Ben Brophy / CC
Honestly, I thought it was a myth. Still, I made sure to stick a fork in it, just in case. I’m talking about exploding potatoes.
I don’t know anyone who’s actually had a potato explode in the oven. And I guess really it was my fault. One did not get stuck with a fork. But really, I had not stuck a fork in other potatoes in my life, and they didn’t blow up.
Although I guess I had noticed a couple of those little tiny potatoes, you know, the ones about an inch or or so across… I’ve had the odd one of those explode. But they are small enough that you have to put them on a pan to cook them and when they blow they are contained and don’t go far. The actual potato was a different story.
I tossed few potatoes in the oven the other night. A couple had small eyes starting to sprout, so I cut them off. I thought I had done the fork thing with all of them, but I guess I missed one. Not quite an hour later, I heard a small pop from the oven. One potato had decided to shed it’s skin.
The skin was just laying there, looking very empty. There was potato everywhere. There was potato on the oven grate, hanging there precariously. There was potato on the bottom of the oven. There was potato on the other potatoes. Maybe I could have tried to stuff the potato back in the skin, but there seemed to be a lot more potato than could ever fit in there. Sort of like popcorn.
I have baked a lot of potatoes over my life. There have probably been many of those that didn’t get their skins pricked by a fork over the years. Only one has ever exploded. And it was spectacular.
Although I don’t want to do it again. The exploding potato may look cool, but someone has to clean it up. Much easier to stick a fork in it before hand.
And yes, the picture with this is a sweet potato. Guess they’ll explode too.
