil, but leave it largely intact. I just think it looks better that way. Sort of like a space potato from a bad 1970’s sci-fi movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/4 "2003-03-22T01:28:32Z")
If you take the foil off, the potato will soon start to do what the government wants. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/5 "2003-03-22T01:29:49Z")
Oh wow childhood memory overload… Being a Brit, on November the 5th we would have a bonfire in the back guarden every year, and we would wrap potatoes in foil and bury them at the bottom of the fire, when the fire was almost out near the end of the night we recovered the potatos and had the best baked potatoes ever 😉 Thanks for setting off that memory. As for the OP if the potatoes are the main part of the food (like baked potatoes stuffed with cheese and bacon) then I’d keep the foil on, but if they are to be served with a hunk of steak then take the foil off. Cheers, Bippy ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/6 "2003-03-22T01:30:37Z")
Take it off. It’s aesthetically unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/7 "2003-03-22T01:32:50Z")
I get all cheffy and do the perfect little cross-section of foil. That way, I can fluff up the inside of the little tater and add all the fatty-goodness of butter and sour cream. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/8 "2003-03-22T02:35:21Z")
If all you eat is the “white”, go for foil. If you eat everything, then take the foil off and make a triple X on the spud before you spread it. If you don’t know what people like, leave the foil on. Foil is pretty, and if your guests don’t know that foil is a bitch on fillings, they will learn fast. When in doubt, leave foil on. ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/9 "2003-03-22T03:09:01Z")
I eat the foil. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/10 "2003-03-22T03:14:50Z")
I wear it as a hat. ---
**Author:** ![merge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9f8e36/32.png) [@merge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merge)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/11 "2003-03-22T03:45:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Severian \* > \*\*I eat the foil. \*\* You know… maybe if I wasn’t so tired, I wouldn’t have found this as amusing… but as it stands… I am very tired… and I just burst out laughing… wasn’t expecting to read that… anywho… slice the potato… peel the foil… fill with sour cream, butter and scallions… mmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Looking\_Land](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Looking\_Land](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Looking_Land)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/12 "2003-03-22T04:19:48Z")
I open the foil up and eat the potato off of it sometimes. Depends on the plate, I guess. I definitely eat the skin, that’s the best part! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/13 "2003-03-22T04:48:10Z")
Foil _definitely_ off. It’s an abomination, unless used as tool when burying tubers in the coals of a camp fire. Then again, I’m a hardcore peel-eater. **Blather the first:** Weird memory: when I was a little kid, we–my family–had horrified, well-meaning folks intevene in restaurants when we removed the shiny metal wrapping to eat _the whole potato_, peel and all. It was probably a combination of food fashion and misunderstood science. They honestly thought spud peels were poisonous. I’m no Alton Brown, but something hinky can happen with that tiny green layer right under the skin on old spuds, but heat takes care of it, even without nifty Jetson-like layers of thin metal. **Blather the second:** Foil steams spuds instead of baking them, and turns them gluey inside. A really _killer_ baked tater has a crispy/chewy skin, with fluffy, tender insides. Restaurants rarely do it because it’s a timing thing. At home: wash spud well. Dry well. Oil skin very lightly, then stab several places to let steam escape. (Rolling in kosher salt is great, but a catch pan beneath is handy.) Place on an open rack in a hot oven; bake for @45-60 minutes, depending on size of tuber. Actual work time? Two minutes, max. Results? Sublime. Split, dash with salt and pepper and it’s _fine_ just as is. Dressed with some good butter, a sprinkling of chives, etc.: swoon. Oh, hell, grab the gusto: a dab of sour cream, a sprinkling of sharp cheddar and a few dashes of Tabasco. Or just split, steaming, then dashed with kosher salt and malt vinegar. ::blinks dazedly, smacked back to reality:: Huh? Oh. Never mind. Easily sidetracked, Veb ---
**Author:** ![ChrystinP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@ChrystinP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrystinP)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/14 "2003-03-22T06:35:41Z")
Why use foil at all? We bake ours in a convection oven and the skin gets nice and crisp, which makes it quite delectable. The only place I’ve been served foil potatoes are in not so great restaurants and the skin is depressingly soggy and thoroughly unappetizing. If I’m served one with aluminum foil I remove both the foil and the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/15 "2003-03-22T08:15:57Z")
I was going to be snotty and point out the whole “baked vs. steamed” thing, but **TVeblen** beat me to it, so I’ll just say, in my usually elegant style: baked-yum; steamed-icky yuck blech. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/16 "2003-03-22T08:56:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aha \* > \*\*Take the tin foil off the baked potato or eat the your potato with the foil left on? \*\* If served in this manner, I think I remove the foil to get to the best part – the skin. I also like ordering potato skins. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do/163248/17 "2003-03-22T12:26:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChrystinP \* > \*\*Why use foil at all? \*\* Because when I do mine, I rub the skin with olive oil, kosher salt & fresh ground pepper, and put in a sprig of rosemary before wrapping it up in foil. Why? Because it tastes good. 🙂