BAKED POTATOES

LET'S BAKE SOME TATERS

Baked potatoes. Just the words inspire me.  Not only are they 

one of the easiest things to make, you're talking about my

favorite tater. Well, next to fries and mashed. 

But first a word about using a Microwave Oven. 

DON'T DO IT !!!

STEP AWAY FROM THE MICROWAVE !!!!!

There are several reasons for not microwaving potatoes.

Microwaves do not heat evenly. Part of the potato will be at 

the correct temperate while other parts will not. This variance 

can be upwards of 30 degrees.

Micro waves also does funny things to the starch of the potato. 

I will spare you the chemistry lesson.

Micro waves turn the skin into leather and looks like hell. You 

might as well just save the time and eat your shoe.

So leave the microwave for heating water. Period.

SO here's how to properly bake a tater. Trust me on this.

STEP 1 OPEN A BEER – Drink it.

 

PICK OUT THE BIGGEST DAMN TATERS YOU CAN 

FIND. If you don't have any taters, you might want to hold off 

on the beer, and go to the store. BTW, Use only RUSSERT 

POTATOES.

Back from the store ? Good. Now you can drink that beer 

while you wash them little devils.

Place your oven rack in the middle position and pre heat to

400 degrees. If you have a GAS grill that will hold your

temperature at 400 you can use it, but I like the oven method. 

If you are cooking something else that calls for 350 degrees, 

don't despair. You can use that temp as well. You just have to

cook these boys a little longer.  In our case we were also doing

Prime Rib, so we set the oven for 350. All was well.

With a fork, pretend those taters are your ex wife and stab that 

bitch six or seven  times.

Feel better? I know I did. 

Put 1/2 cup of water in a bowl and stir in 2 Tablespoons of 

salt. You may need more water depending on the size of the 

taters. I needed a cup and a half. (Two LARGE taters) Just 

adjust salt based on the water you use.

 

Add potatoes and soak for just a couple of minutes. (Two 

minutes and 5 and a half seconds should do it)

Put potatoes on a wire rack and put rack into a rimmed sheet 

lined with foil. This is so the heat distributes EVENLY around 

the tater, and is the most important step of the day.

Bake until the internal temperature of the tater hits 205 

degrees. Use your handy dandy probe thingy.

Have a beer

When the taters hit 205, remove from the oven and brush each 

one with vegetable oil.

Return to oven and bake for an additional ten minutes.

Remove potatoes from oven and, using paring knife, make 

two slits, forming an “X”, in each potato. Using pot holders, 

hold ends and squeeze slightly to push flesh up and out. 

Or you can do it my way and just slice that puppy down the 

center. 

Put a bunch of butter on top. Season with a little salt and a lot 

of pepper. I'll pass on the sour cream. But if you want to ruin 

it, go ahead. 




Oh, and while you are screwing it up throw on 

some green chives for color. You can serve yours with a 

Cosmopolitan.

I would have included more pictures but taters are taters. Not 

much to look at , but BOY ARE THEY GOOD !!!

Serve with chicken or steak.  In this case, we had PRIME 

RIB!!