The Ultimate Baked Potato (for parties)

[Scrivener]

Well, I'm starting to heat the grill and get ready for some good old fashioned Labour Day man-food. I'm making my always-popular garlic-crusted Ribeyes, Ultimate Baked Potatoes, and Grilled Corn on the Cob. I thought I would share the secret to making the best fucking baked potato you've ever had. It's quick and it's simple.

Here's what you'll need before you start:
> Russet potatoes
> Olive Oil
> Sea Salt (DO NOT SUBSTITUTE TABLE SALT)
> Sliced Tilamook Sharp Cheddar (or any sharp cheddar)
> Sliced Tilamook Peper Jack (or any pepper jack)
> Whipped butter
> Sour Cream
> Hormel Premium Crumbled Bacon (or fresh crumbled bacon)
> Green onions or Chives
> Tin Foil
> Cookie sheet
> One big oven-safe bowl (metal)
> Plates or small bowels for preparation
> Oven

Here's how you do it:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Lay out tin foil on the bottom of the oven (or if you have two racks, on the lower rack). The potatoes are going to be placed directly on the rack and the tin foil will catch any oil that drips off - saving you a lot of scrubbing later.
3. Wash your potatoes to get off any excess dirt. I just run it under some cold water and rub each potato with my bare hands. Wipe off the excess water and set it aside.
4. Set the potatoes on a pan and drizzle olive oil over each.
5. Rub the oil into each potato with your hands, ensuring each potato is evenly covered.
6. Dust each potato with sea salt, turning them to get an even coat all the way around. Be fairly generous with the salt, but don't go too crazy and cake it on. Also, never use table salt. This is one of the reason restaurant potatos always taste better than the ones you try to make at home. Sea salt has a fresh, clean taste while table salt is iodized and has a nasty metalic taste you do not want.
7. Set the potatoes directly on the rack. Do NOT wrap in the tinfoil. Do not set them on the tinfoil. Do not set them on a cookie sheet or other solid surface at all. Set them on the rack as-is. The tin foil you layed out earlier will catch drips and the rack itself is an easy thing to clean.
8. Bake potatoes in oven at 350F for one hour.
9. While the potatoes are baking, take out one piece of each type of cheese for each potato, and cut them into strips. This will help it melt faster when you put it into the potato. Leave the cheese sitting on top of the oven so it will soften a bit while the potatoes cook (cold cheese in a hot potato cools the whole thing off, making for cheese that doesn't completely melt). You should also let the butter and sour cream sit out while the potatoes cook (not on the oven, but somewhere room temperature). The idea here is that you don't want to add any overly cold toppings to your potato, or it will cool off and things wont melt together the way you want.
10. Chop your green onions if you haven't already and put them back in the refridgerator until they are needed.

NOTE: At this point, you can prepare your potato on your own (you can stop reading) or get them ready for a party. The notes below apply to the way I do it when I'm entertaining. You scrape out the insides of the skin, add the tasty stuff, and replace the insides like you would a Deviled Egg.

11. Once your potatoes are done, pull them from the oven using mits or a towel and set them on a cookie sheet.
12. Cut each potato in half lengthwise like you would an avocado.
13. Scrap out the insides of each skin half into a bowl. Leave enough potato around the skins to hold them together, generally 1/4". You're going to fill the skins with the prepared potato mixture when you're done.
14. Add the cheese to the bowl, as well as 1tb butter and 1tb sour cream per potato to the bowel. Add the crumbled bacon to your taste, for me it's usually a small handful per potato. Mix it together quickly while it's still hot. If you loose too much heat, put the oven-safe bowel into the oven again for a minute.
15. Scoop the mixture back into the potato skin halves. Each potato is now fully prepared, and you can dole out potato halves where you want. Top each potato with the green onions or chives (don't mix them in with the other stuff).

...and bon apetit.

[jarhed13]

Fuck yes

The only thing I could possibly add, is to bake again for 10-15min after spooning the mixture back in to brown the mixture in the potatoes

[templar34]

.folder

Any pics?

[HardLine]

carbssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

but damn that sounds yummy. i'm very much a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

[Chuckles]

i make the same thing only i add chopped broccoli into the mix, and use shredded cheese that i just put on top of the potatoes and then toss back in the oven for a bit so the cheese gets nice and crisp. Call 'em twice baked pototoes

[DHermit]

I want pics. I got my grill today for memorial day BBQ and we did chicken, burgers, shrimp, potatoes and corn. Was sooo good.

[domisi]

Originally Posted by HardLine

carbssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

but damn that sounds yummy. i'm very much a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

i always make potatoes like this, remind me next time your over if you want some

[nailPuppy]

Yup, you pretty much laid out twice baked potatoes but without the extra 15 minutes at the end.

[ceejamon]

Originally Posted by nailPuppy

Yup, you pretty much laid out twice baked potatoes but without the extra 15 minutes at the end.

Indeed. There are lots of modifications to this, too. Foodnetwork.com should have loads of variations.

[Cads]

Delicious - thank you!

[typhoon43]

PICS YOU WHORE!!!!
That sounds so damn good!

[brouski]

Dot folder cause I'm going to make these this weekend.

[brouski]

What about kosher salt instead of sea salt?

[brouski]

Delicious! I just wish stuff cooked evenly in our oven.