Baked: How to cook baded potatoe?
Subject: How to cook baded potatoe?
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: brettr (br at centurytel.net)
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 21:15:06 -0500
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I tried to cook a russet potatoe in the oven. It sat in there at 375 for about 45 minutes. The inside was hot but still hard and crunchy. Nothing like what you might eat at a steak house.
I did have the potatoe wrapped in foil.
How is this done correctly so that I get a soft potatoe?
Thanks,
brettr
From: B. Green (tobgreen at home.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 02:58:35 GMT
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brettr wrote:
> I did have the potatoe wrapped in foil.
If you cook it in foil, wrap it tightly, cook hotter, for a longer time.
But I say cancel the foil, then preheat oven to 450ish, a *hot* oven.
Pierce the spud before putting it in the oven, and pierce it once or twice while cooking.
This method gives a crispy skin with flaky inside.
Get a quality oven thermometer. Your oven may be operating low, they vary greatly and their temp controls are commonly not accurate.
From: Mike D (forusenet at nomail.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 03:14:21 GMT
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>How is this done correctly so that I get a soft potatoe?
Poke many holes in the taters with a knife. Put a light coating of oil on them. You can wrap them, or not. Some people like to salt the skin.
45mins in 375-400 should be enough. If not, put them back in (middle rack).
I don't bake them anymore. I put mine in the microwave for about 6 mins. They come out just like they were baked but in a fraction of the time. I cook sweet potatoes like that, too.
From: aquari at aol.comNOJUNK (Libby)
Date: 08 Jun 2001 04:29:26 GMT
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>I don't bake them anymore. I put mine in the microwave for about 6 mins.
>They come out just like they were baked but in a fraction of the time. I
>cook sweet potatoes like that, too.
Microwaved potatoes are steamed more than baked, IMHO. Wash and dry the potato, pierce it several times with a fork, oil the skin with olive oil, canola oil or bacon drippings and bake it in a 400 or 425 degree oven for an hour.At 30 minutes, pierce it with a fork again. The skin should be somewhat crisp and the center done all the way through after its been in the oven for an hour. Sometimes they are done in 45 minutes, but generally I like them better when baked for a full 60 minutes. I live at 6400 feet so if you are at sea level, you may have a fully baked potato in less time. Someone suggested you get an oven thermometer...I second that. Test your oven temp because it may be off..
From: Coloradostar at webtv.net (JEM)
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 03:10:13 -0400 (EDT)
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Lose the foil. Scrub the tater, dry well, then oil and perhaps salt the skin, especially if you eat it. It'll make it nice and crispy and tasty. (If you don't eat the skin, why not? It's the best part! Crisp and flavorful -- yum!)
Pierce the skin, and put it into a *hot* oven, and bake till done. To check for doneness, stab it with a fork or knife -- a done baked tater will "give", feel soft all the way through, about the same way a boiled tater will.
Stab it a few extra times during cooking, just on General Principals -- it allows more steam to escape and IMO makes for a
fluffier potato.
The previously-made stab-holes can "heal over" from the steam and potato juices caking and hardening in them.
Your potato was probably just undercooked; timing can vary wildly, depending on the size and the tater itself. Very small ones can cook in as little as half an hour, while really big ones can take a good bit more than an hour to get fully cooked.
From: Siobhan Perricone (morgannalefey at starband.net)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:36:11 GMT
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45 mins at 375 isn't enough time or enough heat for foil wrapped potatoes when I make 'em. It takes at least an hour at 400 when I wrap them in foil (depending, of course, on the size of the potato you buy, I usually get pretty large russets because we like potatoes a lot :). If your russets are small, then I suppose 45 mins would be good.
From: Colin McGregor (colinmc at idirect.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 03:21:04 GMT
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What I have found works well is as follows:
- Start with a russet potato (as you have done)
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a fork poke several sets of holes in the potato
- rinse the potato, then dry it so as to remove surface moisture
- rub a few drops of vegetable oil over the potato so the skin is lightly oiled.
