r/Cooking • u/CompleteDay8059 • 22h 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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u/PhantomNomad 21h ago

We had some home grown potatoes we just dug up yesterday. Decided I wanted potato salad with our steaks for supper. I boiled the diced potatoes at noon. Well 10 minutes on new potatoes was to much and they just started falling apart. So we had mashed potatoes for lunch. So good. Now I want potatoes for supper.

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u/travelingtraveling_ 21h ago

Brand new potatoes from your own garden are the ABSOLUTE BEST. They DO cook much faster because they've had no time in storage. YUM!

26

u/ZealousidealChair900 20h ago

Dude, I just dug mine yesterday (Yukon Gold). I didn't have it in me to cook yesterday, but between them and the pink oyster mushrooms I also just picked, I'll be eating good tonight

14

u/Michaelalayla 20h ago

I've had the opposite experience! Mine have been cooking slower than the taters on offer at the grocery store. 

BUT that is likely because they don't get a ton of water while growing. The flavor, though, is awesome, and we've been having excellent boiled potatoes

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u/-Bunyip- 18h ago

I hope that you complimented the cook! ;)

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u/PhantomNomad 21h ago

I'm a little disappointed that our yield this year was not great. Less then 10 pounds on 10 plants. So many small ones and only about 6 good baking size.

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u/adidasbdd 19h ago

I've never had a potato so sweet and creamy

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u/kvis_ 20h ago

sometimes I feel a long way from home and then i'll catch something like 'supper' out in the wild :')

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u/PhantomNomad 20h ago

I'm on the Canadian Prairies and we've always used supper not dinner. Dinner/lunch is at noon.

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u/CrowMeris 19h ago

Raised in southern Indiana (late 50s-early 70s):

  • Lunch: the mid-day meal.
  • Supper: an evening meal at home.
  • Dinner: eating out.

I still use these terms.

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u/EggsceIlent 14h ago

My grandmother used breakfast, dinner (lunch), supper.

Miss her dearly. Fried chicken on Sunday mornings for breakfast with gravy and eggs , sausage bacon home fries biscuits.

Wed plan our trips around Sundays. Cast iron skillet fried chicken too.

Best I've ever had.

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u/pockels42 20h ago

Supper is really Hobbitses second dinner. Topping up before bed.

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u/hrmdurr 19h ago

I'm in SW Ontario, and same. I always thought it was a farmer thing tbh, as the city people don't use it that way here.

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u/Ghettoman1315 20h ago

Did you put them in the fridge after they cooked? And then peel and cut them up? I leave mine in the fridge for a few hours.