The perfect baked potato

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
What's y'all's secrets for baked taters?

I have been trying to figure out the perfect tater. I eat the skin, btw, so it's important how it comes out.

Tonights try was the best so far....washed, rubbed with olive oil, sea salt, 400 degrees for 90 minutes, turned twice. No foil.

Skin was crispy and crunchy but still very edible.

Tips?
 
Olive oil and sea salt, wrap in foil, 1 hour at 400*. Let cool to room temp. Cut in half and scrape out the inside to make a boat. Flip over and brush with olive oil and salt again. Mix the insides with sour cream, salt and pepper, Mozzarella cheese. Add mixture back in, and top with smoked pulled pork. Sprinkle with cheese and sliced jalapeños and put on the smoker at 200* for 30-45 minutes.
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Puncture each tater a few times with fork on 4 sides rub down with olive oil and sea salt then wrap in foil and place in oven @ 425* for 75 minutes and turn oven off and leave taters in the oven. Then light up the grill and cook whatever you want and about 5 minutes before taking meat off the grill remove taters from the oven. For crispy skin remove foil when you turn oven off and place taters back in the oven.
 
Yall got more patience than me. Its usually "ah crap, I forgot the potatoes. Stick em in the microwave for 8 minutes while I forget to turn the grill off."
 
I couldn't tell you a recipe, but my wife is doing some great things with potatoes in her air fryer...which has allowed my wife to do some nice crisping of potatoes and their skin. And that's saying a lot because she used to make baked potatoes either inedibly mushy or still relatively raw.
 
obullfish said:
Puncture each tater a few times with fork on 4 sides rub down with olive oil and sea salt then wrap in foil and place in oven @ 425* for 75 minutes and turn oven off and leave taters in the oven. Then light up the grill and cook whatever you want and about 5 minutes before taking meat off the grill remove taters from the oven. For crispy skin remove foil when you turn oven off and place taters back in the oven.
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Did another one tonight. Cut the oven off after about 75 minutes, then it was another 20+ before the meat was done.

This one was about the best texture and crisp skin yet.

This try was: No foil, olive oil and sea salt. Turned once about halfway thru. 400 degrees for 75 minutes. Turned oven off, sat for about 20 minutes.

I did this one solo in the toaster oven since my wife isn't doing carbs any more.
 
'Baked potatoes' always seem mealy and the skin is too tough for my taste. I cut them into about 2" cubes, toss with olive oil and kosher salt and bake at 425° for about 35 minutes. On a rack and no turning or on foil and turn once or twice (and add pepper & a dash of table salt). They crisp up really well and are great with a little bit of sour cream.

If time is an issue, I'll cube and boil them just until tender, let them cool enough to toss with oil and salt and finish under the broiler. If we're already using the Blackstone, they finish on the griddle.
 
trailhugger said:
'Baked potatoes' always seem mealy and the skin is too tough for my taste. I cut them into about 2" cubes, toss with olive oil and kosher salt and bake at 425° for about 35 minutes. On a rack and no turning or on foil and turn once or twice (and add pepper & a dash of table salt). They crisp up really well and are great with a little bit of sour cream.

If time is an issue, I'll cube and boil them just until tender, let them cool enough to toss with oil and salt and finish under the broiler. If we're already using the Blackstone, they finish on the griddle.
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It's a tough balance to achieve. Crispy skin runs the risk of dry/mealy insides. I've used a fork to poke lots of holes in a raw potato, smeared with butter and seasonings (salt, garlic, whatever herbs you like), wrap in foil to keep the moisture in and soften the skin, then towards the end unwrap a bit (just open the top of the foil) to let the skins crisp under the broiler.

I use your technique a lot too. More of a roasted potato bits, usually with other veg. Might nuke a bit to get things to cook all at the same pace. Usually on the pellet smoker. Under broiler is fine too with a little smoked paprika.
 
I use russet potatoes. Sometimes I twist it up a bit with a large red skin potato (my favorite). But the red skin potatoes have a thin skin and don’t crisp up like russets.


Try butter instead of oil. I find it has better flavor than oil. And I don’t usually use olive oil as I feel it can taste bitter at higher heats. If I use oil, I use canola oil instead of olive oil. But I usually use butter and sea salt. I also add generous amounts of cracked pepper with the salt. I use foil to help keep the butter, salt, and pepper surrounding the potato as much as possible, rotating it a couple times during cooking. Then the last 20 minutes or so, I unwrap and finish them off. I also reapply salt and pepper as needed after removing the foil.
 
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