Baked Potatoes

Barbara Kafka's notes on baking potatoes graphically illustrate why we value her Microwave Gourmet. "I do not think that a baking potato cooked in a microwave oven is a baked potato as I understand it: with a crisp skin and light, mealy flesh. Of course, if you've been baking potatoes wrapped in foil in a regular oven, you won't see the difference."

1. Preheat the oven to 475^o.
   
   
2. Scrub the potatoes. Coat them with the oil (we put the oil in a shallow sauce; brushing would work as well).
   
   
3. Place the potatoes on a rack in a roasting pan, put them in the oven, and bake for approximately an hour. Larger potatoes may take 10 or 15 minutes extra. When the potatoes are done, you'll see that the skin has pulled slightly away from the flesh.
   
   

4 servings