when you order a baked potato do you eat the skin?

Question

I usually do, but my mother says not to, because most places don't scrub their potatoes well, and she says the "eyes" are poisonous, which I think she's crazy. But the skin has all the fiber and I like it. So what do you do-do you eat the skin or leave it?

Answer 1

The skin has most of the nutrients.

Figure that the potato is baked, so anything not scrubbed completely will still be sterilized in 350° heat.

I don't normally order baked potatoes when out to eat, because I usually go out for foreign foods. On the rare occasions when I go out for a steak, and get a baked potato (usually prefer au gratin from The Taste of Texas), the kitchens do a good job, because I'm not going to pay 40 bucks for a steak and dirty potato, and neither is anyone else.

The eyes are only poisonous when the potato is raw, and it takes more than one.

Answer 2

Small potatoes Ground beef, mushrooms, cheese, and any other toppings you fancy Vent the potatoes by poking single holes in the skin with a toothpick. Don't use a fork; the rows of holes this creates can weaken the skin, making it rip later on. Bake the potatoes, then slice them in half along the long axis so you have two "boats" from each spud. While they are hot, score the potato flesh with a knife, being careful not to cut through to the skin. Scoop out the potato after the scoring has loosened it, leaving some on the inside of the skin. Fill it with the toppings, or top it with the fillings, however you wanna look at it. The filling can be pretty much what you want. Pizza-like toppings in general work well here. As with okonomiyaki, I like to brown some ground beef with thinly-sliced mushrooms, drain it well, then fill the potato with that. To keep the stuff in place I mix the meat & mushrooms with more potato, which absorbs the flavor nicely. Putting shredded cheese over the top and then microwaving it to melt it creates a cheese "net."

Answer 3

Your mother must have worked in a commercial kitchen. When I eat baked potatoes at home, I eat the skins because I know they have been cleaned and, as you said, the skin has all the fiber... and the vitamins and minerals, too... but I just don't trust the average kitchen employee to be as thorough in cleaning the skins as I am when fixing them for my own consumption.

As for the eyes being poisonous, your mother is right, but they have to be raw to be dangerous. If the potato is cooked through (the center should be right at the boiling point for water 212 deg. F) then any toxins in the eyes are neutralized.

Answer 4

Being a former chef and having done the ordering for a number of places, now a days the potatos are washed after they come in from the field, some are wrapped in gold coloured or regular foil, that does not bake them they steam, but on a tray and baked open, they come out fluffy, I like other have always eaten mine, sometimes it id the best thing on the plate, and you can use more sour cream, chives, butter and bacon bit to clear it up.

Answer 5

Yes I eat the skin when I have a baked potato. I don't even peel the potato when I boil them for making mashed potatoes. The skins are great.

Answer 6

It depends on the restaurant and how the skin looks. Sometimes they look kind of nasty or burnt, or are kind of tough/soggy, and obviously I don't eat those. The eyes are not poisonous! The fiber is all in the skin, at least that's what my mom taught me.

Answer 7

My job has me going into the kitchens of different restaurants and,from what i have seen ,they always wash the potatoes before cooking them.So,eat all skin you want.btw the eyes are not poisonous,but if the area around the eye is still green it can make your stomache upset.

Answer 8

You could eat the skin but what I do is melt some butter an put it on the potato skin
Yummy an my Tummy

Answer 9

Your mother is right about the eyes of the potato but if it is fresh you should eat the skin since it has many nutrients.

Answer 10

I eat the skin as well, funny my mum used to say the same about the eyes being poisonous as well, but I'm still here.