- Since I like to eat the skin, I scatter a pinch of kosher (coarse) salt over the skin (depending on your taste this may be optional).
- Bake the potato in the middle of the oven for 1 hour.
The result is a nice (edible) skin, and good center. If you want to do multiple potatos you will have to extend your bake time.
The foil will tend to reflect heat away from the potato, and while there are foods/times/places where using foil in the oven is a useful trick, doing baked potatos isn't one of them.
From: notbob (notbob at NOThome.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 05:52:21 GMT
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I thought I knew all the bachelor culinary tricks till a friend showed me a new one to quick bake a potato. Split a medium russet lengthwise and brush both open faces with oil. Place in a pre-heated 450-500 deg oven for 20-30 minutes. Mash both halves with fork and add buter, salt and pepper. Works good enough.
From: aquari at aol.comNOJUNK (Libby)
Date: 08 Jun 2001 14:01:57 GMT
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>I thought I knew all the bachelor culinary tricks till a friend showed
>me a new one to quick bake a potato. Split a medium russet lengthwise
>and brush both open faces with oil. Place in a pre-heated 450-500 deg
>oven for 20-30 minutes. Mash both halves with fork and add buter,
>salt and pepper. Works good enough.
We bachelor girls like this idea a lot and wondered why WE didn't think of it! I'm going to give this one a try. Eat half now and the other half for another meal.
From: nancree at aol.com (Nancree)
Date: 08 Jun 2001 06:11:10 GMT
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brettr wrote:
> tried to cook a russet potatoe in the oven. It sat in there at 375 for
>about 45 minutes. The inside was hot but still hard and crunchy.
Try 400 degrees for 1 hr. or 425 degrees for 50 minutes
From: miche at technologist.com (Miche)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 22:13:22 +1200
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brettr wrote:
> I tried to cook a russet potatoe in the oven. It sat in there at 375 for
> about 45 minutes. The inside was hot but still hard and crunchy.
Cook it longer at a higher temperature. It wasn't done.
From: forcooksonly at aol.com (ForCooksOnly)
Date: 08 Jun 2001 11:34:48 GMT
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> How to cook baked potato?
Doesn't anyone use stove-top potato bakers anymore?? Scrub poatoes and place on baker over low flame--bake 1/2 hour on each side--skin (the BEST part) comes out crispy and the potato fluffy. I wanted to give a baker as a gift to someone who makes them in the microwave (UGH) and had an awful time finding one--finally found it in a Walter Drake catalog.
From: Leon Manfredi (manfred at channel1.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 21:54:38 -0400
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> How to cook baked potato?
I use a DeLongi convection toaster oven, at 400, about 40 min, 2 potatoes scrubbed with a copper Chor Boy scrubbing pad, under warm water to help dissolve any chemical fertilizers that may not have been completely dissolved at the producers.
From: Stan Horwitz (stan at typhoon.ocis.temple.edu)
Date: 8 Jun 2001 12:51:27 GMT
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brettr wrote:
> I tried to cook a russet potatoe in the oven. It sat in there at 375 for
> about 45 minutes. The inside was hot but still hard and crunchy. Nothing
> like what you might eat at a steak house.
Turn up the heat to at least 450 degrees. Cook for at one hour for a medium size or larger potato.
From: Peter Aitken (paitken at CRAPnc.rr.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 14:08:00 GMT
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> How to cook baked potato?
I usually bake a potato at 450 for 1 hour.
From: judgmoore at cs.com (Judith Moore)
Date: 08 Jun 2001 14:57:04 GMT
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Why *do* restaurants foil-wrap pototatoes? That just steams them. Unless you're cooking on a grill, there doesn't seem to be a good reason.
I always cut little slivers off each end and pierce the potato in a few places (because that's the way my mother did it). Then stick in a hottish (400? 450? F) for about an hour -- I like a really thick crispy skin.
