FOOD NEWS
How Nails Can Help Bake Potatoes Quicker And With Fluffier Results
BY JULIA HOLLAND
Baked potatoes are a classic, but it can take forever for the inside to fully cook. By using a potato nail, you can cook spuds faster while enhancing their fluffy, pillowy texture.
Potato nails are stainless steel or aluminum skewers with a spike on one end and a thin coin-shaped stopper on the other. You stick them into the end of a whole potato vertically.
The metal nails conduct heat into the spuds' centers, cooking them evenly. The nails shave off seven minutes (for steel nails) to eleven minutes (for aluminum nails) of baking time.
You can find kitchen-safe potato nails online or at hardware stores such as Home Depot. To use them, first poke holes in each potato to allow steam to escape while baking.
Next, stick nails into the ends of the potatoes until the coin stopper is flush with the skin. Some recipes recommend two or more nails in each potato for more heat conduction.
Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 40 minutes. To ensure a crispy and flavorful skin, coat it with olive oil and season with coarse salt.