(Sloooow) Baked Potatoes ♥

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

The pregnant pause. I've learned to wait expectantly (ahem) when it occurs in a conversation with my friend Anne, who just happens to own Kitchen Conservatory, St. Louis' great kitchen store (bakers, especially, check out the great selection of hard-to-find cake pans and baking ingredients) and cooking school. You see, she's got big ideas about food that are some times contrary to conventional wisdom: I always learn something. Take the latest lesson, how to make the best baked potatoes.

Her father married late in life. [An addendum from Anne: 'The reason that fact is important is because he ate 3 meals out for 20 years so never wanted to eat out again. His restaurant experience meant he was also suspicious of sauces and believed that all food must be indentifiable. Mashed potatoes are not identifiable, they might have come from a box! A baked potato is.'] So one of the great benefits of a family was home-cooked food. In a Father-Knows-Best way, he insisted on a baked potato every single night, not just a wimpy or soggy foil-wrapped baked potato, mind you, but a slow-baked potato, one baked in the oven for three hours.

Yes, three hours. The family kitchen even housed a special oven, just for baking potatoes for Father & Family.

This may be the easiest vegetable you ever make. Just rub Idaho potatoes with olive oil, then pop into a 350F oven for three hours. The hardest thing about these baked potatoes? Not snatching one from the oven about half-way through, when the potato aroma throughout the house will begin to tempt ...

A potato baked for a single hour, just look at the texture difference

But it's worth the wait! Once the full three hours has passed, dig into creamy-smooth and nutty-roasted flesh that can be 'mashed' with a fork right there in the skin. And the skins? Oh my, the skins! They're stiff and crackly and completely delicious.

To contrast, compare the two photos. The top photo is the three-hour baked potato -- doesn't it look good?! The texture of the one-hour potato (below) is entirely blotchy, the skin looks positively raw. What a difference! If the photos don't persuade you, let your own side-by-side potato-baking and potato-tasting!

KITCHEN NOTES For baking, choose a russet potato, some times called an 'Idaho potato' (which is actually a brand name for potatoes grown in Idaho along the lines of Parmesan Reggiano). It's a so-called 'mealy' potato' with relatively thick, brown and rough skin. It's high in starch and low in moisture so perfect for creating fluffy potato texture. With any luck, the skin will be without blemishes but if there are rough spots, slice them off with a knife then proceed the same; I baked one potato that had an open cut and it baked just fine.

MAKE IT A MEAL Maybe baked potatoes with my favorite recipe for baby back ribs?

MORE VEGETABLE RECIPES See the Recipe Box for all the potato recipes. Way back when, I had a similar potato-changing experience with mashed potatoes & carrots.

It must be sloooow time because look at these ...

A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK Slow-Roasted Tomato Salsa

TWO YEARS AGO Pasta with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

(SLOOOOW) BAKED POTATOES

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours
Serves -- well, you decide

1 russet potato, scrubbed well, rubbed with olive oil

Set oven to 350F. Place potatoes directly on the oven rack. There's no need to prick the potatoes, at least in my experience (just twice). If you do prick them, place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any juices. Bake for 3 hours. Remove from the oven, slice open pole to pole with a knife.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Idaho potatoes can weigh a half pound (and more) so if that's a 'serving', so be it. I'll do nutrition information by weight.

A 1/4 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 90 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 20 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; NetCarb19; 1 g Sugar; 15 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 6 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

1/2 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 179 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 5 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 41 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb38; 1 g Sugar; 29 mg Calcium; 2 mg Iron; 11 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 3 points

3/4 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 269 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 7 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 61 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; NetCarb57; 2 g Sugar; 44 mg Calcium; 3 mg Iron; 17 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 5 points

1 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 358 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 10 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 82 g Carb; 6 g Fiber; NetCarb76; 3 g Sugar; 59 mg Calcium; 4 mg Iron; 23 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 7 points (yikes)

SHORTHAND VEGETABLE RECIPE
BAKED POTATOES Rub w oil, bake 350F 3hrs. ¼lb=WW1, ½= WW3, ¾= WW5, 1lb=WW7 VV07

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Comments:

Lydia on September 19, 2007

Fascinating! This goes directly into the "I learn something new every day" pile; I will have to try this method. After all, I'm in slow-cooking mode now, with all the tomatoes going in and out of my oven.

Pille on September 19, 2007

This is indeed fascinating,Alanna! And I thought that 1-hour baked potato was top notch!? :)

Ali on September 19, 2007

Three hours? And the potatoes don't shrivel up and dry out? Maybe the hardest thing about these potatoes is remembering to turn on the oven soon enough for dinner.

Kelly Mahoney on September 19, 2007

Three hours may seem like a long time, but you can't rush perfection. I love potatoes, as any good Irish girl should.

Cora on September 19, 2007

I've baked potatoes like this for about 2 hours and they are unbelievably good. I like to sprinkle a little kosher salt around the skin after the olive oil.

