Monsur Fromage du Pollet wrote:
>
> Kate Connally > wrote in
> :
>
> > jmcquown wrote:
> > >
> > > Ninip wrote:
> > > > Happy Easter All!
> > > >
> > > > I have a dilemma, please advice needed. I am going to cook a
> > > > large ham for dinner and have decided this year to have baked
> > > > potatoes and not mashed. How can I pull this off? Ham in oven
> > > > for 3 hours at 350, but the potatoes need 1 hour at 450.
> > >
> > > The potatoes will do fine at 350F for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours. Prick
> > > them with a fork, rub them with a little butter or oil and
> > > sprinkle them with salt and they will come out nicely crispy
> > > outside, tender inside.
> >
> > I have never baked a potato longer than 1 hour at 350. I'm
> > talking very large russets. I can't imagine cooking them
> > 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. I would think they would be burnt
> > by then or at least dried out.
> >
> > Kate
> >
>
> The ideal baked potato, to my way of thinking, is scrubbed clean, rubbed
> in oil then salted and cooked at around 400F for about a hour (don't
> forget to pierce the spud to prevent *bursting spuds*). Similar results
> can be achieved by microwaving the spuds for 5-7 minutes then baking at
> 350F till the skins make a russeling noise when quickly squeezed. No foil
> wrapping of the spud...Please!

Heavens, no! That's an abomination! My mother used to do
that. I was appalled because she was otherwise a good cook
and she never did it until she was older because someone
told her it was a good way to do the potatoes. Can't imagine
why she would do it that way after years of doing them the
*right* way.

> Possibly 1 hour and 15-20 minutes or longer depending on size and
> quantity.

I have not found that size makes very much difference unless the
potato is unusually small. But then I always use the biggest
russets I can find.

And quantity doesn't really factor in unless you had so many
in there that they were crowded together and touching. The
time would be the same for 1 potato or, say, 8 potatoes.

And I still think 400 is way too hot and anything more than
an hour is way too long!

> The Oil crisps up the skin and allows the salt to stick.

I always rub my potatoes with butter. Same principle but
tastes a lot better.

> *More on bursting spuds. It doesn't happen often but who wants to have a
> burnt potato smell lingering, a oven to clean and fresh potatoes to cook
> shortly before the rest of the meal is ready? It is easier to just stab
> the potato with a fork a few times than to have a potato explode in the
> oven.

I always put a potato nail or metal skewer in the potatoes.
Done that my whole life. Never had to worry about explosions.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?