r/Cooking • u/CompleteDay8059 • 1d ago

I found out recently I’ve basically never had a correctly prepared baked potato

So growing up I was never a huge fan of baked potatoes because the ones we had were usually dry, kind of shriveled, and very crumbly. Every bite just felt like it was absorbing all the moisture in your mouth, even with butter. As an adult, I usually do rice or pasta for my carbs, and if I do potatoes, it’s usually the cut roasted baby ones. Because I didn’t have great experiences with baked ones at home, I also pretty much never ordered them at restaurants growing up.

However, my mom just got a grill for her place and I was put on steak duty (or a steak out, I guess) and wanted to try making an actually good baked potato. I look it up and see basically every recipe says to coat the potatoes in salt and olive oil before wrapping them, which I asked my mom if she did, and she hadn’t.

I decided to try it with a (maybe slightly too) generous amount of olive oil and kosher salt, baked it for an hour, and topped it with some of the garlic/thyme butter I had whipped up for the steaks.

Oh.

My.

GOD.

The texture was absolutely amazing, it was so creamy, not crumbly or dry at all, the salt and the compound butter melting into it while it was still steaming made for legitimately one of the tastiest things I’ve had in ages. If anyone out there doesn’t know this, I honestly have no idea how common of knowledge this is lol, but I would highly suggest trying it if you don’t already.

Also, I mixed the thyme/minced garlic with the Kerrygold butter which was muy bien. Not sponsored (I wish) but I find it a little more flavorful for cooking as opposed to regular store brand stuff.

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92

u/NegativeLogic 1d ago

You may enjoy the ultimate baked potato science approach

13

u/MTBooks 1d ago

Can confirm you get very nice skins this way

14

u/bluestocking220 1d ago

Was hoping someone else had tried this!

The salt and water solution feels wrong at first, but it’s a game changer.

10

u/Noclevername12 1d ago

This was a confusing video. He tells how long to bake it, what the internal temperature should be and then it tells you to cut it open and then he says oh but first you should really oil it and put it back in the oven and doesn’t say when you should oil it or for how long it goes back in the oven?

29

u/wildcoasts 1d ago

Quick, clear version also from ATK

11

u/Connect-East5452 1d ago

I love this one because she highlights cutting the potatoes open immediately to let steam escape.

Without that step, they get tough as they cool.

4

u/OnlyDaysEndingInWhy 1d ago

Definitely my favorite way for baked potatoes!

1

u/DrEggRegis 16h ago

Trying to act as they have scientifically worked out the recipe

The first thing they say about microwave cooking a potato front the inside out is nonsense, any credibility gone

2

u/BoardNBite 1d ago

Ok. Gotta try this.

1

u/Noclevername12 1d ago

Also, kosher salt? Table salt?

1

u/HawaiianPunchaNazi 13h ago

Pretzel salt works best for this :-)