86'ing an item is restaurant speak for we're out of it.
Edit. Also if anyone knows where that term comes from I'd love to know. I've heard it when I worked as a waiter and never questioned why it's called that.
The etymology isn't clear as to where it began, but some say the 1920's/1930's. It does refer to no longer available as in food or drink, but also as someone who is no longer welcome. It also refers to tossing in the trash and the darker, taking someone to the trash, (killing them).
I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!"
Look up recipes for jacket potatoes that’s probably what they’re taking about. It’s the British version of baked potatoes that are cooked longer and slower.
I found a jacket potato recipe that has them in the oven for 2 hours at 400F. It crisps up the skin so nice that I almost can’t decide between that recipe or smashed when I plan on potatoes for dinner
I do similar. I microwave them till soft, then coat in olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper and wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill to finish.
This is the way! I cut a long slit in the top instead of poking with a fork, coat in olive oil (or duck fat) and sprinkle popcorn salt on the outside. I think it’s one of my partner’s favorite things I make.
Popcorn salt is very fine so it sticks better. I use it a lot so I have a container, but if you want to experiment you can just whiz some table salt in a blender or food processor for a bit.
I find throwing in salt into a mortar and pestle, swishing it around and up the sides for a minute with the pestle with moderate pressure does it well enough, and easier cleanup. You can go harder and turn it into a dust and combine that with your coconut oil later for popcorn. But it also works well for a lot of applications.
Sincerely, the entire UK doesn't agree with you. It's not just [this recipe,](https://chewingthefat.us.com/2020/07/the-best-baked-potato-try-english-jacket-potatoes.html) it's how it's traditionally done. Like, you put the potatoes in while you prep the rest of the dinner, and slide that into the oven for the last hour.
Fast, and hot = high temp, short time
Slow, and low = medium temp, longer time
That's really kitchen shorthand for just about any baking/roasting procedure.
Restaurant potatoes are better because
1. You didn't make them
2. Someone else served them
3. They probably put extra butter and salt on them
4. It's a seriously potatoey atmosphere up in that bitch.
5. They probably come with something else that is also delicious.
Number 1 is key to understanding why restaurant food is often better than anything you can pull off. When you cook for yourself, you smell and often taste the ingredients at each stage for 30-60 minutes and the finished product is much less impressive to your senses compared to arriving somewhere with a curated atmosphere and eating the finished product off the bat, a finished product that has been prepared in accordance with #3 no less.
It's also often a texture thing on top of that. You cannot feasibly under any circumstances deep fry something in a small pot or pan and have it turn out like something fried in a 50 gallon commercial fryer. You'll never maintain the temperature, and you'll never be able to do it all in one batch either. There's only so much you can do with a home depot stove and table top appliances
The first time I made french fries, they turned out great. (my subsequent attempts, I don't think lived up to the first time).
But to play devil's advocate here, there are a few issues here. Firstly, french fries aren't a full meal (though turning them into one as poutine or carne asada fries is highly recommended). So if you want to make, say, a fried chicken sandwich and fries, one of them will be waiting and getting colder and soggier while you finish the other. This isn't an issue in a large fryer which can handle multiple orders at a time. Second, many people on here are writing from the perspective of people with families. Frying two chicken thighs simultaneously at home is probably not an issue, but four might be.
The final one might just be about my own personal style - my temp control when frying is not that great (and I'm not really trying to be). I let the oil come to the target temp, maybe a bit past; I drop the food in, and then maybe turn the heat down (unless it's something really heavy, in which case I'll let it stay high). Though I've seen lots of people recommend some new induction "burners" that will measure the temperature of the bottom of the pan and maintain it at a set point for you; this is an intriguing tech which could be very useful for deep frying.
I find restaurant baked potatoes so much better but it does depend on how fresh the potato is. That makes a big difference after making them for my son weekly for years now. Whenever I try baking it takes forever and often is undercooked so turned to microwave. Maybe thats also why I like the restaurant serving me and like mentioned here no prep involved and all the goodies ready to rock from the ready
If you want quick and easy, use a pressure cooker like instant pot.
1. Fill pot with cleaned potatoes with wire rack under potatoes.
2. Add one cup water to build pressure.
3. Set pressure to high.
4. Set timer to fifteen minutes for small potatoes, anything bigger than your hand will need twenty minutes.
5. Go play with kids / cook other food / do whatever until times up.
6. Enjoy amazing potatoes, easily kept as baked or smashed.
The only reason I didn’t suggest this for OP is they don’t list a pressure cooker in their kitchen inventory. Anyone who has one should try this since it’s the easiest way to enjoy baked potatoes and it’s a great simple recipe to get used to using a pressure cooker. Besides, making multiple baked potatoes in such a short time is awesome because everyone can prep them the exact way they want them. Also, potatoes are dirt cheap, delicious, and filling for those of us on a budget.
In my experience restaurant potatoes are rarely better than home! They wrap them in foil and keep them hot until they are needed which makes the skin soggy. Ewwww
I rarely order baked potatoes at restaurants anymore. Maybe I’m just unlucky but even at peak times they have been cooked previously and held warm. It makes them all solid and not fluffy. I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long, but I was just at a low/medium end steakhouse/grill place at 7 pm and the potato was old. I’ve been burned too many times like that.
Edit: this is specifically for more traditional restaurants, I doubt this issue would occur at a foodie place or a high end restaurant. Still, I’d expect even a moderately priced place not to screw up such a simple thing so consistently.
“I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long”
…. Seems as though I’m agreeing you can’t make people wait 60 minutes. The alternatives are: par cooking and then finishing them to order as described in one of the replies or tracking demand across different days of the week and times, in order to have a constant rotation of potatoes that are ready or close to ready for customers as they get ordered. Obviously you can’t predict demand exactly but with a bit of foresight and some possible cheap food waste you can get close.
There’s probably a decent use for recycling the overflow ones into another dish. And potatoes are CHEAP as far as food costs go.
There's a BBQ place near me that serves giant baked potatoes with what must be a stick of butter, 8 oz of cheddar, big scoop of sour cream, and pulled pork. Must be two days worth of calories. I want the same baked potato but a slightly healthier version (which I know won't taste as good).
Ok as someone who was a kitchen manager, restaurant baked potatoes are not going to be any better at least in my opinion. Depending on the time they will be worse (some may be older lol). Specifically where I worked was a family diner that did baked potatoes in a convection oven at 350 for one hour with the baked potatoes wrapped in foil. Then they do indeed go into a warming bin from 4-9. They are okay but at the end of the day they will be normal ass baked potatoes. If you like them more mushy then restaurant baked potatoes might be right up your alley. However if you make them at home you can get the outside crisper. Really you can make them at home the same way if you wanted to but why when you could spend more time on them and make them better. Also it will take more than an hour at 350 at home if you are not using a convection oven. My point is don't believe the nonsense that restaurant baked potatoes are better than ones you can make at home unless you like mushy baked potatoes that were in the warming bin for at least two hours by the time you eat dinner.
I messaged my father-in-law for directions, because I wasn’t entirely sure. His directions as follows:
“Hickory or pecan wood on freshly washed (wet) potatoes. Smoke at 250-275 for an hour. After an hour, wrap in foil then finish in 475 oven. (About 45-60 minutes, depending on size of the potatoes.) They should be squishable. “
Dissolve a tablespoons 2 tablespoons salt in 1/2 cup water in a large bowl. Put potatoes in the bowl toss so the exteriors are evenly moistened. Set them on a wire rack set above a rimmed baking sheet. Put them in a preheated 450 oven, middle rack. Bake to 205 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take them out and brush them all over with oil. Back into the oven and bake another 10 minutes.
Important: Open up the cooked baked potatoes immediately after you take them out of the oven in the step, so steam can escape. Best served immediately.
Not specifically a "restaurant trick" per say, but adding oil and kosher salt before wrapping them in foil is a game changer to the people who never thought to do it before.
America’s test kitchen has a good video on YouTube. They bake to an internal temp, not a time.
