Cooking tip #2 Old Potato Baking

It is common knowledge that potatoes should be pierced prior to baking--otherwise they may explode.

Vast experience has shown this to be true. Today I learned a corollary to that bit of truth: Oldish potatoes might still explode if poked in the normal way.

Today I baked 5 potatoes and they were fine, no sprouts or anything like that. They were a little old though and had that slightly dessicated, shrunken look and feel to them. I poked each of them 4 times with a fork and baked at 375F for an hour. At the end of the hour, two had burst so I got out a knife to poke the other three. The first one I poked blew-up real good. The other two I was more gentle with and they gasped out a puff of steam, but held.

Next time: Good deep piercings with a knife before baking. Now to clean the oven.