Hot Potato

Tonight I’m writing about a new subject: the world’s best baked potato. I know, I know, it’s not the normal high-brow subject matter you’ve come to love from dykast.us but you’ll thank me come dinner time. Trust me, once you’ve had the baked potato I’m about to describe you’ll never go back.

Admittedly, most of us don’t think twice about the humble baked potato, in part because they’re pretty bland. The baked potato is like the bass player of the dinner rock band. It quietly grounds the meal, providing a consistent starch tone throughout. The main protein (steak, salmon, whatever) gets the attention like a big haired lead singer. (The other veggies are like gross groupies that won’t get the hint that they’re not actually wanted around.)

Sweet hair

But I’m going to show you how the quiet, reserved bass player can step up and shred a mean solo. In addition to the potato you’re going to need three things: kosher salt, olive oil and minced garlic. Before you start splashing these ingredients around you’re going to need some aluminum foil, enough to wrap up the potato like a lost hiker in a space blanket.

Once you’ve got your foil down and the potato scrubbed, pour the olive over the potato so that it’s fully covered. You don’t need to go crazy but you want the whole potato to be wet so that the other ingredients will stick to it.

Now you want to blast the potato with the kosher salt. This is the secret ingredient and you don’t want to skimp on this one. Kosher salt is to a potato what spandex and hairspray are to an 80s rocker. With your potato nicely salted add a little minced garlic and wrap the whole thing in the aluminum foil.

Tasty potato

The oven should be set to 425 degrees and you’ll want to cook the potato for about an hour and a half or until it’s slightly soft when you squeeze it. You may find it helpful to place the wrapped potato on a tray while cooking because sometimes some of the olive oil will sneak out of the foil.

That’s all there is to it. These simple ingredients take the modest baked potato and turn it into a stand out rocker. And once you’ve had one of these bad boys you’ll never go back. Bon Appétit.