How To Bake A Potato Recipe
Baked Potato Recipe with Salt and Butter.
INGREDIENTS
1 Large Potato Per Person
Salt
Butter
METHOD
Pre-Heat the Oven to 400F (200C, Mark 6).
For the perfect Baked Potato, Nigel Slater's advice in his 'Real Food' book comes as close to Baked Potato heaven as one could ever wish to eat. It goes along these lines...
Choose a good looking large Potato per person and wash them well. While still damp sprinkle handsomely with fine Salt (preferably freshly ground Seat Salt) and prick the skins here and there with a folk (this will stop it potentially exploding!).
Place directly onto the oven bars, rather than a tray, in the middle of the oven. The size and type of Potato will ultimately affect the length of time it will need to cook, but you should aim to bake them for between one hour to one hour and a half. When ready the Potato will give a little when pressed.
Immediately remove and place inside a tea towel. Give the Potato a gently bash with your fist to break the skin (which I think looks more pleasing than a knife cut). Place on your plate and add an extravagant cut of good quality Butter. Season to taste and serve alongside whatever your favourite Baked Potato accompaniment might be.
Based on the Baked Potato in:
Real Food by Nigel Slater (Forth Estate 1998).