Wednesday, May 20, 2009

How to cook the perfect baked potato

First choose an appropriate patch of bush...preferably one that is overdue for a fuel reduction bonfire [ dawg added for scale purposes only! ]


It is of vital importance that your day be fine, clear and lacking in breeze or the threat of precipitation ... and out of the fire restriction period [ so up here that basically means between early May and October ]
It doesn't absolutely have to have a cornflower blue and cloudless sky but if you can manage that so much the better

Dress appropriately - no flowing skirts or trailing sleeves

Next gather together:
a comfy folding chair
rake
gardening gloves [ mine are leather ]
good book
cup of your favoured hot beverage
canine helper optional but desirable

rake vigourously until you have amassed a modest pile [ again dawg added purely for purposes of scale and not at all because he's cute ]


and now a very important note:
blokes
build great big bonfires that scare the bejesus out of everyone in the immediate vicinity.
I, being of the female persuasion, build small controllable mounds - no more than a metre high and generally about half that size - and then feed them from other heaps. The resulting fire will be about four times the height of the pile

... so now let me see ... if the nice fella down the road makes one huge pile about 3 or 4 metres high - times four ...

make sure that the surrounding area is swept completely clear for several metres. Basically imagine the potential height of the fire, add a bit extra for safety and imagine that flame suddenly moving horizontally if the wind changes. I'm sure you get the drift.
However much of an area you thought would suffice ... make it a bit bigger. Don't forget to look UP.

wrap your chosen spuds individually in foil
bury at the base of your soon-to-be pyre and set it alight.

Even though there was not a hint of breeze prior to ignition, it will immediately become apparent that you have placed the comfy chair in the direction of prevaling air movement

move comfy chair
find something to serve as foot rest/cup holder/ book tablenow sit back
read
enjoy the day
move comfy chair again
get up and poke / top up the fire about every 8-10 pages

after an hour or so, having allowed the fire to die down

unearth your foil package[s], slather with butter, black pepper and cheese of choice [ mine was goat cheese - fresh, home made by PND and Brenda, and very creamy ]

et voila

ze perfect spud

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a bit of a pyromaniac, and love a fire outdoors - move progressively down our 1.5 acre block raking and burning leaves and sticks - never think of the potatoes, will do that next time, then when I come back inside half the tea is done.

Blessings each day said...

Incredible...I love how you so carefully walked us through each step plus you used so many safety measures!! For awhile there it looked as if you had your cute little puppy dog fetching the wood to help you, putting him to work, so to speak! He does make the pictures even cuter, tho!

blessings,

marcy

p.s. Now I'm hungry!

ozjane said...

Am very impressed by the rock table...was that built before or after checking wind direction or do we have several??
Now we know what dawg did, and what you ate....but what was dawg reward....apart from stick fetching which he does so fetchingly.
Cute little B that he is.

catsmum said...

rocks, upturned flower pots - whatever comes to hand, Jane ! - and Bear took up wood fetching with no help from me ... not the small thrown 'fetch-it' sticks either. I saw him trying to drag over a branch that was a good 3 metres long. It defeated him but he gave it his best shot LOL

Unknown said...

YUM scrumptous! I have done that! and also done a cowboys dinner! A patty of ground beef, yummy onions, carrotts, wrap in heavy duty foil along with your potatoe and WHALA, DINNER! sooo good1

Warty Mammal said...

Spud, yum, but fresh goat cheese ... wow.

Bernie said...

Now I have learned something today which I didn't know before, thank you for sharing this. I really enjoy your post, dawg is so cute and that potato looks absolutely delicious. Have a wonderful day.....:-)

Lynne said...

Ooo! just as well we had potato soup for dinner or I might be hungry!

A well written recipe! ;-)
Thanks for sharing.

Sarah said...

Lunch and a clean yard!!

Alwen said...

Mmmmm! Taties!

We seldom get a still day here. The wind blows off Lake Michigan all day, takes a breath, then blows offshore most of the night. Most of our trees lean a bit!

Good to see Bear approved the chair for comfy-ness.

Donna Lee said...

We are not allowed to have open flames anymore. No more burning leaves. I could start the fire in the grill but it wouldn't be the same.

I'm sorry to hear about your uncle. He sounds like an interesting man.

Linda Mullen said...

Mmmm looks yummy.