Baked Potato, Varieties

All the baked variations below stem from the Baked Jacket potato ie. Pommes au Four-“four is the French for oven.

Cooking Hints for Baked Potatoes

·        For best results, always use Canadian, Russet, baking potatoes if available.

·        Heat oven to 425 F. Pierce potato in several places to allow steam to escape and to make a fluffier potato (also, if this is not done, potatoes have been known to explode).Place potato on oven rack or baking sheet. Bake 40 to 55 minutes.

·        To test the potatoes, do not pierce them with a fork, but squeeze them with the hand wrapped in a towel. If a soft skin is desired, potatoes may be wiped with fat and sprinkled with salt, do not wrap in foil; so doing produces a steamed potato not baked. The skin on baked potatoes should be broken immediately after cooking, in order to prevent their steaming and becoming soggy. Note: Restaurants now often steam potatoes, usually  days ahead of time; wrap them in foil; and then simply reheat at time of service; which is why they are usually either very soggy, or sickly yellow and dried out.

·        To serve, use small knife to cut a cross on top Push sides and ends gently to fluff. Mix potato with milk, sour cream, or butter, if desired. For more variety, add crumbled bacon , or diced ham, and snipped chives (or green onion ) to potato filling

Do Not- I repeat again- Do Not wrap potatoes in aluminium foil which will trap steam and give them a soggy, course texture, sickly yellow appearance, and an entirely different flavour.Potatoes wrapped in any material are not baked- they are steamed or braised

Many restaurants now use this practice (claiming the potato keeps better    

Truthfully, only establishments that are, placing the potato in a steam table, or reheating precooked potatoes for later service should have this concern.

The number of potatoes being baked does not change baking time in a conventional oven.