Remember that time I baked potatoes in eight different ways and proudly proclaimed I’d found the best method? I was wrong. Granted, I was still “righter” than most other cooks, and I knew how to make a great baked potato. But I’m not striving for greatness. I want perfection.

Finally, after much work (and a little help from America’s Test Kitchen, who recently dropped a potato video on YouTube), I’ve found truly the greatest baked potato.

Before We Get Into This Again… Why Do You Care So Much About It?

Here’s the thing about baked potatoes. They’re incredibly cheap, incredibly filling, and a classic staple of American cooking. I’ve never met a fellow American who didn’t regularly have baked potatoes growing up (granted, I only ask my coworkers about their relationships with potatoes once in a while, so it’s entirely likely I’ve missed a person or two who’s never tried a baked potato, or at least not often). Baked potatoes are also a staple at classic American eateries like steak houses, diners, and even burger joints.

I dropped an embarrassing amount of money at a steakhouse the other week on my anniversary with my wife. Some of their steaks cost almost $200. And guess what… They were also selling baked potatoes loaded with butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese and bacon. The baked potato stratifies all classes and is a true icon of American food.

So if you want to master American cookery, you’ll want to master the baked potato. And when it comes to mastery, “good enough” isn’t good enough. Plus, being a professional at the utter basics of cooking is how you really wow your friends.

Ah, I see, so the Baked Potato is a Cornerstone of Being a Truly, Terrifyingly Awesome Chef. Please Continue

One of my favorite food channels—America’s Test Kitchen—recently dropped a new video on baked potatoes, and they handily proved me wrong on some of my old theories. Most of what I was doing wasn’t exactly “harmful” to my finished product, but some of my method (like letting them air dry before baking) was just a waste of time. Worse, some of the questions I was still experimenting with turned out to have a definitive answer.

Here’s what I got wrong in my first article:

It doesn’t matter if you dry off your potatoes first. My old idea used to be that to promote a dry, crispy skin, you want to let the raw potatoes dry before putting them in the oven. Turns out the potato is going to dry off rather quickly anyway. You’re not searing a piece of meat, you’re baking a potato. The water will evaporate.

There’s a better way to salt the potato. Salt brine! My old method was to coat the potato in oil to crisp the skin, then roll it in salt. Just salting a dry potato is pointless because the salt will all fall off, but it turns out that oiling then salting the potato was also a mistake. That’s why my potatoes often turned out with a leathery skin.

To properly salt a potato, dissolve some salt in water, then briefly soak your potatoes in the brine. Simple!

Low and slow isn’t really the best method. So there’s nothing actually wrong with low and slow, but again, you’re not roasting a cut of meat. The reason low and slow (meaning low temperature for a long period of time) is so effective with protein is it gives the collagens and other tougher tissues the time they need to gelatinize and render a super juicy cut of meat. But again, potatoes aren’t meat. They have nothing to gelatinize. They just need to cook long enough to get rid of excess moisture and soften the interior.

Thus, the ideal cooking temperature for a potato is actually a lot higher. America’s Test Kitchen recommends going with 425℉ until you’ve reached your proper cooking temperature.

When you add your oil absolutely does matter. In my previous experiments, I tried cooking a potato with or without oil. I ended up deciding that either way isn’t a huge deal. I was wrong. I never tried adding oil partway through the cooking time!

Try this instead: Bake your potato dry until it has hit 208℉. Take it out and cover it in oil. Finish baking until it has reached 211 degrees.

This is important because if you cover it in oil too early, the oil will prevent proper evaporation and result in an improperly cooked interior and a leathery skin. But if you don’t oil it at all, you’ll never get that chance to get perfectly crispy skin.

With all that being said, here’s what I had right the first time around:

• Stab the potatoes before cooking to prevent explosions. This is incredibly rare, but it does happen.
• Wrapping them in foil ruins the good skin. This is still true.
• A food thermometer is mandatory. Food thermometers are the bomb diggity and should be absolutely loved, respected, and lauded.

Why is the Russet Potato Considered the Ideal Baked Potato?

I’ll be honest, I personally struggle with this idea, but I understand the concept and can appreciate it.

Most cooks prefer the russet potato (aka Idaho potato) because of its very high starch content. This effectively dries out the inside of the potato and leaves the perfect vehicle for absorbing fats. Famous potatoes are usually loaded with butter, cream, olive oil, or some other fat, and the starches soak it up perfectly.

With that being said, I simply prefer a different potato. I like not needing as much fat in the spuds, so I usually go with golden potatoes, which are more waxy. But hey, whatever.

Anyway, here’s my updated recipe!



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