Sometimes a simple baked potato can be the best thing you ate

G

Guest

Guest
Americas Test Kitchens comes up with some good ideas on occasion and here is a great baked potato from them: big russets- scrubbed and poked in many places, rolled in a combination of 2T salt mixed with 1/2 c water then put on a rack inside a pan. Roasted at 450 for 50-60 min. Taken out, brushed with oil, baked another 10 min and opened up immediately. Crisp, salty outside, soft, creamy inside. Heaven.

Made these last evening. Possibly the best potato I ever ate.

 
Cathy, do you soak the potatoes in the salt water mixture or. . .

do you dip the potatoes in the water then roll them in the salt and cook? And, please how many potatoes can you make with the salt/water you mention and what temp are they baked at? I love baked potatoes--thank you for your help.

 
Spoke too soon: Here is the recipe, I hope! REC BAked Potatoes atk

ATK Baked Potatoes
1â„2 cup water
4 large russet potatoes
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Using a fork, poke six times to make holes into each large Russet potato.

Combine salt and water. Roll each potato in liquid.

Transfer potatoes to a wire rack on a baking pan. Place into oven.

Bake in a preheated 450 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. IMPORTANT: Internal temperature should be 205 degrees to be done.

Test temperature into the end of the potato and see that there is no resistance. 205 to 212 degrees is the ideal range.

Brush potatoes with 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil and return to oven for 10 minutes to crisp skin.

Cut an X in the top of the baked potato and using a dishtowel, squeeze potato at each end to open the X and let steam escape.

Top with butter or whatever toppings you prefer.

DO NOT LEAVE POTATOES UNCUT/SPLIT -- EAT IMMEDIATELY FOR THE BEST EXPERIENCE.

 
One thing I've noticed is organic russet potatoes taste SO much more like the potatoes I remember.

When I buy the generic versions "on sale" they have almost no taste.
Since I don't buy them that often now, I buy 2 or 3 organic russets rather than a 3 pound bag of generics.

I ALWAYS buy organic Garnet yams. Regular sweet potatoes, even locally grown ones, just don't have any taste to me.

 
I have been able to regularly get russets tagged as Burbank Russets from Idaho. . .

and those are delicious.

There are a whole lot of potato varieties out there, russet and not russet, and they all their own flavor. Of course some have a LOT more flavor than others, depending on how, where and when they were grown!

 
Remember decades ago, when one would go to a good steakhouse and order a steak?

Most always, it came with a large baked russet, and they brought out the butter, sour cream, and chives...it was heaven.
Restaurants don't even serve baked potatoes anymore, do they?

 
They serve them down here but are usually wrapped in alum foil which . . .

makes them taste steamed. Ickos! It is hard to find a truly baked potato. Now if they could unwrap 'em and finish them for about 10 minutes in a hot oven, what a difference it would make.

 
I would hardly be surprised to find out that the "baked" potato

that is wrapped in foil and taste steamed, was probably nuked, then wrapped to finish cooking and stay warm.

What I really miss are the old time Maine potatoes we had up until the 70's or so, that were really thick skinned and lumpy. They resembled big clods of dirt, but when scrubbed and baked at 500 degrees for an hour were the BEST baked spuds I have ever tasted. And the skins were a fabulous treat when cooked that way.

 
I have cooked baked potatos in the oven and then nuked 'em to reheat. . .

And they come out pretty dang tasty.

I also will nuke them to cook mostly, then finish, UNWRAPPED, in the oven and they are great.

 
I tried this last night, I think I am potato impaired, the simple things vex me.

I have only managed to make a perfect potato once, and it was pure luck.

Perhaps it is the potatoes I am buying? I get Russets, so not sure how that is doing me in.

Not poking the holes deep enough into the potato?

I followed the method to a "T" - proper temp in a calibrated oven. Potatoes took far longer than one hour to reach internal temp - closer to 90 minutes. They were in there by themselves. Still not the completely fluffy texture I know they can be - but closer than what I usually end up with. We are getting closer!

Thanks for sharing this!

 
Hummm? were they cold? Did you put them on the rack or in a pan?

As a kid it was my job to start the potatoes before my parents got home. They were room temp, cleaned, poked with a fork about 1/4 of the depth of the tines, and were rubbed with oil. We didn’t do the salt water trick, then again I don’t eat the skin. Put them right on the oven rack as is. Took about an hour at 450F. Of course I never took its temp, just squeezed to feel if they were soft with an oven mitt.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top