Does anyone have the numbers on combo-baked potatoes? Some way to start them off in a m'wave (for fast cooking) and finish in the oven (for crispiness)?
From: Siobhan Perricone (morgannalefey at starband.net)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 19:15:32 GMT
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Judith Moore wrote:
>Why *do* restaurants foil-wrap pototatoes? That just steams them. Unless you're
>cooking on a grill, there doesn't seem to be a good reason.
Appearance? Ease of handling? Sanitary concerns? Because their mother's did? :)
From: ladyvmh2000 at gateway.net (Vickie)
Date: 09 Jun 2001 00:57:09 GMT
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Siobhan Perricone writes:
>Appearance? Ease of handling? Sanitary concerns? Because their mother's
>did? :)
A lot of restaurants wrap them in foil after they are baked. In some places it is illegal to serve them without the foil. At home I eat the skin but at a restaurant I don't because I have no idea how clean they are.
From: aem (aemStillNo at worldnet.att.Spam.net.invalid)
Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 04:02:22 GMT
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Vickie wrote:
> A lot of restaurants wrap them in foil after they are baked. In some places
> it is illegal to serve them without the foil.
Now there's a new one on me! Where in the world is it illegal to serve baked potatoes that are not wrapped in foil? What could "they" possibly have been thinking?
From: malan6 at qwest.net (Alan)
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 12:11:37 -0500
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Vickie wrote:
: At home I eat the skin but at a
:restaurant I don't because I have no idea how clean they are.
I think after they've been baked at 350 for an hour, you can go ahead and eat the skin. The heat has probably killed anything that might have hurt you.
From: penmart01 at aol.como (Sheldon)
Date: 10 Jun 2001 18:00:08 GMT
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malan6 writes:
>I think after they've been baked at 350 for an hour, you can go ahead
>and eat the skin. The heat has probably killed anything that might
>have hurt you.
Not all things found on unclean potato skins are/were living things... and it's not the dirt or even the creatures what live in dirt... heck we all eat some dirt with it's associated creatures with every meal... it's some certain 'chemicals' added to the dirt what come to mind.
A good cook scrubs all veggies squeaky clean first thing they arrive home... never ever place unwashed veggies inna fridge... same thing goes for tin lids, wash em rightaway (exterminators have been known to treat warehouses- frequently).
From: ladyvmh2000 at gateway.net (Vickie)
Date: 11 Jun 2001 05:26:28 GMT
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malan6 writes:
>I think after they've been baked at 350 for an hour, you can go ahead
>and eat the skin. The heat has probably killed anything that might
>have hurt you.
I am not worried about anything hurting me but after a few times of biting into gritty skin I gave up.
From: j-lattie at neiu.edu
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 06:41:28 GMT
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Vickie wrote:
>I am not worried about anything hurting me but after a few times of biting into
>gritty skin I gave up.
Well, uhm, ... y'know.... you still do need to wash them, or at least wipe them off a bit, before cooking 'em. ;-Q
From: ladyvmh2000 at gateway.net (Vickie)
Date: 11 Jun 2001 20:49:54 GMT
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j-lattie writes:
>Well, uhm, ... y'know.... you still do need to wash them, or at
>least wipe them off a bit, before cooking 'em. ;-Q
We were talking about eating the skin of the potatoes at restaurants. At home I do scrub them but do not know how clean they are in restaurants.
Vickie
From: j-lattie at neiu.edu
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 01:07:15 GMT
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Vickie wrote:
>We were talking about eating the skin of the potatoes at restaurants. At home I
>do scrub them but do not know how clean they are in restaurants.
I am quite sure, that if a restaurant cooks and serves a potato in the skin, that it has been washed and scrubbed before cooking.
From: sf
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 19:47:41 GMT
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Vickie wrote:
>I am not worried about anything hurting me but after a few times of biting into
>gritty skin I gave up.
