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Baked potato
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A baked potato, also known as a jacket potato when given additional fillings such as cheese or chicken, is the edible result of baking a potato. When well cooked, a baked potato has a fluffy interior, but a crispy skin.
Potatoes can be baked in a convection oven, a microwave oven, on a grill, or on/in an open fire. Some restaurants use special ovens designed specifically to cook large numbers of potatoes, and keep them warm and ready for service.
Prior to cooking the potato is cleaned, and possibly basted with oil or butter, and/or salt.
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Encyclopedia
A baked potato, also known as a jacket potato when given additional fillings such as cheese or chicken, is the edible result of baking a potato. When well cooked, a baked potato has a fluffy interior, but a crispy skin.
Potatoes can be baked in a convection oven, a microwave oven, on a grill, or on/in an open fire. Some restaurants use special ovens designed specifically to cook large numbers of potatoes, and keep them warm and ready for service.
Prior to cooking the potato is cleaned, and possibly basted with oil or butter, and/or salt. Pricking the potato with a fork or knife allows steam to escape during the cooking process. Potatoes cooked in a microwave without pricking the skin will explode due to built up internal pressure from unvented steam, but potatoes will not explode in the oven if the skin is not pierced. It takes between one and two hours to bake a potato in a conventional oven. Microwaving takes about six minutes but does not generally produce a crisp skin.
Some varieties of potato such as Russet and King Edward potato are more suitable for baking than others, due to both their size and consistency.
Wrapping the potato in aluminium foil before cooking in a standard oven will help to retain moisture, while leaving it unwrapped will create a crispy skin. When cooking over an open fire or in the coals of a grill requires wrapping the potato in a jacket of foil to prevent burning. A baked potato is fully cooked when its internal temperature reaches 99 °C (210 °F).
Once a potato has been baked, some people remove the skin and eat only the softer and moister interior, while others enjoy the taste and texture of the crispy skin. From a nutrition standpoint, a large percent of the vitamins, minerals, and trace elements in a potato are found within or immediately below the skin. However, any remnants of pesticides, fungicides or chemical coatings left over from cultivation are likely to be found there as well. Potatoes baked in their skins may lose between 20 to 40% of their Vitamin C content because heating in air is slow and vitamin inactivation can continue for a long time. Small potatoes bake more quickly than large ones and therefore retain more of their Vitamin C.
Despite the popular misconception that potatoes are fattening, baked potatoes can be used as part of a healthy diet.
Variations
Some people bake their potatoes and then scoop out the interior, leaving the skin as a shell. The white interior flesh is then mixed with various other food items such as cheese, butter, cream and bacon bits. This mixture is then spooned back into the skin shells and they are replaced in the oven to warm through. These are known variously as loaded potato skins, filled potatoes and twice baked potatoes. In Great Britain the term for this is a "jacket potato," and the fillings tend to be more varied than they are in America: baked beans, curried chicken, tuna, and prawn fillings are popular, and in Scotland even haggis is used as a filling for jacket potatoes.
Regional variations
North America
Many restaurants serve baked potatoes with sides (commonly referred to as toppings) such as butter, sour cream, chives, green onions, shredded cheese, bacon bits. These potatoes are a side item to a steak dinner, or some similar entree. They are optional and the customer can choose as many or as few as they wish.
Putting oil and then coarse salt on a potato before baking will make the skin crisp.
The spud is usually a slang term baked potato big enough for a meal without any side dishes.
One famous baked potato was that served by the Northern Pacific Railroad. The song "Great Big Baked Potato" (words by N.R. Streeter and H. Caldwell ; Music by Oliver George) was written about this potato.
United Kingdom
The baked potato has been a favorite in the UK for many years. In the mid 1800s, the potato was sold on the streets by hawkers during the autumn and winter months. In London, it was estimated that some 10 tons of baked potatoes were sold each day by this method. Guy Fawkes Night was a traditional time to eat baked potatoes, usually ones baked in the glowing embers of a bonfire, however this is no longer common and they are eaten at any time of the year.
As part of the upsurge for more healthy fast food, the baked potato has again taken to the street of the UK both in mobile units like the 'Big Ben' Mobile Oven and restaurants. A company by the name of Spud U Like has for many years sold baked potatoes with a variety of fillings or toppings including baked beans, chili, chicken tikka, prawn cocktail, tuna, coleslaw and cheese.
Turkey
Kumpir, a baked potato with various fillings, is a popular fast food in Turkey. In its basic form, it is made with potatoes that are wrapped with aluminum foil and baked in special ovens. The potatoes are cut straight from the middle and the insides are mixed with unsalted butter and puréed with kasar cheese. However, all sorts of foods can be added to the potato: mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, sweetcorn, sliced green and black olives, sausage slices, carrots, steamed peas, mushrooms and Russian salad. The cafés in Ortaköy, Istanbul make kumpir that are especially popular with the tourists and offer even more ingredients.
Russia
Although baked potato with various fillings is not considered a traditional Russian dish, it has recently been gaining popularity as a fast food.
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