L Vanel on September 19, 2007

This is a wonderful story, Alanna, and I will try it. Thank you for going further in your description of the potatoes to use, because I was a bit lost with Idaho, not having that nomenclature here, but I do understand which ones here are the mealy potatoes.

Terry B on September 19, 2007

These sound like the perfect excuse to hang out in a warm kitchen all afternoon as cooler fall weather approaches!

Cynthia on September 19, 2007

I like a proper baked potato Alanna and am definitely going to try the sloooow baked way. Thanks for sharing that and your friend Anne too.

Karen on September 19, 2007

Ooooo....Annabel would love these. She begged me to make baked potatoes the other day...and I guess it's been a while, because they tasted wonderful.
I'll definitely try this method.

Chip on September 20, 2007

Thanks for this, Alanna. It reminds me of campfire potatoes I used to make. I'd thinly slice a potato but not all the way through so that I could fan it out. I put it on a sheet of foil, stuck onion slices and little bits of butter (or oil) in between the slices and then sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then, I'd wrap the potato in the foil and then wrap it another sheet of foil. Set on the edge of a campfire (or grill), it can go for hours while you set up the rest of your camp, made dinner, chased bears, whatever. After three hours, it was more like dessert.

Anonymous on September 20, 2007

Sooo good, Alanna. No wonder they're so creamy and nutty - the long, slow cooking seems to almost caramalize them. Cooking them so far ahead of time makes one less thing to do when rushing to make dinner.

Brilynn on September 22, 2007

This reminds me of a line from a comedy routine by mitch hedberg where he says something to the effet of "sometimes, i just throw a baked potato in the oven, even if i don't want one, cause those things take forever. i may not want one now, but by the time it's done, who knows?"

It's so true.

Sunny on September 25, 2007

Was it your recipe to bake potatoes for three hrs at 350 degrees after coating with olive oil? If so, it was magnificent. I had to try this method and now will not do it any other way. In fact didn't need to prick the spuds either. I was absolutely amazed.

s'kat on September 26, 2007

How intriguing! The best part of a baked potato, to me, has always been a nicely crisped skin.

This went straight into my de.li.ci.ious, and I can't wait to try it out!

dragon knitter on October 09, 2007

oh dear. i've been known to bake potatoes for an hour and a half at 400 degrees, which results in a similar texture. gah! it's 6 am, and i want a baked potato!

Alanna on October 09, 2007

Well hello Dragon Knitter - So pizza's okay for breakfast, why not a baked potato?! PS I'm honored for a knit-one-purl-one blogger to visit!

lyssa on October 09, 2007

I do this often...I cook pork shoulder roasts about once a week. Not veggie I know, but my husband is quite carnivorous. Rub the pork roast with olive oil, kosher salt, and cracked pepper. Put on bottom rack. Rub the potatoes with olive oil and place on top rack.

Close the door and read blogs for 2.5 hours. Make a salad, pull everthing else out of the oven, and impress your friends and loved ones with that dinner you worked sooooo hard on.

the former veggie paparazzo on October 22, 2007

You were sooooooooo right. I made these last night. Cutting into them was amazing--the outside was crisp, and then the inside felt like butter on the knife. Delicious. I salted them with kosher salt when I put the oil on them. I'll post about it soon!

Alanna on October 22, 2007

Yay ~ another convert. No-Knead Bread, move over, it's 2007!!

Her Heatherness on November 06, 2007

MMMmm... just tried these for the first time today, and they were wonderful! :) Thank you! :)

MatchDancer on January 10, 2008

You need to prick it to prevent steam from building up and causing the potato to explode in your oven.

Alanna on January 10, 2008

Hi MatchDancer ~ I know that's the conventional wisdom but I've made these unpricked a half dozen times without an explosion. And it occurs to me that pricking the potatoes would release all the moisture and they just might wither up in the oven so long.

Lin on April 10, 2008

I have just two questions before I try this - a 1/4 pound potato cooks as long as a 1 pound potato?
Also, approximately what size potato do you recommend?

Thanks,
Lin

Alanna on April 10, 2008

Hi Lin, The only potatoes I can buy are a good half pound in weight, so I can't answer your question with experience, only intuition. If you can find smaller potatoes (good for portion management), I would check them after two hours, then decide how to proceed. But you might also considering buying the larger potatoes, then cutting them into pieces for smaller servings AFTER baking. Let me know, I think you'll love these!

Lin on April 16, 2008

I made these Sunday nite. Hubby thought they were the best baked potato he'd ever eaten. Thanks,
-Lin

Kate on May 01, 2008

Oh yes, slow roasted potatoes are a marvel, but one need not heat up an oven for 3 hours. Take the big russet potatoes, rub them in oil, and stand them up on end, in a big crock pot, and turn it on for the entire day while you're gone. Trust me, they'll be baked throughly with the same crackly crust!