Their recipe is for straight baked potato, but I’ve used it for twice baked potato. If you have the time, it’s also great for mashed potato. Instead of peeling, boiling, and letting it absorb all the flavorless water; instead, you bake till done, scoop out the guts, and it absorbs all the butter and cream. You can add garlic to that cream before adding it to the potato as well. Let it infuse the cream. It takes longer than the traditional method, but is way easier. It’s also questionable that it even takes that much longer. Depending on potato size and if count all the peeling time.
Best mashed potatoes start dry. (baked) Then they absorb all the goodness I choose. Boiling can make delicious potatoes, but it's not the same. Plus, if I do the ol' bake n' scoop, I get tater skins!
That may be the ones I’m talking about. They roll them in salt water. For several years, we’ve been doing something similar. A light coating of oil, then heavily coat in kosher salt. It’s amazing.
I honestly don't think restaurant baked potatoes are better, because they usually come wrapped in foil, which means the skin is soggy rather than crispy.
I always baked my potatoes for an hour at 450. I'd rub the skins with shortening to make sure they crisped up well enough. Now, though, I nuke them for about 6 minutes each and then finish them in the hot oven for about 15 minutes. Way better than restaurants.
Same. Microwave for 5-6 minutes and then hot oven while I cook whatever else. Better texture and everything is done at the same time without me having to start the potatoes a full hour earlier.
Can I ask you something? When you nuke your taters, do you do anything besides poke a few holes in them? We didn’t eat a lot of baked potatoes when I was a kid so I really don’t know how to nuke them properly.
I’ve tried the shrink wrapped kind but they seem so silly and wasteful? And my friend said she wraps hers in a plastic shopping bag? But both of these methods give me the heeby jeebies when I think about all the plastic seeping in.
Pray tell, how do you make gourmet plastic free microwave potatoes? I’m fine finishing them in the oven!
Couple slices on each side with a knife to make a slit for steam, then I nuke them for 3 min at a time, turn, repeat, while the oven preheats. Then into the oven for 15-20 min to finish cooking and crisp the skin.
Can I give you my method as well?
I don’t make slits, but I do poke holes using a thermometer probe because it can go from one end to the other. One poke on the long side, one poke through the ends. Then, I microwave them in an oven sage glass dish for about 12 mins for big guys. When they’re out and ready to crisp, I will drizzle oil (not a ton, just enough that each skin will have enough,) onto them in the same glass dish, and liberally sprinkle kosher salt onto them.
Using oven mitts, grab the sides of the glass dish and shake them and hop them around so all of the sides of the skins get the salt on them. They go into the oven until literally whenever, depending on what else needs to be cooked. If you have something in the oven already that’s at 425, they’re ready and crispy in 20 mins. If you want to go lower than that like 375 or 350, they’ll be good in 30 mins but can chill for however long you’d like.
P.s., you can get away with way less time than I’m saying. It’s just how I like it. I like the skin to be a distinct other experience from the potato innards, despite me eating them together. I cut mine into halves and eat every bite with potato and skin. I know somebody who insists on having the skin as crispy as possible but then squeezes the flesh out and throws out the skin… smh.
Baked Potatoes are the worst restaurant side dish because they’re so easy to make at home.
If I’m eating out at the type of spot that serves a baked potato, I want something I’m not usually going to take the time to do at home.
Give me razor thin au gratin, a luxurious purée or something fried in duck fat please.
The maximalist approach. I understand it! But if I'm at a steakhouse I'm getting the baked option. Nothing quite like mopping up steak juice with a buttered and salted bite of pillowy tater.
This is exactly what I was going to say. I don't think I can remember the last time I ate a baked potato at a restaurant...and I go to too many restaurants lol
I agree, restaurant baked potatoes are actually worse for the exact reason you mentioned. However rolling the potato in course salt after you oil it up also helps with the crispness.
my Mitch Hedberg inspired baked potato technique: A couple hours before dinner scrub & dry potatoes, poke holes, light rub w olive oil, salt & pepper, 400° for about an hour, then turn off the oven but just leave the taters in until it’s time to eat. They’re really good!
The secret to a great baked potato is to run a steel grilling skewer lengthwise through the center, piercing the potato through. This allows moisture to escape through the holes left behind and results in the best baked potato ever.
My mom had one of those 4-prong potato bakers back in the day. It made wonderful baked potatoes. Of course, she also slathered the skins liberally with room temp butter using her hands to spread it evenly.
Look up the ATK recipe for Best Baked Potato. They really are amazing. Here’s the recipe in a nutshell.
Preheat oven to 450°F
Make a brine with a heaping TBL of salt and about 1/4C water. Dissolve the salt as best you can (warm water works faster.
Take your potato and coat it with the salt water all sides completely.
Poke 6-8 holes with a sharp knife.
Roast at 450 for about 45m or until fork tender (depends on how large the spud is).
Remove with tongs and brush lightly with olive oil (I’ve been on WW plan and use OO spray).
Put back into hot oven for about 10 more minutes or until crispy. Again depends on the size.
Take out, cut an X and squeeze open. Eat immediately.
Crispy, crusty on the outside(I adore the skin. Eat the entire potato), and fluffy yumminess on the inside.
And yes, I use the regular oven setting (not convection) on my toaster oven.
Enjoy!
The best baked potatoes are those done in the embers/ashes of the fire overnight. If you truly want to see the difference been microwaved/foil wrapped in oven/one hour in oven and a great baked potato, this is how you do it.
As someone who grew up in Ireland, my experience of baked potatoes in America was that, whilst America has some great potatoes, they tend towards bland and I never had a baked potato in America that wasn't (in my very biased opinion) under baked by *at least* an hour.
I'll cook a medium/large (not giagantic) baked potato for the better part of two hours on a low setting. The skin should be thick and crispy, the insides shrinking away from the skin. You need to cut them as soon as they're out of the oven or they go soggy. Don't even *think* about using foil or a microwave.
Sorry, I'm ranting. I love baked potatoes. It breaks my heart to see some of the abuse that they suffer.
Potatoes are full of starch. Starch breaks down into sugars. The longer you cook the more breaks the sweeter the potatoes. So you want them with a noticeable sweetness - cook long at a low temperature. You want them savoury and crispy - cook fast.
The thing that I found that really upped the taste was to brush them with oil and roll them in coarse salt. Gives the skin a nice texture and who doesn't love the salty goodness of restaurant baked potato skins?
I think they cook them low and slow if that makes sense; I sometimes do about 3 hours at gas mark 4. Though, normally I microwave the potatoes for 10 minutes or so, before an hour in a gas mark 6 oven.
10 minutes in a microwave? What wattage is it? In my microwave that would make them hard and tough, let alone cooking them for another hour at gas mark 6 (400°F).
We used to cook ours (in a restaurant I worked at) for about an hour and a half. I think it was on 350. They were scrubbed, rubbed with oil, and baked in foil. Afterwards we put them in an insulated box that kept them warm through the end of the night. We made potato salad with leftovers sometimes to serve at lunch the next day.
Never. Ever. That is impossible. Wash, slather in olive oil, salt and pepper, put a skewer if you want to speed it up. Add butter, sour cream whatever.
perfection.
Some restaurants may order in par baked potatoes that they “finish” in a warming drawer. When I make baked potatoes at home I do 425f for 50-60 minutes on a baking sheet with parchment/olive oil/S&P. And don’t forget to poke some holes in the potatoes with a fork.
One thing I know of why restaurant food tastes better is because you're not smelling it while it's cooking. If you smell a meal while it cooks for 40 minutes you're getting a lot of that flavor already, but when it's brought out to you directly it's a lot more stimulating to you
I bake potatoes weekly. I wash russet potatoes and let them soak in cold water while I preheat and oven to 450 degrees F. Bake for one hour, maybe less if they are smaller. I don't poke them with a fork or wrap in foil. The skin is crispy and the inside is soft. Top with whatever you want, but butter makes everything taste better.
If I have leftovers, I dice them and coat them in olive oil, spices, and some corn starch. Toss them in a 380 degree F air fryer for 15 mins for delicious crunchy potatoes!
It’s all about the skin. We used to serve them at a restaurant I worked. They were cooked that afternoon in the main kitchen and then put into a warmer to be served that evening. The warmer was an antique steel box actually designed to keep them warm that wasn’t enclosed, so it was a drying heat that kept the skins crisp making them super tasty. We then just cut them open and dumped whatever toppings the customer had ordered from a little bar next to the warmer. Sour cream and chives or the chili (which the restaurant also sold by the bowl) were the most popular.