Did you ever learn to wash a potato first? Sounds like you still have dirt on it, sterile dirt, but dirt all the same.
From: capdragon at vvm.com (CAP)
Date: 8 Jun 2001 08:09:09 -0700
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Run a 60-penny nail through the potato from end to end. Scrape a small patch of skin off the side of each potato. Bake 50 min at 400 degrees F.
From: Don Ford (DEEPROCK at mindspring.net)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 11:20:00 -0500
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I take nice russets, rub them good with bacon grease and then rub coarse sea salt all around them. Bake in 450 degree for one hour; the peeling is brown and crunchy and the inside is perfect. Sometimes, after I take them out of the oven, I cut the top 1/3 -1/4 off, scoop out the potato and mix LOTS of real butter, roasted garlic, salt fresh ground pepper or anything else you want and do the twice baked thing.
Very good this way
From: pfoley (pfoley at ici.net)
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 14:50:54 -0400
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I bake my potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 60 minutes. I make a small slice on the top of the potatoe before I put it in the oven. I don't wrap the potato. I think if you want a softer skin other than a crisp skin, you can rub the potato with oil first. I don't do that, because I like to eat the skin with butter salt and pepper after I eat the inside of the potato. When I remove the potato I slice the top with an x and then squeeze both ends so that some of the potato pops up through the top. It looks etter this way when you serve it. I then top it with salt, pepper and butter and serve it with sour cream on the side.
From: ladyvmh2000 at gateway.net (Vickie)
Date: 09 Jun 2001 00:23:17 GMT
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>I did have the potatoe wrapped in foil.
Do not wrap the potato in foil. When you do that you are steaming it instead of baking it. I just scrub my potatoes, stab with fork a couple time and stick in oven. The temp. of oven depends on how big the potato is, whether I have other things in oven and how long I want to wait. I like the skin to be crisp so I usually set oven to 425 degrees for 45-60 minutes depending on size.
From: rodneym at ibm.net (Rodney Myrvaagnes)
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 20:07:24 GMT
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>I did have the potatoe wrapped in foil.
I would never use foil. What I often do is bore from one end with an apple corer as far as it will go, then press on the end of the plug and twist so it breaks off at the bottom. Then put in a clove of garlic, a hot pepper, and another clove of garlic. Cut the plug so it just fits, and pin it with a poultry pin.
You can use something as hot as a habanero this way, and people can stop when they get too close for their particular comfort. The heat diffuses with a fairly steep gradient.
Something more moderate, like a serrano, is fine also.
I put my oven at 450 for about 45 min to an hour.
From: Gerald I. Evenden (vze2hc4d at verizon.net)
Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 00:44:33 GMT
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brettr wrote:
> I tried to cook a russet potatoe in the oven. It sat in there at 375 for
> about 45 minutes. The inside was hot but still hard and crunchy. Nothing
> like what you might eat at a steak house.
Best tool to use is the aluminum "nail" inserted in the spud to be baked. Test for doneness after 50 minutes in a 350 oven.
Testing method: use a fine wire pin like use when lacing up a turkey. It should pierce the potato with NO resistance (other than the skin) when the potato is done.
Also, no foil, scrub potato, oil, pierce with fork and salt.
Subject: PING Judith M - Re: How to cook baded potatoe?
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: B. Green (tobgreen at home.com)
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 20:13:22 GMT
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Judith Moore wrote:
> Why *do* restaurants foil-wrap pototatoes? That just steams them. Unless you're
> cooking on a grill, there doesn't seem to be a good reason.
Hey Dude:
Spuds are foil wrapped because they keep moist longer this way.
As you likely know, an unwrapped spud is difficult to keep reasonably presentable for the many hours they are commonly held for in restaurants.
I used to nuke 'em first, have tried various time combos, but so little is gained in time that I don't do 'em that way anymore' extra steps, extra fuss, what the heck, just bake em, eh?
;@>)