Think all baked potato recipes are created equal? After trying America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) method As for the cooking potatoes, I assure you they are not. ATK has a simple trick that guarantees you’ll get the crispiest, best-baked potato of your dreams. To try this, you’ll need an ingredient you already have in the pantry: salt. Here’s how
An easy trick for the tastiest baked potato
To start, preheat your oven to 450°F. Wash and dry seven to nine ounces of russet potatoes and mash each lightly with a fork six times.
Here’s a step you may not have seen before, but you’ll never skip it once you try it: In a large bowl, add half a cup of water and two Stir in the tablespoon of salt, until the salt dissolves. Make sure the salt is completely dissolved. Any salt crystals that sink to the bottom of the solution will likely stay there—not very useful.
Add potatoes to bowl and toss to moisten with salted water. Just a quick dip is enough—no need to soak them.
Salting a round component like a potato is always a losing game. Even when coated in oil or another liquid, salt is difficult to stick to. The folks at ATK came up with this ingenious solution (no pun intended)—use a salty brine to evenly season the potatoes. After the highly salted water coating, the potatoes go into a hot oven for about an hour where the water evaporates, leaving perfectly salted potato skins.
4 Smart Tips for Better Baked Potatoes
1. Choose the best potatoes for baking.: Russets are ideal potatoes for baking. They are high in starch and low in water. As the potatoes cook, the starch absorbs water and swells, creating the crumbly texture you know and love.
2. Ideal oven temperature: To transform a potato from rock hard to soft and fluffy in about an hour, an oven is all it takes. hot. ATK found that 450°F is the best temperature and the hottest you can get a potato before it burns the outside and undercooks the center.
3. Finally the oil: Coating potatoes with oil or butter before cooking can result in a tough, papery skin. Wait to brush them with oil. After They are mostly cooked, which gives them a crispness. Potato skins With a savory, earthy flavor.
4. Immediately score and fluff: As soon as the potatoes are done baking, it is important to drain the liquid (in the form of steam) from them. Use a small knife to score an “X” on the cooked potatoes and push them open to release the trapped steam. When the baked potato cools without releasing steam, the liquid will return to the flesh, making the potato denser.
An easy way to show how to cook potatoes.
Use a Probe thermometer If you have one. No guesswork when you have a thermometer on hand! Insert the probe into the thickest part of the largest potato. If it reads between 205°F to 212°F, it’s good to go—that’s the sweet spot for the fastest texture.