The Baked Potato

A complete meal in one. Crispy on the outside, warm soft and floury on the inside. It is cheap, nutritious, and is suitable for any variety of toppings such as chili, cheese, and meat or vegetable stews. It goes particularly well as a starch with roast beef or steak as well as hamburgers. If one wants to keep it simple, it is delicious just with butter.

Given the advantages of taste, nutrition, versatility and economy why is this food item so poorly prepared, particularly in restaurants but also in many households? This humble tuber often sweats to death surrounded by tin foil in the oven and arrives at the table limp, wet, and smelly.

The following is guaranteed to produce the perfect baked potato. Set the oven to 400 F. Pierce the skin of a washed potato once or twice with the tines of a fork. The potatoes should be done in about hour but you can check for doneness using a fork or skewer after 50 minutes. Do not leave the potato in the oven too long as it begins to collapse, looses its crispness and becomes wet. Do not coat the potato with oil before cooking as this leads to a rancid, unpleasant taste from the skin. Ideally, baked potatoes should be served when they are just cooked; if they are left sitting around they become soggy and wrinkled.

Tips. Any type of potato can be used though Russets or other large oval potatoes tend to work best. I also like Yukon Gold potatoes which have a very different texture from the usual baked potato. Chose potatoes of a uniform size, otherwise, the cooking times may vary quite a lot. Make sure that you buy firm potatoes without sprouts and store in a cool place (45-55 F). Unfortunately, the refrigerator is not an ideal place for long term storage as the temperature is too low though for most households the alternative, which is to store at room temperature, may be more injurious.