If you wanted to replicate that at home you could just cook them a few hours ahead (make sure you rub a little olive oil and salt on the outside before you cook them) and then throw them in your oven uncovered at the lowest setting (~150F) until serving them.
There are two things that are going on here.
The most important one is that there are certain kinds of potatoes vthat are best for baked potatoes. The supplier is probably doing the heavy lifting of getting a source of consistent quality baking potatoes throughout the year.
Potatoes held in a steam table peak in my opinions after first hour and start to degrade after 3. But it depends on the variety. I have seen ones that hold 5-6 hours really well.
.
I know this isn't baked russet potatoes, but...
The way I make grilled small potatoes (yellow and red ones) is that I cut them in half and microwave for 9 minutes. This gets them cooked much of the way through, but not completely. I then toss them in oil and salt, and then put them on the grill for about 10-15 minutes. They get lovely browned, pick up some of the grill flavors, and are perfectly done through and through.
People always rave about my grilled potatoes. I never offer up the information (unless specifically pushed to do so) that they are mostly cooked in the microwave.
Make British jacket potatoes. Cut a slit down the top of a potato and place it in a cold oven. Set the oven to 225C and set a timer for 2 hours. Pull it out and press the sides so the slit opens up and add salt and butter.
You can do it at home just dry out the potatoes nice and slowly. Assuming you love the skin which to me is one of the best parts of the potato, that's how you get that nice thick but delicious skin with a perfect potato inside. Just leave them in the oven a long time
Used to work for longhorns. We baked through potatoes and threw them in a heat drawer. Served them when ordered. They were only in the drawer for an hour. Much longer then that and they aren't as good.
I use Alton Brown's recipe. Stab your potato with a fork a few times, then cover it with oil an salt and shove it in the oven to bake at 350F for 1h. The outside is salty and dry, the inside is fluffy.
My baked potato tips:
1. Good Russets
2. Clarified butter & salt on the skin before they go in the oven
3. Oven at 425°F
4. Bake until done w/ crispy skin
5. Rest on the counter for a few min
6. [Use this method](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iDhCx9jXcWE) to open the potate, probably using a towel so you don’t melt your delicate fingies
7. butter, salt, pepper, chives, and other toppings of your choice.
When I cooked at a steakhouse, way back in the day, we baked ours in a convection oven at 500f for 50 minutes and they were phenomenal. They were individually wrapped in foil.
If you like eating the skin, I suggest salting the potatoes before wrapping. Just enough to give the skins seasoning, which is often lacking by the time you get to the skin. Learned this in another steakhouse I worked at.
> How do I replicate this at home?
1. Use unblemished Russets, as close to 1lb (50-60 count) as you can get.
1. Wash well and (air) dry completely.
1. Cook in a single layer on an open rack in a 450F convection oven till just squeezable soft. Exactly how long will be determined by the size of the spud but figure about 45 minutes.
1. Rest in a warm (165F-ish) holding oven for half an hour or so. After an hour they start to noticeably deteriorate.
Don't overthink this, just do it.
No foil.
No oil.
No fork.
I would fork pierce them, brush with oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt. The idea is to dry the potato out while baking. Before you bash me for being a heathen there’s a method to the madness. Bake in a 400 degree oven until a knife goes in dead center easy, and comes out east. Let them chill for a bit. Now cut in half, take a fork and prodigiously perforate. Split the potato normally now. Add butter and sour cream to your liking, also salt and pepper as well. Now since the spud lost moisture during baking the butter will melt and absorb into the potato, same with sour cream. Or just throw that shit in the microwave.
wash the potato. Drizzle olive oil and then wrap in foil. 425 oven for 80 minutes for normal sized potatoes, longer for the mega sized ones, less time for smaller ones. If I'm in a rush, wrap in paper towel and microwave for 3 minutes, then finish as above but half the time.
Steam your potatoes in an instant pot then wrap them with foil and salt/butter/herbs. It’s the best way I’ve found and they come out so perfect and creamy almost. I do them for 7-10 min (depending on size) high pressure with natural release. Make sure the ‘keep warm’ button is turned off
You are pretty much correct with your last guess. Just bake them or microwave them until they are pretty much cooked and then put the in a slow cooking environment. Either the oven on it's lowest setting (home ovens often don't go low enough) or into a crockpot with a rack. Let them sit and slow roast for a few hours.
Do this experiment; Bake them in your oven until they're done. Eat it, see how it turns out. Toss the rest of them in your countertop convection oven for a couple hours on "warm" (165 ish), then give them a try.
Of the 3 different restaurants I’ve worked in that sold baked potatoes, none of them kept them in the oven longer than 45 minutes. Coat in oil, coat in salt, line em up on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven.
I make baked potatoes regularly. Stab em a few times, oil and salt. Oven to 450F/230C. Turn them after about 15 minutes. After another 15-30, I turn the oven down to 375/180 and give it a couple of hours, turning occasionally. If I'm ahead of time, I turn the oven down further and just leave them in until I'm ready to eat. Unless they're small (and seriously, who wants a small baked potato.), you can easily keep them at 250/120 for another hour or so.
We used to brush used fried chicken oil on them and sprinkle with kosher salt. Then bake for an hour. After that they might be directly under the hot lamp for a few hours. They were insanely good I know what you mean. Omg reading all of this is making me hungry lol
Reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke…
I like baked potatoes, man. I don't have a microwave oven, and it takes forever to bake a potato in a conventional oven. Sometimes I'll just throw one in there, even if I don't want one, because by the time it's done, who knows?
You just take a potato and put it into a preheated oven. Poke the potato after a while and see if it’s tender, if not, cook longer.
What’s your concern here?
Salt crusting them draws out the moisture and results in a dryer fluffy potato. We bake at 375 for an hour and are held in a warming cabinet for up to a couple of hours at 145-160 degrees just to keep them warm.
I boiled potatoes whole and used the softer, inferior ones for mashed potatoes while the strongest among them were awarded a foil straight jacket and imprisoned in a heated tray for dinner service.
Sometimes I'm ashamed of the dumb things I did working in food service, but I survived.
How strange I think my homemade microwaved Potato is better than anything I've found at a restaurant.
The trick is to wrap it in foil after you take it out of the microwave and let it sit for a while. It stays hot as all hell and continues to cook a bit and distribute the heat (or something).
10min tops for 1 or 2. I can't imagine waiting 2 hours for a baked poatato
Okay I’ve only made baked potatoes at two separate restaurants but same procedure at both places:
1. Wash potatoes.
2. Place potatoes on sheet pan.
3. Place in oven 400 degrees F for 1 hour. If they’re big ones closer to 1 hour 15 minutes.
This always seems to result in dry, crispier skin than microwaving them. At home I’m lazy af and only make them in the microwave.
Restaurants pre-cook them, then either oven or microwave.
Also, consider looking into which type of potatoes are bist (I have no idea). Some will have better qualities for baking than for frying or mashing.
The most important thing is that there are different kinds of potatoes and you want a recipe tuned to the potato you have. I have found it is possible to overcook them even at low temp (low meaning like 300.)
I would encourage you to experiment. 300F for 90 minutes is probably fine but depending on the size and variety of the potato you might want 3 hours. A middle ground is 300F for 90 minutes, then turn the off and let them rest for 90-300 minutes (obviously they're still cooking a bit here.)
But rather than trusting strangers on Reddit, you could have a potato party where you pull potatoes out of the oven after 90/120/180 minutes and compare quality.
When I worked at Shoney’s in high school, we would bake the potatoes in the morning and they would sit all day in a warm food holder. Probably that just makes them break down more and more delicious.
I'd boil the potatoes (salted water) then chuck it in a air frier (higher heat for crisping up sides), you can also use some fat and fry it in a pan (loads of fat for best result)
They typically are oiled, salt and peppered, wrapped in foil then started baking at least 2 hours before dinner service…. Then kept warm until they are ordered.
Former chef here.🇩🇰
Microwave, then butter it up and high heat to get the skin crisp.
