BWW Cooks: The Perfect Baked Potato

Baked potatoes are wonderful things. You could serve them as entrees, as the English do with jacket potatoes stuffed with delicious fillings, or enjoy them plain as a side dish, or just by themselves. The only question is, are you really eating a baked potato?

The question seems odd, but it isn't. The real baked potato seems to be a dying food item. Are you using the microwave? It's so much easier and faster. But it isn't the same texture as a baked potato. The last time you went to a restaurant and ordered a baked potato, were you peeling foil off of it? It may have been in the oven, but that potato was steamed, not baked. Small white or red potatoes covered in olive oil or melted butter and placed on a baking sheet, with the crispy brown outsides? Those are delicious roasted potatoes but they're not "baked potatoes".

These days, there's one potato variety after another and one potato dish after another, and a push to use obscure or funky grains as a starch instead of potatoes. But it's hard to beat the sheer deliciousness of the baked potato - the earthy smell, the fluffiness, the creaminess that can be achieved while fluffy. The way butter, sour cream, and other delights seem to soak right into the pillowy goodness. The way a splash of balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar loses its sharpness and melds with the softness. There's no doubt that eternal happiness lies this way. But if you're going to achieve this perfection, you've got to do it right. The microwave gets you only partway there, and foil wrapping won't get you there at all.

The secret of baking a great potato is something that was known in our mothers' generation. (We're talking about women now in their 70s and 80s, just to be clear. My own mother, may she rest in peace, who would be 85 if she were still alive, did exactly what chefs advise these days to make great baked potatoes, and didn't need to buy celebrity chef cookbooks to do it. I only ever knew to copy her.) First, they were not distracted by potato colors and varieties. Smaller reds were for boiling. Maine potatoes were for mashing and for potato salad. Purple potatoes, Yukon Golds, and fingerlings, admittedly delicious, were not around. Your mother, or your grandmother, knew that the key to a great baked potato was to get a big, maybe even huge, russet potato. It is still the key. Accept nothing else. A baked potato is a russet. How do you know it's a russet? Alton Brown's advice is that if it looks like Mr. Potato Head, you've got it. Or buy a five or ten pound sack clearly labeled "russet potatoes". The term "baking potatoes" on a store sign means nothing. You know your word.

If you happen to be in the UK and are baking potatoes, look for Melody or Vivaldi potatoes, which are two of the best bakers there. The Idaho Russet and Russet Burbank are very American potatoes. If you find either Melody or Vivaldi in the States, it would be a huge surprise. If you're traveling abroad, be sure to try the other potatoes. You'll be happy to experience the differences. All of these varieties are superior baking potatoes. (If you're Down Under, look for Desiree or Coliban potatoes. Yes, the varieties are different everywhere, but every continent has its own baking potato varieties.) Just be sure to get nice, large potatoes. A small baked potato is a bit of a waste, as small ones often develop tough skins and shrink inside when baked.

So what's the trick to the perfect potato? Nothing much. Prep is easy - it's merely baking time that's the bother. Wash the potato - give it a gentle scrub but don't rub off the skin. Prick it a few times with a fork - the high water content may explode the potato otherwise as internal steam builds up in it. Rub it with oil. Olive oil works, but so does any neutral oil. My mother's choices were corn oil and peanut oil. Oil insures a crisp but tender, delicious skin on the potato. You do eat the skin, right? It's good for you - it's full of minerals. And a crisp skin is wonderful to eat. This is one of the thing that kills a foil-wrapped potato. Have you ever eaten one that didn't have water inside the foil? No crisp skin. Sprinkle with salt if you like. Place them on a baking sheet - if you don't want a flattish spot, place them on heaps of salt on the baking sheet. Or place them directly on the oven rack. Four hundred degrees is the Idaho Potato Council's recommended temperature. Alton Brown recommends 350 degrees. I'm an agnostic. If you're baking chicken or a roast along with the potatoes, which temperature are you using? Bake your potatoes at that temperature.

Four potatoes of decent size will take about an hour. Check at 50 minutes. Always bake potatoes of the same general size. The Mother of All Potatoes, the one that feeds King Kong, will definitely take longer.

Once potatoes are done, let them cool a few minutes before handling. Rather than slicing them open with a knife, the fluffiest texture is achieved by poking a line along the potato with a fork and pushing it open gently from the sides.

What to put on a baked potato? It aches for fat: butter, sour cream, crumbled bacon. Cheese. But it also aches for flavor. The fatty toppings have that quality, but if you must avoid fat, sprinkle with red wine vinegar or a bit of balsamic vinegar. Chives are classic, but sautéed onions are also a delicious choice.

What to serve as the main course when a baked potato is on the side? Anything that isn't a starch itself - meat, poultry, fish. Or do a vegetable platter in the summer or in full winter. A baked potato with three other vegetables is a filling and delicious meal whether you're vegetarian or not (and it's a staple at Durgin-Park in Boston, as well as in Southern diners). A baked potato with broccoli or cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and red beets cooked any way you like is an excellent fall or winter vegetable platter, as a change from a meat-based meal. Whatever you serve with a properly baked potato, the potato will enhance your enjoyment of everything else.

Photo Credit: Freeimages/lori5000

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