Nail 'em up!

Blazer

I've heard of skewering a baked potato with a large steel nail to speed the cooking process. Anyone ever try that? If so, how much quicker did it bake?

SpanishJoe

IMHO, Nails aren't for cooking - they may be galvanized, or covered with oil, not tasty, have all sorts of heavy metal contamination depending on the quality, and I doubt you'd save all that much time. What's an hour, anyway?

-SJ

Stanley

They make potato spikes just for this purpose (which should negate the cleanliness concerns), BUT... I agree, piercing the skin for the sake of speed is compromising the finished product.

Dut

I use them all the time.

Do not use galvanized. I use 10d Bright Common. Wash the nails to remove any residue. Wash the potatoe, rub with olive oil and roll in sea salt. I press down a little to get the sea salt to stick in the skin.
Insert a nail in each end of the potatoe and cook for 45 minutes at approx 400 deg.

Spring Chicken

They actually sell some aluminum nails for that purpose in those junk mail-order catalogs we get by the hundreds.

I've never used a nail or saw the need to use one. I nuke my potatoes for a few minutes just to get the inside started, oil them and douse with kosher salt, wrap in foil and place on the Egg while I'm cooking other stuff. By the time everything else is done, so are the potatoes. We eat everything, skin and all they're so good.

Spring "Nail 'em Dano" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

FlaMike

No nails here, no foil either. Strictly "au natural". Just a light coat of evoo, a sprinkle of montreal steak seasoning, and a bit of no-salt seasoning. about an hour to 1 1/2, depending on the temp, and they're ready.

RRP

I use these all the time - they are 3.5" made of aluminum and are specifically made for baked potatoes. I bought them at a local "if we don't have it - you don't need it" store.

Rascal

I tried that once in the m/w. It was spectacular to watch and it cooked in a flash!

Rascal

I agree with the no-foil approach. IMHO, foiling creates a steaming chammber. EVOO, & coarse salt does it for me as I like them skins nice'n crunchy (almost burnt)!

Semolina Pilchard

When I was kid my dad would wrap potatoes in foil and stick them in the coals of the campfire. He did the spiking with a nail thing. Did it help, I dunno, I was a goofy little kid, I thought vienna sausages were tasty.

I remember him specifically not using galvinized nails, but like someone else said, even non-galvinized nails can be pretty unsanitary. Maybe an icepick would work well.

Ah, the good old days. Jabbing food with construction equipment, did not know what a seat belt was, riding a bicycle without a helmet, carbon was what was left after a campfire, and your footprint was what you left on the beach. And we somehow lived through it all.

Rascal

True, and a "raincoat" was something you donned when venturing out in nasty weather. Good grief, Charlie Brown!!

Semolina Pilchard

And someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder would say "happiness is having an itch for every scratch."

Rascal

Yep! And the snare was set for the likes of you, dahlin'! 8 - )~

FlaMike

me too.