Baked Potato

Please bake them, don't nuke them! Most instructions say to pierce the potato all over with a fork. This is an important, not to be overlooked, instruction. I found this out once when I forgot to poke the potato and heard a loud pow in the kitchen. Yep, the potato exploded all over the inside of the oven.

Piercing is fine to prevent explosions, but an even better method is to insert a metal rod clear through the potato lengthwise. Any steam escapes out around the rod and the metal through the middle ensues that the potato cooks evenly and quicker. 

My mom has a set of stainless steel nails for this purpose. Gram had a nifty device with four nails attached that the potatoes stand up on. I just use my kabob skewers.

An average baking potato should take about an hour to cook this way at 350 degrees.