Many of us have been trusting the Food Network cooks—from Rachael Ray to Bobby Flay and, in fact, Ina Garten—for so long as we’ve been dwelling cooks. And with every of these cooks comes a sure specialty that we’ve realized from them. The Pioneer Woman taught us about good ol’ consolation cooking; the Barefoot Contessa about the right way to elevate even a store-bought dessert; and Guy Fieri in regards to the joys of flavor-packed meals.
However, chef Alton Brown didn’t simply present us the right way to make his favourite dishes, however he made positive we realized precisely what made these recipes so good: science. On “Good Eats,” Brown was mainly the Bill Nye of the Food Network. And, now, Brown has introduced his love of meals science to a brand new channel: TikTookay.
How To Make Alton Brown’s Baked Potato
Recently, the chef went viral for educating the web the right way to make the right crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside baked potato. It’s an extremely primary recipe, but Brown has amassed greater than 4.5 million views for his science-backed approach.
Much like he did on his present, Brown begins the video by describing the chemical make-up of a potato and its starches. He explains that to get the right fluffy potato, it’s worthwhile to activate the amylose starches, moderately than the amylopectin starches that may trigger the within to be stringy. This requires time and low warmth.
So, in response to Brown, the right baked potato requires two bakes. One, prolonged 1-hour prepare dinner at 300 levels F (150 levels C) for fluffiness, adopted by a shorter, hotter bake at 400 levels F (200 levels C) to attain the crispy exterior.
But first, you’ll want to clean the potato—a Russet potato, to be precise—then dry and poke holes all the best way round.
Poking holes permits steam to flee throughout cooking, in response to Brown. “Skip this and the feel shall be dense.”
Then, evenly oil the potato and season it with 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt earlier than tucking it into the oven, instantly on the rack, for the primary hour of baking. After the primary little bit of cooking, take away the spud from the oven and oil it up once more. Brown then recommends cooking the potato for simply 10 minutes at 400 levels F to get crispy pores and skin, “which I believe is one of the best half,” he says.
But, Brown doesn’t cease there with the approach. Once the baked potato is out of the oven for good, he instructs viewers to not use a knife to separate it open. Instead, he perforates the potato with a fork, then squeezes the ends to pop open the baked potato. It makes me marvel how he’d really feel about Martha Stewart’s strategy of smashing the potato on the desk to separate it open.
Finally, Brown provides his most popular toppings (butter, bitter cream, and chives) to create a superbly baked potato that has now been recreated by a whole bunch of individuals all throughout the web. I attempted the tactic and right here is my trustworthy assessment.
My Honest Review of Alton Brown’s Baked Potato
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Brown’s baked potato recipe is sort of much like our Perfect Baked Potato, which is baked low-and-slow for 90 minutes at 300 levels F. That’s a recipe I take advantage of often, nonetheless, I’ll be trustworthy—I’m a agency believer in “baking” your potatoes within the microwave. It’s a super-quick solution to get a baked potato on the desk. Sure, it may not be the fluffiest, and the pores and skin received’t crisp up the identical means because the oven, however when you’re simply including butter, bitter cream, or my favourite Heinz Baked Beans, then does it actually matter?
But, I practiced persistence with Brown’s baked potato recipe—and, I’ll admit it, it was definitely worth the wait.
The inside was extremely fluffy—a lot in order that I took just a few bites even earlier than including my toppings. While I’m not one to often eat the pores and skin of a baked potato, I did take just a few nibbles and the outside had a superbly crisp chew.
So, when you do take pleasure in all the potato, Brown’s methodology is definitely for you. Otherwise, would I wait an hour and 10 minutes for a baked potato each time? Probably not when the microwave is such an amazing choice and I’m simply going to physician the potato up anyway. But, on particular events after I need a easy buttered baked potato to be the star, I’ll completely use Brown’s approach.