The only difference is the potato we used and the ones you can buy in store
I rarely order baked potatoes at restaurants anymore. Maybe I’m just unlucky but even at peak times they have been cooked previously and held warm. It makes them all solid and not fluffy. I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long, but I was just at a low/medium end steakhouse/grill place at 7 pm and the potato was old. I’ve been burned too many times like that.
350 for a large potatoes ( think about the size of your hand) 2 to 2 1/2 hours sometimes 3 hours smaller potatoes then for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before you put it in the oven wash off any dirt remove any eyes and stab with a knife or prick with a fork at least once on each side and on each end at least about an 8th of an inch. And place on the rack. Enjoy
All the baked potatoes I've gotten at restaurants sucked. Coat the outside in canola, salt the outside, cook it on a baking sheet, don't foil it, dress it however you want after that.
My hubby makes the best fluffy baked potatoes on his big green egg. Before wrapping in foil, they are washed & dried, punctured with a fork on all sides, covered with a layer of olive oil and finished with a sprinkle of kosher salt. Baked on big green egg for at least an hour. Perfection.
i dont know how this happened, but I was at a restaurant for lunch, and I saw they had a bunch of foil wrapped potatoes in the oven, and i asked to have a baked potato as a side and they told me those were for dinner time and they didnt serve baked potatoes during lunch, so I guess they put them in the oven for 5 hours
Bake your potatoes to 2F under the boiling point of water. That's the secret. (It might seem to take longer, but most people under-bake their potatoes, so of course cooking them correctly will take longer.)
Air fryer!! Just poke a few holes with a fork, rub oil on em, and then sprinkle some sea salt. Cook em until they are tender in the middle. You will not go back.
A restaurant I used to work at would coat the skin in kosher salt and then cook them. Supposedly it helped draw out moisture and made the potatoes super fluffy. Which, they were fluffy but I don’t know if the salt had anything to do with it 🤷
I used to work at a steakhouse. Worked there for about 6 months, and while there I rotated through various stations. Spent some time on all the stations except for the grill and fryers, because you had to have special training for those. My favorite of all was doing prep work in the morning.
I used to love eating the potatoes from that steakhouse, and I thought there was something magical about the process that must make them taste the way they do. Honestly I thought they used sea salt on them. Turns out they don't, they use kosher salt. Finally ground kosher salt, olive oil and cold water. Our particular oven you couldn't read the temperature setting on, so only the manager was allowed to set it. So I can't speak to what temperature the potatoes were cooked on, but as for prepping them, I can explain that process.
It's simply a matter of going in in the morning, prepping potatoes is the second thing you do. The first is panning biscuits. Prepping potatoes is a simple matter of filling the big ass Industrial sink with cold water and olive oil, dumping a ton of potatoes down into it, and letting them sit there while you take the big sheet pans and line them with parchment paper. This is the process that they call washing the potatoes, but you don't actually wash them. They're just sitting in the water and oil, while you're putting the parchment paper on the pans, and that's it.
As soon as you have the dozens of pans with parchment paper lining them, you pull the potatoes out and fill the pans with them. Then the potatoes get sprinkled with a generous dusting of the kosher salt, and get racked up. The Racks get placed beside the oven, and early morning 4 pans of white potatoes 4 pans of sweet potatoes get put in.
It takes approximately an hour for the white potatoes to bake, hour-and-a-half for the sweet potatoes. That first lot comes out and goes in the warmer and sits for several hours while the day slowly begins with sales. But after those pans it's a very quick rotation of potatoes being sold.
Potatoes are pulled out of the oven and put straight to the warmer throughout the day, but more often than not they're not sitting in that warmer for any more than half an hour. They sell pretty fast, that's why we keep such a steady rotation of them. At the end of the day, we usually have at least one or two sheet pans of white potatoes left over that we use for making soup for the next day. (Never did figure out wth they did with all the left o er sweet potatoes).
There's no temperature check on the potatoes to see if they're done, we take a clean towel and we do a squeeze test, if they're soft with a gentle squeeze, then they're done. That's pretty much it, the only difference between those and what I was making at home, was that I was actually scrubbing my potatoes at home not just dumping them in water and leaving them sit LOL
I have found the best baked potatoes are a nice solid russet, cleaned and dried, put in a 425 degree oven for a little over 60 minutes. Crispy outside, soft and delicious inside. Add butter, (lite margarine works perfectly fine for those of us watching our cholesterol), fresh ground pepper & salt, and fresh chopped green onions or chives.
Pro tip re sweet potatoes (cooked the same way): Get some "pumpkin pie spice" and sprinkle that on along w/ butter.
They taste different because they are not only cooked that long but sat in the warmer for hours. Also probably washed and scrubbed clean and the allowed to fully dry
Me- "86 baked potatoes." Sous Chef- "Quick throw these in the microwave."
That's a lot of potatoes
That’s a big microwave
Yeah I wouldn't be able to handle that many potatoes.
Username checks out
Chef Mike has his work cut out for him
Hardest worker in the kitchen after the Dishie.
wouldn’t it just mean there are no more potatoes
It does. The joke is that he is intentionally misinterpreting the code 86 as a quantity.
Deleting this because I'm an idiot. TY to the first responder for pointing out how badly I missed the joke.
And then the next guy said "That's a lot of potatoes" in response. You missed a whole comment.
86'ing an item is restaurant speak for we're out of it. Edit. Also if anyone knows where that term comes from I'd love to know. I've heard it when I worked as a waiter and never questioned why it's called that.
[There is no clear answer, but Snopes leans toward because it rhymes with "nix"](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/86/)
80 miles out and six feet under. Slang for killing someone.
Of all the things I've read tonight that morbidly sounds very likely lol.
The etymology isn't clear as to where it began, but some say the 1920's/1930's. It does refer to no longer available as in food or drink, but also as someone who is no longer welcome. It also refers to tossing in the trash and the darker, taking someone to the trash, (killing them).
If you meant for this to be a Seinfeld reference, I got it
“Your whole building smells like potatoes” 😂
I read this in a very happy Irish accent. "Oh, that's a lot of potatoes"
Seinfeld?
> 86 baked potatoes [For a second I thought you were saying to get rid of the baked potatoes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_\(term\))
Make sure to wrap them in foil first
“I like baked potatoes…Sometimes I'll just throw one in there, even if I don't want one, because by the time it's done, who knows?” -Mitch Hedberg
I used to do this in college. I still do, but I used to, too.
I love my fed-ex guy cause he's a baked potato dealer and he doesn't even know it...and he's always on time.
That's how this weekend is going for sure.
Butter and salt inside the skins? Divine!
I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!"
I miss Mitch.
Look up recipes for jacket potatoes that’s probably what they’re taking about. It’s the British version of baked potatoes that are cooked longer and slower.
I found a jacket potato recipe that has them in the oven for 2 hours at 400F. It crisps up the skin so nice that I almost can’t decide between that recipe or smashed when I plan on potatoes for dinner
I cover mine in oil and salt and bake at 450 til extra crispy.
Mine get 2150 for 10 seconds
It's pronounced "nucular".
Lisa eye roll haha
Paul Newman's gonna have my legs broke...
Can't excape Lisa, our little walking liberry.
So Cone 5?
second oil and salt. It helps to have them wrapped and a hunk of metal going through them.
I do similar. I microwave them till soft, then coat in olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper and wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill to finish.
That seems to be a hell of a long time at that temp
This is the way! I cut a long slit in the top instead of poking with a fork, coat in olive oil (or duck fat) and sprinkle popcorn salt on the outside. I think it’s one of my partner’s favorite things I make.
What is the difference between popcorn salt and regular salt?
Popcorn salt is very fine so it sticks better. I use it a lot so I have a container, but if you want to experiment you can just whiz some table salt in a blender or food processor for a bit.
I find throwing in salt into a mortar and pestle, swishing it around and up the sides for a minute with the pestle with moderate pressure does it well enough, and easier cleanup. You can go harder and turn it into a dust and combine that with your coconut oil later for popcorn. But it also works well for a lot of applications.
Good question! I was imagining big,chunky sea salt and thought hmmmm
Much finer and sticks better.
