Misadventures of the 10lees

With the potatoes, you just had larger ones than the recipe did. Potato zen is a skill you'll learn over time. Also, every oven is different. That knowledge too, will come over time.

Currently I'm trying to adjust to my gas oven and I've been an electric guy my whole life. It is wrecking havoc on my baking.

I used to have baked potatoe zen, that is why I don't know how I lost it. I mean, it's the easiest thing in the world - cooking potatoes. I'm pretty pathetic. Perhaps I will try again when I have time to spare in the potatoe cooking and am not on a timeline (ie - I'm hungry!)

I am cooking for Christmas this year for the family - eek! So this is why I am gearing up by cooking lots over the next couple of months. I'm good at baking, not so much at cooking.

i think the difference between electric and gas ovens made me a chef instead of a baker. i used to bake things all the time when i was a kid. using our electric, reliable convecting oven, my creations always came out pretty much just right. but once in apartments with beat-up gas ovens, my baking went to hell. but, i have perfected the pirogie, stir fry, omlette, pancake and my favorite the "flash meal". ("flash meals" are my take-everything-out-of-the-fridge-and-see-what-you-can-make-in-30-min meals). fyi, only a small shout out to rachel ray. i'm not her biggest fan, but i will acknowledge inspiration. :o)

anyways, point being, Jeff is right. keep cookin'!!

oh, and the Mr. Clean magic erasers are pretty dang neat too. betsy got our gray tub white again!

I don't really know how to make baked potatoes if it makes your feel better. But I think my mom sticks a nail into the center. Like long ways through the potato. I'm pretty sure i've seen this done and i'm pretty sure it wasn't there when she cooked them in the mircowave. But alas I'm not positive. they were really long nails. not like railroad tie big but bigger than anything you would use in the house. I don't know though. Did you think to ask your mom or is she not a potato masteris.

The nail conducts heat to the center of the potato and they cook faster. I bet they would turn out more moist too (the outside layers wouldn't be as dry). There are special potato nails for this purpose. Stainless steel or food grade aluminum. I guess one could use a standard nail but they sometimes have a fine coating of oil (to ease driving into wood) that you wouldn't want to eat. Non-food grade aluminum would be a bad idea too since it contains lead. Amazon has a set of 4 for $3. I'm sure linens 'n things or any other cook supply house would have them for cheap too.

my mom also has a couple of different options of potatoe 'nails' (as we are calling them that). I should get me some of those. I will avoid using real nails, per your reasons Jeff, as tasty as lead and oil sound.

bran - my mom doesn't appear to have any problems baking potatoes, but I haven't asked her recently.

Oh and handy tip I found online: after scrubbing the potatoes and before cooking them you can roll them in rock salt and it creates a tasty potatoe skin treat for you.

Here I am ... question is will i have the last word again as usual on T's blog??? ;) The saga continues.

Also, just a word to Jeff about ovens - gas is more drying than electric. I've gone from gas (propane) electric to gas (natural) to electric to gas to electric - something like that - and you sure learn how to be FLEXIBLE. ;)

Also, T look at the type of potato that you are baking. There are baking potatoes - they are more brown on the outside and have nobbly skin and you need to rinse them - don't use any comet to clean them (like i once heard about one woman doing) and then run the nail thru them and you can wrap them in aluminum foil - i like doing that cause then i can just put on a glove and squeeze them - if they are soft then they are done. You don't have to peirce them with a fork - that's a microwave thing only ... well I've not done it anyway.

I agree with Jeff that sometimes it takes more than one hour to bake them.

If you were baking red or white potatoes - they have more liquid in them and don't bake up quite as well as the true russets from Idaho or western Washington - really any more brown potato will do better.

Happy baking and I'm sure you'll do fine on Christmas - I'm sure I'm doing the table??? :) You are the hostest with the mostest - just don't stress about it - we'll all LOVE IT ...
M

Kudos to you on the steak!

Baked potatoes are on the small list of things I am actually capable of cooking because they don't piss me off. I could cook other things, I just don't have the patience.

Here is what I know about baked potatoes:

1) Buy Yukon Gold potatoes. I have never had such good potatoes in my life. Yum. Also, go for smaller (or long but not thick) potatoes. The thicker they are, the more likely they are to come out raw.

2) Heat the oven to 425. Make sure it's good and toasty before you put the potatoe in.

3) Use a perring knife to cut lines across the width in the potatoe. I find they cook more thoroughly this way than with a fork. Be sure not to go all the way through, or they will be very dry and gross.

4) Place the potatoe on the oven rack and set the timer for an hour.
5) When the timer goes off, stick a fork in the thickest part of the potatoe. If it doesn't go in smoothly (i.e., if it goes in the way it would normally go into a raw potatoe), leave the potatoe in another 15 minutes and try again. Kind of like testing a cake.
6) Serve and eat. Preferrably with cheese.

The smaller the potatoe, the better your odds of having a well-cooked potatoe.

That is all I know about potatoes. It is one of the few things I can cook that doesn't involve the microwave.

See I was right about the nail. Sorry i didn't know what kind of nail it was just what kind it wasn't. I told you your mom would know. Its way better you just call and ask the mom. Thats what I do, and things always turn out better that way. I use cook books too but only really when I can't call my mom.