The Perfect Baked Potato – No Longer Just a Steakhouse Commodity!
4182 days ago
Image courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission
Steak and potatoes – for many, this is a tastier culinary pairing than peanut butter and jelly. I get the opportunity to visit a lot of restaurants and one thing I've noticed is the ones that make a great baked potato have a couple of things in common. Everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect baked potato. But the good news is, the finest steakhouse-baked Idaho® potatoes follow a similar preparation that you can do at home.
- The potato was nowhere near a microwave. For convenience sake, it's ok to microwave potatoes at home, just know that they are not going to taste the same as something that came out of a piping hot oven. Potatoes have about 20% solids (or “starch”). The other 80% is moisture. Baking in a dry, hot oven or on the grill forces much of that moisture to evaporate, leaving a nice crispy outer skin and a dry fluffy interior. So unless you are in a big hurry, turn on the oven.
- Since restaurants use their ovens for a lot of different cooking applications chances are they are cooking the potatoes longer and hotter than you do at home. I recommend preheating the oven to 400°F and setting the timer for an hour. The potato is done when the internal temperature is at 185°F to 210°F.
- Don't store potatoes in the refrigerator. The natural starches will convert to sugar and the potato will taste sweet when baked. Store in a cool dark place such as your pantry.
- Don't wrap the potato in foil. This just steams it and makes the skin wet. Yes, some restaurants do this, but primarily they are trying to hold the potatoes longer and to dress them up.
- Use a fork to pierce the potato on both sides to let steam escape and then place the potatoes (with spacing around each) in the oven right on the racks so they will cook evenly and faster than if bunched together or on a cold metal tray.
- When a potato is done baking you can usually start to smell the aroma leaking out of the oven. Pull one of the potatoes and poke it with a fork until you don't see its tines. Just like baking a cake, when the potato is thoroughly baked the fork should come out nearly clean. If you need to hold a potato until dinner is ready, turn off the oven, keeping the door closed, and the heat will stay in for another 10-15 minutes. That's about how long it takes for me to start and finish a steak on the grill.
- Open the potato with a fork, cutting a cross into the top of the potato. Then push in both ends of the potato and it will blossom open, just like at your favorite steakhouse. If the potato is still moist inside, pop it into the microwave for 30-45 seconds.
Give these tips a try and tell us what you think. Did it come close to your favorite restaurant's baked potato?
Did You Know?
The variety of the potato has a lot more to do with a perfect baked potato than you might think. Of course, I'm assuming that you look for the “Grown in Idaho®” seal on the nearby bagged russets and found that Idaho is one of the few states (in fact, the first) to label the variety right on the bag or plastic white enclosure tag. Look for the words Russet Norkotah, Russet Burbank, or other Idaho variety names such as Ranger, Umatilla, Alturas, etc.
