Baked: "Thick skinned" baked potatoes?
Subject: "Thick skinned" baked potatoes?
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Mitch at hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 14:33:03 GMT
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I want to make baked potatoes tonight, but in the past I haven't got the results I want.
At my favorite restaurants the baked potato always has a thick, crispy jacket, and the potato itself is perfect and fluffy.
My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and wrap it in foil.
Is this right?
And what about cooking time and temperature?
We have some HUGE russet potatoes from our friend's garden.
From: penmart01 at aol.como (Sheldon)
Date: 07 Nov 2004 14:56:22 GMT
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Mitch at hotmail asses:
>At my favorite restaurants the baked potato always has a thick, crispy
>jacket, and the potato itself is perfect and fluffy.
>
>My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
>wrap it in foil.
>
>Is this right?
No.
From: Mitch at hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 16:17:08 GMT
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Sheldon wrote:
>No.
Forgot to killfile this moron before. Taken care of now.
Thanks for the other replies....I'll skip the foil.
From: kevintsheehy at aol.com (Kevintsheehy)
Date: 07 Nov 2004 14:58:45 GMT
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Mitch wrote:
>I want to make baked potatoes tonight, but in the past I haven't
>got the results I want.
I rub the potato with oil, pierce several times with a fork and bake at 350 for 2 hours. I don't wrap in foil.
From: Alan Moorman at visi.com
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 10:45:25 -0600
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Kevintsheehy wrote:
>I rub the potato with oil, pierce several times with a fork and bake
>at 350 for 2 hours. I don't wrap in foil.
Wrapping it in foil will steam the potato, keeping the skin thin and tender.
To bake a potato, it has to be in a real oven, probably with some fat rubbed on it.
I never do them in a real oven any more -- it takes too long.
From: penmart01 at aol.como (Sheldon)
Date: 07 Nov 2004 16:49:22 GMT
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Kevintsheehy wrote:
>I rub the potato with oil, pierce several times with a fork and bake
>at 350 for 2 hours. I don't wrap in foil.
Lubricating with oil produces a baked potato with limp rubbery skin, oil also changes the flavor of the potato... ferget teh oil. Simply scrub well, pierce deeply a couple three times with a knife tip, and bake in a hot oven for about an hour... directly on an upper oven rack, not on a pan. Of course, Mr. Sheehy, the way to produce the finast baked potatoes is to prepare "Mickies"... but that would require a lengthy and highly detailed explanation... begins with "Foist/steal a potato."... better you should seach for where I posted the method previously.
From: Hahabogus (invalid at invalid.null)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 15:44:27 GMT
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> I want to make baked potatoes tonight, but in the past I haven't got
> the results I want.
Wash the spud/s well, dry it off. Rub with oil and sprinkle with salt or not. Poke several holes in it with a fork. Put the spud/s in a 400F preheated oven for at least 1 hr. A quick squeeze to test, listen for a russeling noise. The noise indicates a thick, crispy jacket.
Using foil is counter-productive as it keeps the moisture in and effectively steams the spud, stopping any chance of crisping the jacket.
Using foil is a old restaurant trick, it allows the spud to be kept warm longer. Allowing the restaurant to only bake spuds once or twice a day.
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 10:51:03 -0600
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
> wrap it in foil.
Forget the wrapping in foil; that will 'steam' the potato at best. Rub it with oil or butter, then sprinkle with salt. Many people prefer Kosher or course ground sea salt for this. Poke a few holes in the top and bake it at 400F (204C) for at least an hour or until when you press on the sides and the potato is very tender. You'll have a delicious baked potato and the skins very crispy and edible.
From: Wayne Boatwright (wbw at att.net)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 16:56:44 GMT
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> I want to make baked potatoes tonight, but in the past I haven't got
> the results I want.
Skip the foil. Wrapping in foil produces a steamed potato.
Position your oven racks on the bottom and the middle of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack. Scrub the potatoes well and dry thoroughly. Prick the potatoes on all sides with a fork. Rub with oil or shortening, then roll in Kosher salt. Place prepared potatoes on the middle rack and bake for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, or until the skins have a crackly resistance, but the potato flesh yields easily under a bit more pressure.
FWIW, last week I was cooking something else in a covered casserole dish in a 350°F oven and decided to add potatoes as prepared above. The only difference was temperature, but the potato skins never attained a thick and crust texture.
From: Gloria Puester (puester at worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 17:58:14 GMT
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
> wrap it in foil.
If you wrap it in foil, you are guaranteed to get a soft, soggy skin instead of crisp. The foil holds in the steam.
From: Peter Aitken (paitken at CRAPnc.rr.com)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 18:34:47 GMT
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
> wrap it in foil.
Without oil is better if you want thick, chewy skins. The oil tends to keep them soft. No foil - that too keeps them soft. Just a couple of pokes and then 425f for an hour or, even better, 350 for 1.5 hours. Adjust time as needed.
Now you've got me craving a good baked spud!
From: Shawn Hearn (srhi at comcast.net)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 14:18:30 -0500
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
> wrap it in foil.
Wrong. Do not wrap the potato in foil. Wrapping a potato in foil traps the steam and gives the opposite result that you are shooting for. For a huge Russet potato, I would cook in in a 450 degree oven until its done, maybe 90 minutes, but it depends on the size of the potato. When you poke the potato with a fork and get little or no resistance, it is done.
From: Two Thumbs (username at 127.0.0.1)
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 11:38:50 -0800
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> We have some HUGE russet potatoes from our friend's garden.
I don't know about HUGE, but for an average size russet I just wash it and place it, unoiled and unwrapped, on the rack of a 425F oven. I cook it for an hour minimum, maybe an hour and a quarter. Longer cooking results in a thicker skin ( up to a point, experiment ). The critical step comes on removal of the potato from the oven. Take the potato out with a towel and *immediately* make a deep cut almost the length of the potato, then push the ends together until the cut opens up and lets all the steam out. If the steam is not removed immediately it will turn the insides into potato goo.
From: Nexis (nexis1 at cox.net)
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 14:43:02 -0800
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
> My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
> wrap it in foil.
First, lose the foil. The foil retains moisture and makes for soggy skin. To oil or not, well that's a personal preference. It definitely changes the skin. Depending on what I'm in the mood for, I sometimes lightly oil the skin and roll in kosher sea salt. Othertimes I don't do anything besides scrub the potato. Poke it several times with a knife or fork and roast at 350* until a fork slides in easily.
kimberly
From: Rodney Myrvaagnes (rodneym at attglobal.net)
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 23:25:43 -0500
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Mitch at hotmail wrote:
>My assumption is that I should rub the potato with oil, poke it, and
>wrap it in foil.
Ouch!! Never wrap it in foil.That steams them instead of baking them.
Big russets will bake nicely just put in the oven after scrubbing and digging eyes out.
But, if you want to do something slightly fancier, cut a longitudinal plug out with an apple corer (the kind with a little hole saw on the end) and put some peeled garlic and a hot pepper inside. Pushe the end of the core in and pin it in place. Bake as before.
From: Mitch at hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 12:31:37 GMT
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Thanks for all the replies....they came out perfect.