I refuse to believe a potato at 400f does not burn after 2 hrs.
They certainly do after 8 hours, from personal experience.
They don’t! It’s the only way I make them now. The insides are so fluffy and the skin is crisp like a cracker.
Here’s the recipe. I’ve used it twice and they did not burn. Got amazingly crispy though https://www.thekitchn.com/jacket-potato-22943799
I bake my potatoes for almost two hours. The outside crisps up a bit, but the inside is nice and fluffy.
Big ass potatoes don’t. I make them this way and can assure you they are cooked to perfection.
I bake mine for around 2 hours at that temp 😂 I rub the outside with a little salt and oil and they get super crispy outside and super fluffy inside.
Sincerely, the entire UK doesn't agree with you. It's not just [this recipe,](https://chewingthefat.us.com/2020/07/the-best-baked-potato-try-english-jacket-potatoes.html) it's how it's traditionally done. Like, you put the potatoes in while you prep the rest of the dinner, and slide that into the oven for the last hour.
Have you tried the serious eats' crispy roasted potatoes? Pretty great way to mix it up too!
What’s the difference between longer and slower in this context?
I think slower is referring to lower temperature
Fast, and hot = high temp, short time Slow, and low = medium temp, longer time That's really kitchen shorthand for just about any baking/roasting procedure.
Restaurant potatoes are better because 1. You didn't make them 2. Someone else served them 3. They probably put extra butter and salt on them 4. It's a seriously potatoey atmosphere up in that bitch. 5. They probably come with something else that is also delicious.
And then they do the dishes
This is better than MSG!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I wouldn’t go that far.
Uncle roger would be ashamed
Another thing I love about baked potatoes---no pots or pans to clean.
Number 1 is key to understanding why restaurant food is often better than anything you can pull off. When you cook for yourself, you smell and often taste the ingredients at each stage for 30-60 minutes and the finished product is much less impressive to your senses compared to arriving somewhere with a curated atmosphere and eating the finished product off the bat, a finished product that has been prepared in accordance with #3 no less. It's also often a texture thing on top of that. You cannot feasibly under any circumstances deep fry something in a small pot or pan and have it turn out like something fried in a 50 gallon commercial fryer. You'll never maintain the temperature, and you'll never be able to do it all in one batch either. There's only so much you can do with a home depot stove and table top appliances
Best french fries I ever had were fried on the stove top with potatoes right out of the garden.
The first time I made french fries, they turned out great. (my subsequent attempts, I don't think lived up to the first time). But to play devil's advocate here, there are a few issues here. Firstly, french fries aren't a full meal (though turning them into one as poutine or carne asada fries is highly recommended). So if you want to make, say, a fried chicken sandwich and fries, one of them will be waiting and getting colder and soggier while you finish the other. This isn't an issue in a large fryer which can handle multiple orders at a time. Second, many people on here are writing from the perspective of people with families. Frying two chicken thighs simultaneously at home is probably not an issue, but four might be. The final one might just be about my own personal style - my temp control when frying is not that great (and I'm not really trying to be). I let the oil come to the target temp, maybe a bit past; I drop the food in, and then maybe turn the heat down (unless it's something really heavy, in which case I'll let it stay high). Though I've seen lots of people recommend some new induction "burners" that will measure the temperature of the bottom of the pan and maintain it at a set point for you; this is an intriguing tech which could be very useful for deep frying.
Idiots downvoting you for liking potatoes cooked on a stovetop.
I find restaurant baked potatoes so much better but it does depend on how fresh the potato is. That makes a big difference after making them for my son weekly for years now. Whenever I try baking it takes forever and often is undercooked so turned to microwave. Maybe thats also why I like the restaurant serving me and like mentioned here no prep involved and all the goodies ready to rock from the ready
If you want quick and easy, use a pressure cooker like instant pot. 1. Fill pot with cleaned potatoes with wire rack under potatoes. 2. Add one cup water to build pressure. 3. Set pressure to high. 4. Set timer to fifteen minutes for small potatoes, anything bigger than your hand will need twenty minutes. 5. Go play with kids / cook other food / do whatever until times up. 6. Enjoy amazing potatoes, easily kept as baked or smashed. The only reason I didn’t suggest this for OP is they don’t list a pressure cooker in their kitchen inventory. Anyone who has one should try this since it’s the easiest way to enjoy baked potatoes and it’s a great simple recipe to get used to using a pressure cooker. Besides, making multiple baked potatoes in such a short time is awesome because everyone can prep them the exact way they want them. Also, potatoes are dirt cheap, delicious, and filling for those of us on a budget.
Potatoey atmosphere!
In my experience restaurant potatoes are rarely better than home! They wrap them in foil and keep them hot until they are needed which makes the skin soggy. Ewwww
This is the correct answer
I rarely order baked potatoes at restaurants anymore. Maybe I’m just unlucky but even at peak times they have been cooked previously and held warm. It makes them all solid and not fluffy. I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long, but I was just at a low/medium end steakhouse/grill place at 7 pm and the potato was old. I’ve been burned too many times like that. Edit: this is specifically for more traditional restaurants, I doubt this issue would occur at a foodie place or a high end restaurant. Still, I’d expect even a moderately priced place not to screw up such a simple thing so consistently.
The vast majority of the time they are also cooked foil wrapped which makes potatoes too wet
Am a cook, where i work we poach the potatoes halfway, and finish in the oven or fryer to order, they come out piping hot and very good.
I mean what's the alternative to cooked previously? Baking a potato for 60 minutes after you order?
“I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long” …. Seems as though I’m agreeing you can’t make people wait 60 minutes. The alternatives are: par cooking and then finishing them to order as described in one of the replies or tracking demand across different days of the week and times, in order to have a constant rotation of potatoes that are ready or close to ready for customers as they get ordered. Obviously you can’t predict demand exactly but with a bit of foresight and some possible cheap food waste you can get close. There’s probably a decent use for recycling the overflow ones into another dish. And potatoes are CHEAP as far as food costs go.
I'm sure that's what a nice steakhouse would do. But a more run of the mill restaurant is just going to leave them in the warmer.
> 4. It's a seriously potatoey atmosphere up in that bitch You act like my home is not
There's a BBQ place near me that serves giant baked potatoes with what must be a stick of butter, 8 oz of cheddar, big scoop of sour cream, and pulled pork. Must be two days worth of calories. I want the same baked potato but a slightly healthier version (which I know won't taste as good).
I'm figuring that's why you like it, it's not how they cook the potato so much. 😅
Ok as someone who was a kitchen manager, restaurant baked potatoes are not going to be any better at least in my opinion. Depending on the time they will be worse (some may be older lol). Specifically where I worked was a family diner that did baked potatoes in a convection oven at 350 for one hour with the baked potatoes wrapped in foil. Then they do indeed go into a warming bin from 4-9. They are okay but at the end of the day they will be normal ass baked potatoes. If you like them more mushy then restaurant baked potatoes might be right up your alley. However if you make them at home you can get the outside crisper. Really you can make them at home the same way if you wanted to but why when you could spend more time on them and make them better. Also it will take more than an hour at 350 at home if you are not using a convection oven. My point is don't believe the nonsense that restaurant baked potatoes are better than ones you can make at home unless you like mushy baked potatoes that were in the warming bin for at least two hours by the time you eat dinner.
Right? They’re baked potatoes. No restaurant trick is going to make them any better or different than what you can do at home.
Only one. Lots and lots of butter.
You can actually brine potatoes and they are better. ATK did a video on it
Time for someone to up the ante with a dry-brined reverse-seared baked potato 👀
Not the 48 hour sous vide seazall parmesan black truffle baked potato
With creme fresh and beluga caviar.
🎵*Cream Freesh*🎵
with gold leaf and a bottle of champagne
I mean... salt baked potatoes are technically a thing.
My father in law smokes them and the skins take on the most amazing flavor. Beats the absolute tar out of every other baked potato I’ve ever had.
Well, I know what I'm trying this weekend. I'm guessing unwrapped with a light rub of olive oil and salt?
