Our Old Blog " Devon Lohan" was filled with fantastic recipes and great food reviews. It's hard to believe the Potato Drop sensation started almost 3 years ago. We have decided to revisit this classic. The following includes the original Potato Drop post as well as a followup "My Experience" post by Money D. and the 4 Minute Microwave Method. Enjoy.
My Favorite Way to Make a Baked Potato ( in the Oven)
So I really like baked potatoes. I like them plain, with butter and/or sour cream, "loaded", "deluxe", whatever.
It's a simple and easy thing to make, and cheap. I mean you can get a 5 lb bag of potatoes for maybe 3 bucks or a very nice loose Russet for less than a buck.
You can even microwave these biotches. But sometimes the potato doesn't come out right. You might cook it for an hour and it's still raw. Then a few minutes later it's overcooked.
In future posts we will discuss all the great toppings ( broccoli and cheddar, chives/sour cream/bacon/cheddar/butter, creamed chipped beef, you know, whatever).
BUT right Now I'm talking the basic baked potato. I will talk about Microwaves ( remember, times vary!) but this is how I cook my perfect baked potato in the fuckin oven.
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Rinse the potato and rub coarse salt all over the skin
3. When the oven is ready just sit the potato right on the rack. It should take about 45 minutes for a medium potato. The skin should be crisp and the inside should be soft. You will be able to push through it.
Very Important Step: THE DROP
When you take the potato out.. Well I worked in a restaurant for many years and I am used to sticking my bare hands in ovens and broilers. So I will just grab it. You may need an oven mitt or some tongs or other utensil. If you have sensitive hands, playing "hot potato" may also accomplish this, especially if your floor is very clean. But, the way IIII do it is: I take the potato out and wrap it in foil or securely in a paper towel ( for reasons that will soon become obvious the potato should be covered).
Then from a height of about 5-6 feet I drop the potato directly on the floor ( I guesss you could put some wax paper there or something). This step is crucial to making an awesome potato because this smashes it and makes it very fluffy. It breaks the skin and the spuds splatter out.
ALTERNATE: If you don't want to drop it or have dirty floors or prefer hitting things, you can do this another way. Take it out and sit it on a plate/counter/cutting board. Put a couple paper towels on top and start "chopping" or beating it. I would say 2-3 swift blows are sufficient. I can best describe the proper strike as a "karate chop" but with fingers bent/half-closed. This will create the same effect as the floor drop.
Season and Eat: For the basic potato I will stick to salt, pepper and butter. After dropping it the potato skin may open on its own. Or you may need to tear/cut it down the middle. It should be fluffy enough. If not, flake it some with your fork. You know how Thomas's English Muffins have nooks and crannies for the butter to seep in? A good potato is kinda like that. It will have lots of little cracks and fissures where toppings will sink. if not, you want to make some wth your fork. Then I sprinkle salt. Then pepper. Then butter. I find this order of condiment application to be crucial.
Then you eat it. I won't tell you how to enjoy your potato, but I eat the skin( usually first just like I do with Birthday cake) and then scoop out and mix up the insides. I like to save the most buttery pices for last and rub them around in any salt and pepper residue.
Enjoy!
It's a simple and easy thing to make, and cheap. I mean you can get a 5 lb bag of potatoes for maybe 3 bucks or a very nice loose Russet for less than a buck.
You can even microwave these biotches. But sometimes the potato doesn't come out right. You might cook it for an hour and it's still raw. Then a few minutes later it's overcooked.
In future posts we will discuss all the great toppings ( broccoli and cheddar, chives/sour cream/bacon/cheddar/butter, creamed chipped beef, you know, whatever).
BUT right Now I'm talking the basic baked potato. I will talk about Microwaves ( remember, times vary!) but this is how I cook my perfect baked potato in the fuckin oven.
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Rinse the potato and rub coarse salt all over the skin
3. When the oven is ready just sit the potato right on the rack. It should take about 45 minutes for a medium potato. The skin should be crisp and the inside should be soft. You will be able to push through it.
Very Important Step: THE DROP
When you take the potato out.. Well I worked in a restaurant for many years and I am used to sticking my bare hands in ovens and broilers. So I will just grab it. You may need an oven mitt or some tongs or other utensil. If you have sensitive hands, playing "hot potato" may also accomplish this, especially if your floor is very clean. But, the way IIII do it is: I take the potato out and wrap it in foil or securely in a paper towel ( for reasons that will soon become obvious the potato should be covered).
Then from a height of about 5-6 feet I drop the potato directly on the floor ( I guesss you could put some wax paper there or something). This step is crucial to making an awesome potato because this smashes it and makes it very fluffy. It breaks the skin and the spuds splatter out.
