Perfect Baked Potatoes

To bake the perfect potato with a crackly skin, you will need...

Olive Oil
Salt
Russet Potatoes - similar in size

Wash and dry the potatoes, then pierce each potato deeply with a fork or sharp knife several times on each side.  Pricking the potatoes will allow steam to escape during the baking - and keep explosions at bay.  Besides - who wants to clean up an oven after dinner?  Not me!  (If you just happen to have a penchant for cleaning ovens, you can always come over.  I will bake you some potatoes, minus the explosives - and after that, you can clean the oven just for fun!)

Side note - wrapping the potatoes in aluminum foil will produce a soft skin (not crispy). Technically, this is steaming rather than baking (as the moisture in the potato remains trapped) and the light, flaky texture will be missing. The texture of a steamed potato is entirely different from that of a perfect baked potato.  NEVER use aluminum foil when baking potatoes!

Rub or brush the potato with olive oil...

 Then roll the potatoes in coarse or kosher salt...

This makes the skin super yummy to eat - just don't eat it all - unless you want to carry around 5 lbs. of water weight the next day. 

Now bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to an 1 hour 20 minutes.  Enjoy with some butter, sour cream and cheddar cheese (and maybe some yummy, crumbly bacon - and some jalapenos if you are a Mexican girl like me!)

Ole!