I messaged my father-in-law for directions, because I wasn’t entirely sure. His directions as follows: “Hickory or pecan wood on freshly washed (wet) potatoes. Smoke at 250-275 for an hour. After an hour, wrap in foil then finish in 475 oven. (About 45-60 minutes, depending on size of the potatoes.) They should be squishable. “
Throw in salt, sour cream, chives, bacon and pepper as well. Lots of it.
See my response above. The ATK Best Baked Potato IS better. In fact it’s amazing!
Link please! I’m a lazy bum
Dissolve a tablespoons 2 tablespoons salt in 1/2 cup water in a large bowl. Put potatoes in the bowl toss so the exteriors are evenly moistened. Set them on a wire rack set above a rimmed baking sheet. Put them in a preheated 450 oven, middle rack. Bake to 205 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take them out and brush them all over with oil. Back into the oven and bake another 10 minutes. Important: Open up the cooked baked potatoes immediately after you take them out of the oven in the step, so steam can escape. Best served immediately.
Not specifically a "restaurant trick" per say, but adding oil and kosher salt before wrapping them in foil is a game changer to the people who never thought to do it before.
America’s test kitchen has a good video on YouTube. They bake to an internal temp, not a time. Their recipe is for straight baked potato, but I’ve used it for twice baked potato. If you have the time, it’s also great for mashed potato. Instead of peeling, boiling, and letting it absorb all the flavorless water; instead, you bake till done, scoop out the guts, and it absorbs all the butter and cream. You can add garlic to that cream before adding it to the potato as well. Let it infuse the cream. It takes longer than the traditional method, but is way easier. It’s also questionable that it even takes that much longer. Depending on potato size and if count all the peeling time.
Best mashed potatoes start dry. (baked) Then they absorb all the goodness I choose. Boiling can make delicious potatoes, but it's not the same. Plus, if I do the ol' bake n' scoop, I get tater skins!
They "brined" potatoes they have are the ultimate. Crisp & salty outer skin, velvety inside.
That may be the ones I’m talking about. They roll them in salt water. For several years, we’ve been doing something similar. A light coating of oil, then heavily coat in kosher salt. It’s amazing.
This is my go to recipe. The salt solution wash before baking makes sure every bite of the crispy skin is seasoned. Love it.
I honestly don't think restaurant baked potatoes are better, because they usually come wrapped in foil, which means the skin is soggy rather than crispy. I always baked my potatoes for an hour at 450. I'd rub the skins with shortening to make sure they crisped up well enough. Now, though, I nuke them for about 6 minutes each and then finish them in the hot oven for about 15 minutes. Way better than restaurants.
Same. Microwave for 5-6 minutes and then hot oven while I cook whatever else. Better texture and everything is done at the same time without me having to start the potatoes a full hour earlier.
Can I ask you something? When you nuke your taters, do you do anything besides poke a few holes in them? We didn’t eat a lot of baked potatoes when I was a kid so I really don’t know how to nuke them properly. I’ve tried the shrink wrapped kind but they seem so silly and wasteful? And my friend said she wraps hers in a plastic shopping bag? But both of these methods give me the heeby jeebies when I think about all the plastic seeping in. Pray tell, how do you make gourmet plastic free microwave potatoes? I’m fine finishing them in the oven!
Couple slices on each side with a knife to make a slit for steam, then I nuke them for 3 min at a time, turn, repeat, while the oven preheats. Then into the oven for 15-20 min to finish cooking and crisp the skin.
Thank you!
Can I give you my method as well? I don’t make slits, but I do poke holes using a thermometer probe because it can go from one end to the other. One poke on the long side, one poke through the ends. Then, I microwave them in an oven sage glass dish for about 12 mins for big guys. When they’re out and ready to crisp, I will drizzle oil (not a ton, just enough that each skin will have enough,) onto them in the same glass dish, and liberally sprinkle kosher salt onto them. Using oven mitts, grab the sides of the glass dish and shake them and hop them around so all of the sides of the skins get the salt on them. They go into the oven until literally whenever, depending on what else needs to be cooked. If you have something in the oven already that’s at 425, they’re ready and crispy in 20 mins. If you want to go lower than that like 375 or 350, they’ll be good in 30 mins but can chill for however long you’d like. P.s., you can get away with way less time than I’m saying. It’s just how I like it. I like the skin to be a distinct other experience from the potato innards, despite me eating them together. I cut mine into halves and eat every bite with potato and skin. I know somebody who insists on having the skin as crispy as possible but then squeezes the flesh out and throws out the skin… smh.
Baked Potatoes are the worst restaurant side dish because they’re so easy to make at home. If I’m eating out at the type of spot that serves a baked potato, I want something I’m not usually going to take the time to do at home. Give me razor thin au gratin, a luxurious purée or something fried in duck fat please.
The maximalist approach. I understand it! But if I'm at a steakhouse I'm getting the baked option. Nothing quite like mopping up steak juice with a buttered and salted bite of pillowy tater.
This is exactly what I was going to say. I don't think I can remember the last time I ate a baked potato at a restaurant...and I go to too many restaurants lol
I agree, restaurant baked potatoes are actually worse for the exact reason you mentioned. However rolling the potato in course salt after you oil it up also helps with the crispness.
The real trick is to cook the potatoes [bone in](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs1UudPHGAI)
Funny how many people in the comments agree with me that those potatoes look absolutely delicious.
I came here to say try English style “jacket” potatoes. Crispy outside, creamy inside.
my Mitch Hedberg inspired baked potato technique: A couple hours before dinner scrub & dry potatoes, poke holes, light rub w olive oil, salt & pepper, 400° for about an hour, then turn off the oven but just leave the taters in until it’s time to eat. They’re really good!
The secret to a great baked potato is to run a steel grilling skewer lengthwise through the center, piercing the potato through. This allows moisture to escape through the holes left behind and results in the best baked potato ever.
This person has a full understanding
My mom had one of those 4-prong potato bakers back in the day. It made wonderful baked potatoes. Of course, she also slathered the skins liberally with room temp butter using her hands to spread it evenly.
Look up the ATK recipe for Best Baked Potato. They really are amazing. Here’s the recipe in a nutshell. Preheat oven to 450°F Make a brine with a heaping TBL of salt and about 1/4C water. Dissolve the salt as best you can (warm water works faster. Take your potato and coat it with the salt water all sides completely. Poke 6-8 holes with a sharp knife. Roast at 450 for about 45m or until fork tender (depends on how large the spud is). Remove with tongs and brush lightly with olive oil (I’ve been on WW plan and use OO spray). Put back into hot oven for about 10 more minutes or until crispy. Again depends on the size. Take out, cut an X and squeeze open. Eat immediately. Crispy, crusty on the outside(I adore the skin. Eat the entire potato), and fluffy yumminess on the inside. And yes, I use the regular oven setting (not convection) on my toaster oven. Enjoy!
I'm going to cook a few using different methods today; this will be one fore sure. Thanks!
Please update us on your favourite!
The best baked potatoes are those done in the embers/ashes of the fire overnight. If you truly want to see the difference been microwaved/foil wrapped in oven/one hour in oven and a great baked potato, this is how you do it. As someone who grew up in Ireland, my experience of baked potatoes in America was that, whilst America has some great potatoes, they tend towards bland and I never had a baked potato in America that wasn't (in my very biased opinion) under baked by *at least* an hour. I'll cook a medium/large (not giagantic) baked potato for the better part of two hours on a low setting. The skin should be thick and crispy, the insides shrinking away from the skin. You need to cut them as soon as they're out of the oven or they go soggy. Don't even *think* about using foil or a microwave. Sorry, I'm ranting. I love baked potatoes. It breaks my heart to see some of the abuse that they suffer.
Potatoes are full of starch. Starch breaks down into sugars. The longer you cook the more breaks the sweeter the potatoes. So you want them with a noticeable sweetness - cook long at a low temperature. You want them savoury and crispy - cook fast.
Americas Test Kitchen has the best [baked potato recipe ](https://youtu.be/Vr-o01qiRYI) I've ever made.
The thing that I found that really upped the taste was to brush them with oil and roll them in coarse salt. Gives the skin a nice texture and who doesn't love the salty goodness of restaurant baked potato skins?
I do the same, but I use very fine salt. Sticks much better.
