F2: Baked Potato

Welcome again to Friday's Feast¹. Today I'll be talking about making baked potatoes.

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

• Pumpkin Delight @ Pumpkin Delight
  I always hear about Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day, but don't forget about Brown Bread too.
• Beverly @ Beverly's Back Porch
  Are you ever out of Irish Cream? If you are, here's one you can make yourself.
• Pumpkin Delight @ Pumpkin Delight
  At first I thought this would be another type of Cottage pie, but this could be further from the truth.

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With people posting recipes on how to make various Irish dishes, we tend to forget about the Irish potato famine. So I figured I would honor this with a simple potato recipe. Besides… the other day someone tweeted that they needed to know how to bake potatoes "the old fashioned way" since they typically cook theirs in the microwave.

With inspirations from DS&P

Baked Potato:

4-6 Russet Potatoes

1-2T Chilled Bacon Fat²

If you don't have (or can't have) bacon fat, you can substitute Vegetable Shorting.

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Coat the potatoes with the bacon fat.
   If you want to keep your hands clean, you can use a plastic sandwich bag to spread with.
3. Place the potatoes in the center rack of the oven.
4. Cook between 45 and 60 minutes, or until tender.
5. Remove from oven and serve.
6. Enjoy.

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Even though Saint Patrick's Day was Wednesday— this month is still March. This month is also International Peanut Month (Jimmy would be proud). I also hear that today is St. Joseph's Day (Anybody for Italian). I'm looking for posts that relate to this festive time. Ways to interpret this topic include…

• "Goin' Green"— foods that are (or can be) green.
• What Irish foods do you serve on Saint Patrick's Day?
• Why on earth would they dye the beer green… does it make it more potent?
• St. Joseph is Italian… Any Italian dishes or traditions you want to share?
• George Washington Carver came up with many uses for the peanut… can you?

So… if you have anything that relates to this topic, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL so I can include you in next weeks feast. Even if you have already posted on this topic in the past— your links are always welcome.

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¹ If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution. Also, if you want to see a particular topic— feel free to suggest it as well (I'm always looking for new inspirations).

² I typically cook my bacon in a broiler pan and drain the fat into a jar and store in the refrigerator for use later. I promise that I will post on this one soon if you are curious.