Complex Numbers

Get Baked

One more article today, before this turns into a travel blog for a few weeks. Appropriately enough, it's about food.

    Why Restaurant Baked Potatoes Always Taste Better Than Homemade  

Most food tastes better in a restaurant. This is partly because they generally hire people who cook for a living (kinda like how a professional plumbing job is going to be better than your own handiwork), and partly because their secret is to drench everything in butter (which doesn't really work for plumbing).

When it comes to baked potatoes, though, I can do better than most restaurants (except, of course, high-end steak houses). Not bragging here; just finally cracked the code. Well, with a little help from the internet.

Baked potatoes are a classic, homey, comforting side dish that almost always tastes better at restaurants.

Another reason for that is that Americans, at least, keep insisting on wrapping the spuds in aluminum foil. Don't fucking do that.

It can be disappointing to prepare a baked potato at home, only for it to come out tasting dry, stale, and nothing like the fluffy, flavorful potato you would order at a restaurant.

On the flip side, I've been disappointed by restaurant baked potatoes, too. I haven't been to an Outback in years, but I recall theirs sucking hard.

The reality is, there are a myriad of advantages that professional chefs have at restaurants that you just may not have at home.

Knowledge, especially of how to do it properly, is a key advantage.

From knowing the type of potato you should choose to having the right cooking equipment to choosing the right toppings, making baked potatoes at home can be more of an intricate process than just popping a potato in the microwave for a few minutes.

Yeah... there's only one method worse than foil-wrapping the things like you're trying to protect them from government mind-control rays: microwaving them. (And it should go without saying that doing both is a Really Bad Idea.)

I've nuked taters before, because the big advantage of microwave ovens is speed, and sometimes, that's what counts. The result was edible, but that's the best I can say about it.

Type of potato: Russet. Or russet. Or maybe russet. Really, if you have other varieties you need to use up, there are better things to do with them than baking.

The right cooking equipment: Look, if you don't have an oven (not a toaster oven or microwave), cook something else.

As for "choosing the right toppings," I'm going to pass on that one. It's more a matter of personal preference and what else is going to be on the plate. What I care about is getting the actual potato to come out all fluffy with a nice crisp skin (which is why I come down so hard on foil; it keeps the skin soggy).

It is not, however, by any stretch of the imagination, an intricate process, and I say this as a terminally lazy person. You're not making a soufflé, here. Or even a many-layered hamburger. You're sticking a damn potato into a damn oven. There really isn't all that much more to it than that, apart from the toppings, which, again, isn't my point here.

Thankfully, we spoke to a few industry professionals who gave us insight into what exactly gives restaurants the edge up when it comes to tasty baked potatoes.

On the other hand, yes, I'd definitely listen to an industry professional and not me. But, as we're about to see, some of their advice just doesn't work for me.

Stephanie Edenburgh has noticed that many restaurants use russet potatoes because of their thick skin and starchy interior.

On that, we can agree.

(There's a bit about storage in there, too, but I have no comments about it.)

The ideal temperature for baking a potato, according to Stephanie Edenburgh, is around 400 F to 425 F.

Also agree. I like 400, but it usually takes an hour and a half. Most of the recipes I've seen say 425 or even 450, which, it should be obvious, takes less time, but I think the longer bake makes for a better finished product.

The technique you use to cook your baked potato is important, too. Corrie Duffy recommends baking the potatoes directly on the oven rack initially, so you get a crispier skin.

I do this. One thing you have to watch out for is leakage, though. There's usually not much, but cleaning baked-on black starchy buildup out of an oven is a right pain in the arse.

Baked potatoes are always delicious, but they are not often the quickest dinner side dish to make. In fact, many online recipes call for anywhere from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to prep and bake a baked potato, and on an average weeknight, many people do not have the ability to spend that much time on dinner. Unfortunately, the solution is often to pop your potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes, or even as long as the "potato" button on the microwave allots for. But this is not the best idea.

Told you. Still, it's not like you're spending all of that time messing with the potatoes. You do other stuff while they're baking.

It did raise a question in my mind, though, which is: how do restaurants get the potato to your plate in 20 minutes or so? Do they take a guess at how many potatoes will be ordered on a given day, and start prepping them in advance? Or do they, in direct contradiction of the article, use a microwave for part of the cooking?

Can you tell my only experience in a restaurant kitchen was dishwasher, and then only for one night?

Your dish is only ever as good as the ingredients you use, and most restaurants are sure to have some of the highest-quality ingredients on the market — and they are not afraid to use them.

Utter nonsense, unless you're, again, talking only about high-end steakhouses. Your average casual grub spot cheaps out on ingredients.

According to Ranveer Brar, making a restaurant-quality baked potato might mean participating in a par-cooking process. Par-cooking — also known as partially cooking, or non-continuous cooking — is a cooking method that involves cooking a food item only partially through, and finishing the cook right before the food is served.

Well, I guess that sheds some light on my question above.

According to Jessica Randhawa, other important preparation tasks include washing and drying your potatoes thoroughly and poking them with a fork to make sure steam is allowed to escape during the baking process.

No, no, no, NO. I mean, sure, it can be satisfying to jab a fork into the tater like it's your boss's or ex's eyeball, but I find it's better for the texture and presentation to cut a slit about 1/2" deep (or a bit over a centimeter) for about 3/4 of the length of the potato. You're going to cut it open anyway. You bake it with the slit on top.

There's plenty more at the article, but instead, I'm going to share the best cooking method I found, one which I only had to make small adjustments to. Here it is,   from "The Kitchn." My adjustments? Deeper cut, as I already noted, and I find an average-sized russet potato only needs about 90 minutes, not 140 like that site says (yes, I tried it at 2:10 the first time, and they were overcooked.)

Obviously, do what works for you. But don't invite me over if you're going to nuke them; I might just give my honest opinion.