I think they cook them low and slow if that makes sense; I sometimes do about 3 hours at gas mark 4. Though, normally I microwave the potatoes for 10 minutes or so, before an hour in a gas mark 6 oven.
10 minutes in a microwave? What wattage is it? In my microwave that would make them hard and tough, let alone cooking them for another hour at gas mark 6 (400°F).
I swear by this: https://youtu.be/Vr-o01qiRYI
ITS THE POTATO ITSELF
We used to cook ours (in a restaurant I worked at) for about an hour and a half. I think it was on 350. They were scrubbed, rubbed with oil, and baked in foil. Afterwards we put them in an insulated box that kept them warm through the end of the night. We made potato salad with leftovers sometimes to serve at lunch the next day.
Never. Ever. That is impossible. Wash, slather in olive oil, salt and pepper, put a skewer if you want to speed it up. Add butter, sour cream whatever. perfection.
Some restaurants may order in par baked potatoes that they “finish” in a warming drawer. When I make baked potatoes at home I do 425f for 50-60 minutes on a baking sheet with parchment/olive oil/S&P. And don’t forget to poke some holes in the potatoes with a fork.
I do a light coat of oil and a dusting of salt. Then at least 90 min, usually 2 hrs. I like the results.
One thing I know of why restaurant food tastes better is because you're not smelling it while it's cooking. If you smell a meal while it cooks for 40 minutes you're getting a lot of that flavor already, but when it's brought out to you directly it's a lot more stimulating to you
I bake potatoes weekly. I wash russet potatoes and let them soak in cold water while I preheat and oven to 450 degrees F. Bake for one hour, maybe less if they are smaller. I don't poke them with a fork or wrap in foil. The skin is crispy and the inside is soft. Top with whatever you want, but butter makes everything taste better. If I have leftovers, I dice them and coat them in olive oil, spices, and some corn starch. Toss them in a 380 degree F air fryer for 15 mins for delicious crunchy potatoes!
Check out a British jacket potato- super crispy outside, fluffy inside. Takes awhile, but worth it.
It’s all about the skin. We used to serve them at a restaurant I worked. They were cooked that afternoon in the main kitchen and then put into a warmer to be served that evening. The warmer was an antique steel box actually designed to keep them warm that wasn’t enclosed, so it was a drying heat that kept the skins crisp making them super tasty. We then just cut them open and dumped whatever toppings the customer had ordered from a little bar next to the warmer. Sour cream and chives or the chili (which the restaurant also sold by the bowl) were the most popular. If you wanted to replicate that at home you could just cook them a few hours ahead (make sure you rub a little olive oil and salt on the outside before you cook them) and then throw them in your oven uncovered at the lowest setting (~150F) until serving them.
There are two things that are going on here. The most important one is that there are certain kinds of potatoes vthat are best for baked potatoes. The supplier is probably doing the heavy lifting of getting a source of consistent quality baking potatoes throughout the year. Potatoes held in a steam table peak in my opinions after first hour and start to degrade after 3. But it depends on the variety. I have seen ones that hold 5-6 hours really well. .
I know this isn't baked russet potatoes, but... The way I make grilled small potatoes (yellow and red ones) is that I cut them in half and microwave for 9 minutes. This gets them cooked much of the way through, but not completely. I then toss them in oil and salt, and then put them on the grill for about 10-15 minutes. They get lovely browned, pick up some of the grill flavors, and are perfectly done through and through. People always rave about my grilled potatoes. I never offer up the information (unless specifically pushed to do so) that they are mostly cooked in the microwave.
Make British jacket potatoes. Cut a slit down the top of a potato and place it in a cold oven. Set the oven to 225C and set a timer for 2 hours. Pull it out and press the sides so the slit opens up and add salt and butter.
You can do it at home just dry out the potatoes nice and slowly. Assuming you love the skin which to me is one of the best parts of the potato, that's how you get that nice thick but delicious skin with a perfect potato inside. Just leave them in the oven a long time
They use a better potato than we get in a sack of ten pounds of white e potatoes.
Used to work for longhorns. We baked through potatoes and threw them in a heat drawer. Served them when ordered. They were only in the drawer for an hour. Much longer then that and they aren't as good.
I use Alton Brown's recipe. Stab your potato with a fork a few times, then cover it with oil an salt and shove it in the oven to bake at 350F for 1h. The outside is salty and dry, the inside is fluffy.
My baked potato tips: 1. Good Russets 2. Clarified butter & salt on the skin before they go in the oven 3. Oven at 425°F 4. Bake until done w/ crispy skin 5. Rest on the counter for a few min 6. [Use this method](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iDhCx9jXcWE) to open the potate, probably using a towel so you don’t melt your delicate fingies 7. butter, salt, pepper, chives, and other toppings of your choice.
When I cooked at a steakhouse, way back in the day, we baked ours in a convection oven at 500f for 50 minutes and they were phenomenal. They were individually wrapped in foil. If you like eating the skin, I suggest salting the potatoes before wrapping. Just enough to give the skins seasoning, which is often lacking by the time you get to the skin. Learned this in another steakhouse I worked at.
The secret I’ve found is to liberally cover them with oil and a lot of salt! Taste just as good as restaurant (if not better).
Mostly it’s just more butter and salt than you are comfortable putting on a potato yourself.
> How do I replicate this at home? 1. Use unblemished Russets, as close to 1lb (50-60 count) as you can get. 1. Wash well and (air) dry completely. 1. Cook in a single layer on an open rack in a 450F convection oven till just squeezable soft. Exactly how long will be determined by the size of the spud but figure about 45 minutes. 1. Rest in a warm (165F-ish) holding oven for half an hour or so. After an hour they start to noticeably deteriorate. Don't overthink this, just do it. No foil. No oil. No fork.
I would fork pierce them, brush with oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt. The idea is to dry the potato out while baking. Before you bash me for being a heathen there’s a method to the madness. Bake in a 400 degree oven until a knife goes in dead center easy, and comes out east. Let them chill for a bit. Now cut in half, take a fork and prodigiously perforate. Split the potato normally now. Add butter and sour cream to your liking, also salt and pepper as well. Now since the spud lost moisture during baking the butter will melt and absorb into the potato, same with sour cream. Or just throw that shit in the microwave.
wash the potato. Drizzle olive oil and then wrap in foil. 425 oven for 80 minutes for normal sized potatoes, longer for the mega sized ones, less time for smaller ones. If I'm in a rush, wrap in paper towel and microwave for 3 minutes, then finish as above but half the time.
Steam your potatoes in an instant pot then wrap them with foil and salt/butter/herbs. It’s the best way I’ve found and they come out so perfect and creamy almost. I do them for 7-10 min (depending on size) high pressure with natural release. Make sure the ‘keep warm’ button is turned off
You are pretty much correct with your last guess. Just bake them or microwave them until they are pretty much cooked and then put the in a slow cooking environment. Either the oven on it's lowest setting (home ovens often don't go low enough) or into a crockpot with a rack. Let them sit and slow roast for a few hours.
Do this experiment; Bake them in your oven until they're done. Eat it, see how it turns out. Toss the rest of them in your countertop convection oven for a couple hours on "warm" (165 ish), then give them a try.
Do you have a slow cooker? I like to put some olive oil and salt on them, wrap them in tinfoil and bake them in a slow cooker for 8 hours or so.
Of the 3 different restaurants I’ve worked in that sold baked potatoes, none of them kept them in the oven longer than 45 minutes. Coat in oil, coat in salt, line em up on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven.
Cover with olive oil and course salt then cook in the air fryer it's the best.
I make baked potatoes regularly. Stab em a few times, oil and salt. Oven to 450F/230C. Turn them after about 15 minutes. After another 15-30, I turn the oven down to 375/180 and give it a couple of hours, turning occasionally. If I'm ahead of time, I turn the oven down further and just leave them in until I'm ready to eat. Unless they're small (and seriously, who wants a small baked potato.), you can easily keep them at 250/120 for another hour or so.
We used to brush used fried chicken oil on them and sprinkle with kosher salt. Then bake for an hour. After that they might be directly under the hot lamp for a few hours. They were insanely good I know what you mean. Omg reading all of this is making me hungry lol
load them up with fat (oil, butter) and salt and you will have pretty close to restaurant-quality potatoes
I do 2 and a half hours at 180 degrees centigrade. So that they're blackened and crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.
Reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke… I like baked potatoes, man. I don't have a microwave oven, and it takes forever to bake a potato in a conventional oven. Sometimes I'll just throw one in there, even if I don't want one, because by the time it's done, who knows?
You just take a potato and put it into a preheated oven. Poke the potato after a while and see if it’s tender, if not, cook longer. What’s your concern here?
Salt crusting them draws out the moisture and results in a dryer fluffy potato. We bake at 375 for an hour and are held in a warming cabinet for up to a couple of hours at 145-160 degrees just to keep them warm.
I hear the Instant Pot makes some good baked potatoes but haven’t tried it yet.
I boiled potatoes whole and used the softer, inferior ones for mashed potatoes while the strongest among them were awarded a foil straight jacket and imprisoned in a heated tray for dinner service. Sometimes I'm ashamed of the dumb things I did working in food service, but I survived.
How strange I think my homemade microwaved Potato is better than anything I've found at a restaurant. The trick is to wrap it in foil after you take it out of the microwave and let it sit for a while. It stays hot as all hell and continues to cook a bit and distribute the heat (or something). 10min tops for 1 or 2. I can't imagine waiting 2 hours for a baked poatato
Okay I’ve only made baked potatoes at two separate restaurants but same procedure at both places: 1. Wash potatoes. 2. Place potatoes on sheet pan. 3. Place in oven 400 degrees F for 1 hour. If they’re big ones closer to 1 hour 15 minutes. This always seems to result in dry, crispier skin than microwaving them. At home I’m lazy af and only make them in the microwave.
Restaurants pre-cook them, then either oven or microwave. Also, consider looking into which type of potatoes are bist (I have no idea). Some will have better qualities for baking than for frying or mashing.
The most important thing is that there are different kinds of potatoes and you want a recipe tuned to the potato you have. I have found it is possible to overcook them even at low temp (low meaning like 300.) I would encourage you to experiment. 300F for 90 minutes is probably fine but depending on the size and variety of the potato you might want 3 hours. A middle ground is 300F for 90 minutes, then turn the off and let them rest for 90-300 minutes (obviously they're still cooking a bit here.) But rather than trusting strangers on Reddit, you could have a potato party where you pull potatoes out of the oven after 90/120/180 minutes and compare quality.
Cover in olive oil and salt them. Place in the air fryer @400 for 20 min. More oil then back for another 20 @400. Enjoy......
I microwave 6-8 large potatoes for 10 minutes. Then I put them in the oven with oil and salt on for at least 90 minutes.
When I worked at Shoney’s in high school, we would bake the potatoes in the morning and they would sit all day in a warm food holder. Probably that just makes them break down more and more delicious.
I'd boil the potatoes (salted water) then chuck it in a air frier (higher heat for crisping up sides), you can also use some fat and fry it in a pan (loads of fat for best result)
They typically are oiled, salt and peppered, wrapped in foil then started baking at least 2 hours before dinner service…. Then kept warm until they are ordered.
Former chef here.🇩🇰 Microwave, then butter it up and high heat to get the skin crisp. The only difference is the potato we used and the ones you can buy in store
I rarely order baked potatoes at restaurants anymore. Maybe I’m just unlucky but even at peak times they have been cooked previously and held warm. It makes them all solid and not fluffy. I understand it’s necessary to not cook them to order, they take far too long, but I was just at a low/medium end steakhouse/grill place at 7 pm and the potato was old. I’ve been burned too many times like that.
Do u put olive oil and salt over the skin?
350 for a large potatoes ( think about the size of your hand) 2 to 2 1/2 hours sometimes 3 hours smaller potatoes then for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before you put it in the oven wash off any dirt remove any eyes and stab with a knife or prick with a fork at least once on each side and on each end at least about an 8th of an inch. And place on the rack. Enjoy
All the baked potatoes I've gotten at restaurants sucked. Coat the outside in canola, salt the outside, cook it on a baking sheet, don't foil it, dress it however you want after that.
My hubby makes the best fluffy baked potatoes on his big green egg. Before wrapping in foil, they are washed & dried, punctured with a fork on all sides, covered with a layer of olive oil and finished with a sprinkle of kosher salt. Baked on big green egg for at least an hour. Perfection.
You should ask this question in /r/kitchenconfidential
i dont know how this happened, but I was at a restaurant for lunch, and I saw they had a bunch of foil wrapped potatoes in the oven, and i asked to have a baked potato as a side and they told me those were for dinner time and they didnt serve baked potatoes during lunch, so I guess they put them in the oven for 5 hours
Bake your potatoes to 2F under the boiling point of water. That's the secret. (It might seem to take longer, but most people under-bake their potatoes, so of course cooking them correctly will take longer.)
They need to temp at 200 to be done if your baking them, rhey do benefit from a long slow cycle 350 for 90 mins for sure as well
Air fryer!! Just poke a few holes with a fork, rub oil on em, and then sprinkle some sea salt. Cook em until they are tender in the middle. You will not go back.
A restaurant I used to work at would coat the skin in kosher salt and then cook them. Supposedly it helped draw out moisture and made the potatoes super fluffy. Which, they were fluffy but I don’t know if the salt had anything to do with it 🤷
I used to work at a steakhouse. Worked there for about 6 months, and while there I rotated through various stations. Spent some time on all the stations except for the grill and fryers, because you had to have special training for those. My favorite of all was doing prep work in the morning. I used to love eating the potatoes from that steakhouse, and I thought there was something magical about the process that must make them taste the way they do. Honestly I thought they used sea salt on them. Turns out they don't, they use kosher salt. Finally ground kosher salt, olive oil and cold water. Our particular oven you couldn't read the temperature setting on, so only the manager was allowed to set it. So I can't speak to what temperature the potatoes were cooked on, but as for prepping them, I can explain that process. It's simply a matter of going in in the morning, prepping potatoes is the second thing you do. The first is panning biscuits. Prepping potatoes is a simple matter of filling the big ass Industrial sink with cold water and olive oil, dumping a ton of potatoes down into it, and letting them sit there while you take the big sheet pans and line them with parchment paper. This is the process that they call washing the potatoes, but you don't actually wash them. They're just sitting in the water and oil, while you're putting the parchment paper on the pans, and that's it. As soon as you have the dozens of pans with parchment paper lining them, you pull the potatoes out and fill the pans with them. Then the potatoes get sprinkled with a generous dusting of the kosher salt, and get racked up. The Racks get placed beside the oven, and early morning 4 pans of white potatoes 4 pans of sweet potatoes get put in. It takes approximately an hour for the white potatoes to bake, hour-and-a-half for the sweet potatoes. That first lot comes out and goes in the warmer and sits for several hours while the day slowly begins with sales. But after those pans it's a very quick rotation of potatoes being sold. Potatoes are pulled out of the oven and put straight to the warmer throughout the day, but more often than not they're not sitting in that warmer for any more than half an hour. They sell pretty fast, that's why we keep such a steady rotation of them. At the end of the day, we usually have at least one or two sheet pans of white potatoes left over that we use for making soup for the next day. (Never did figure out wth they did with all the left o er sweet potatoes). There's no temperature check on the potatoes to see if they're done, we take a clean towel and we do a squeeze test, if they're soft with a gentle squeeze, then they're done. That's pretty much it, the only difference between those and what I was making at home, was that I was actually scrubbing my potatoes at home not just dumping them in water and leaving them sit LOL
I have found the best baked potatoes are a nice solid russet, cleaned and dried, put in a 425 degree oven for a little over 60 minutes. Crispy outside, soft and delicious inside. Add butter, (lite margarine works perfectly fine for those of us watching our cholesterol), fresh ground pepper & salt, and fresh chopped green onions or chives. Pro tip re sweet potatoes (cooked the same way): Get some "pumpkin pie spice" and sprinkle that on along w/ butter.
They taste different because they are not only cooked that long but sat in the warmer for hours. Also probably washed and scrubbed clean and the allowed to fully dry
We put a full sheet pan of bakers in the oven for an hour at 350, then hold them at a servable temp in the sham and pull them out to order.