ALTERNATE: If you don't want to drop it or have dirty floors or prefer hitting things, you can do this another way. Take it out and sit it on a plate/counter/cutting board. Put a couple paper towels on top and start "chopping" or beating it. I would say 2-3 swift blows are sufficient. I can best describe the proper strike as a "karate chop" but with fingers bent/half-closed. This will create the same effect as the floor drop.
Season and Eat: For the basic potato I will stick to salt, pepper and butter. After dropping it the potato skin may open on its own. Or you may need to tear/cut it down the middle. It should be fluffy enough. If not, flake it some with your fork. You know how Thomas's English Muffins have nooks and crannies for the butter to seep in? A good potato is kinda like that. It will have lots of little cracks and fissures where toppings will sink. if not, you want to make some wth your fork. Then I sprinkle salt. Then pepper. Then butter. I find this order of condiment application to be crucial.
Then you eat it. I won't tell you how to enjoy your potato, but I eat the skin( usually first just like I do with Birthday cake) and then scoop out and mix up the insides. I like to save the most buttery pices for last and rub them around in any salt and pepper residue.
Enjoy!
The Now Famous Potato Drop - My Experience...
So ever since I read the now famous potato recipe from Ultra Entertainment, I've had the urge to try it since it sounded good. Now I've had my fair share of potatoes and enjoy it as a side to steak or shrimp etc., but this potato turned out to be good enough to be a meal in itself. I had my fiance follow the recipe and see just how good it would be. The first observation was that we needed to put it in a little longer, as the 45 minutes that was called for didn't quite have it done all the way, but after 20 minutes extra it was good to go, so the time in the oven will vary based on the oven you have. So as we took it out, our next step was the most odd and probably a step you won't find in any other recipe, which is why this step is known as the famous "drop." So as the recipe states, we held the potato up about a little over 5 feet, then dropped it right to the floor, SPLAT! We had the potato wrapped in foil, but as stated , the drop opened the potato up and some splattered out a little. First thing we noticed after looking inside after the drop, was how soft and fluffy the potato was, the drop had worked to perfection! This was definitely the magic touch to this perfect potato. Now I added the butter, which was low fat for me since i try to eat semi-healthy. Next up I added my own personal touch by substituting salt/pepper for a 
personal favorite of mine, Mrs. Dash. The result? Perfection! This was honestly the best potato I ever remember eating. After eating about half of it, I decided to break out some sour cream n test that out, and its another great compliment to the perfect potato i must say. One part that really stood out was the skin. The recipe calls for salt to be rubbed all over the potato before it goes in the oven, and now the skin was full of flavor. I usually don't eat the skin as its normally pretty flavorless, but this time i ate the whole potato, skin and all.So I give two thumbs way up for this recipe and definitely recommend for anyone who is looking to make the perfect potato, you will definitely taste the difference!
Late Night 4 Minute Baked (Nuked) Potato
I'm sitting down with a 30 second soft pretzel to write about a 4 minute potato.
I wrote about making the perfect baked potato before.. Well, here is how to make the speedy microwaved version.
While I prefer cooking with a real oven ( and try to avoid the microwave, Foreman grills,etc) sometimes it's just not practical. I said in my potato post that it would take 45 minutes to cook. Well that's on the low end. A full hour might be necessary. But with some easy prep work the microwave works just fine.
The other night I found myself hungry and didn't have much in the way of convenience food. It was late. I didn't want to cook, and I didn't want to drive or eat Taco Bell or any of that stuff. I also didn't have much money. I DID have almost a full bag of potatoes from making cheese potato soup.
Being a Potato Purist, it wasn't easy popping this incredible spud in the microwave oven. I decided to risk it.
As you know one of the great things about potato preparation is it's fun. Damn fun. We get to slice them, dice them, stab, poke, smack, chop, and drop.
First I took a fork and violently stabbed the Russet about 3 dozen times. The point is to make several small holes in the potato.
Then I inserted the dish in a standard power residential microwave oven. After some brief calculations I decided the perfect time would be 4 minutes- 4:00.
And it was! It turned out perfectly. Medium potato. Average Microwave Power. 4 minutes. I hate to say it, but I think I may PREFER my microwaved version.
It's easy and CHEAP. I figure, when bought in 5 lb sack, a decent sized potato might run 30-35 cents. In about 5 minutes you can have a nice snack or meal. The possibility of toppings are endless. Or you can have it plain or a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a pat of butter. Whatever you like.
And don't forget for even more fun, DO The DROP!
