Hardware Store cooking? Am I the only one?

[kozar]

Am I the only one that does this? Baked roofing nail potatoes on the grill?

It’s LilBit’ fave, so I was just musing while they do their grill thing. Thought I’d share,

Ingredients are potatoes, kosher salt, a spritz of melted butter, 6inch stainless steel nails, and a $1 hair spritzer from Dollar store, foil.
First, prep! Tear off as many pieces of foil and stack them, melt the butter, pour butter into the hair spritzer, and here we go!

Potato , on foil, spritz, turn tater, spritz, sprinkle Kosher, turn, Kosher again and wrap up.
Inset nail into potato BUT NOT ALL THE WAY THROUGH! ( you’ll see why later)

Repeat as needed.

On a hot grill until taters feel tender at a squeeze, ( please wear a grill glove or oven mitt)

Take off grill. With both hands heat protected, grab tater and pull out nail, drop the nail in bowl of cool water. ( this is why you don’t put nail through, no stab wounds here)

What you will end up with, is a fluffy baked potato, and a crispy, salty peeling snack as well.

Because of the high heat,and butter or oil you spritzed, the nail moves heat throughout the whole potato instead of outside to in. The peeling takes the brunt to create a crispy skin, while the middle, will be perfect.

Oh, and it cuts the grilling time by about 40% .

And of course, wash your Taters!

Disclaimer: I tossed some fun stuff in here, but , this is the only way we eat baked potatoes in our Lil world.


I now return to my regularly scheduled day,

KozandLilBit

[PJMcK]

1. I've done this for years

The nail transfers the heat cooking the potato from inside as well as outside.

It works on the grill and in the oven. Don’t use a nail in a microwave!

I got some stainless steel nails as they don’t rust.

[kozar]

3. Oh yeah , gotta you stainless, and,

I’ve done for years as well. As I love this forum, and the things I’ve learned from others her on techniques, thought I’d share.


Oh and , I just ran out to check taters, grill ran out of propane, maybe I should spend some time in the Outdoor Living forum. Lol

[MiHale]

2. Do almost everything you do...

except don’t use the nail anymore. Large piece of foil then I dump some kosher salt in a pile wet down with olive oil and the rub the mixture all over the potato wrap tightly, grill. Repeat with more potatoes if needed. Skin still gets crispy.

Delicious.

[kozar]

4. This sounds like

Like , way back, way way back in the day when my Dad taught me how to roast a whole prime rib roast. The salt and moisture create a crust.

Hmm, this would make the peeling even crunchier?

And I learn yet again, thanks!!!

Koz

[MiHale]

5. That's why cooking is so much fun...

All the delicious experiments. Salt cooking does make a beautiful crust.

Gotta watch it nowadays cuz of heart crap.

[kozar]

7. Exactly,

Dad’s recipe for rib roast took 4 boxes of Kosher salt, that had to broken with a hammer, and you discard all the salt. ( He only did it on NYE, ) But , I’m gonna try this concept next time.
Koz

[marble falls]

6. Except for the lead, nickle, zink, lubricants -sounds delish.

Nickle in the steel, lead in the steel to make it more ductile to form the heads. Lubricants to shape the point. Zink for the coating.

[kozar]

8. Hmm I never tried

Putting zinc on the taters! ( sarcasm, LilBit is in a great mood today, which, puts me in a better mood)

Good point taken, marble.

Koz

[marble falls]

9. It's worse than the zinc in suppliments read MSDS on the box of nails ...

https://www.ironwirenails.com/pdf/steel-nails.pdf

(Don't let the iron fool you, 90% of nails are made of steel, nails use lower grades of steel, under 400SS. It's not the steel, it's the grade of steel and what they coat with. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity}

• Material & coating
Sometimes, the elements of the project will be exposed to outdoor or wet conditions for a long time. If so, except for
a proper nail length, an anti-corrosion surface coating is another factor to consider in making the project strong and
reliable.

○ Electro-galvanized. it is a zinc electrolytic process that adding a thin coating to the carbon steel nails.
Electrogalvanizing coating can withstand dry and low-corrosion applications for a few more months or
possibly an extra year. But it is not recommended for corrosive environments.

○ Hot dipped galvanized. It is an effective way of metal corrosion, mainly used for metal structure on the
facilities of the industry. Hot dipped galvanized nails are recommended for pressure treated wood and
cedar which can cause standard nails to corrode quickly.

○ Stainless Steel 304/316. These types of materials are the appropriate choices for high level corrosion
protection requirement. Especially for most exterior applications. 316 grade stainless steel,
chromium-nickel alloys, can stand up Marine and corrosive industrial atmos



You could go to a scrap dealer and buy a rod of food grade stainless and cut our own spud nails, or even use skewers.

[kozar]

11. Kinda off topic ,

I understand, but, please, not on here.



Koz

[rsdsharp]

10. We didn't do the foil and butter, but my mother used the nails to bake potatoes

when I was a kid. We had six of them (there were six of us) and they were kept in the drawer with all of the other cooking utensils.

I’ve got a beer can chicken contraption for the grill. It has holders for two cans for the chickens, and spikes for potatoes around the outside; same principle.

[kozar]

12. Holy Crap,

I just bought a beer can chicken cooker, she loved it!
Koz

[yellowdogintexas]

13. I have one made of pottery

It roasts a beautiful chicken!

[kozar]

16. I use apple juice

Instead of beer though

[Kali]

14. I use metal skewers, same principle

And also tend to use bacon grease for the bake, butter for eating. And we do same in oven or grill. Really cuts the time.

[Warpy]

15. Eight penny nail, as I recall

The only way I ever got fluffy baked potatoes was if I cut a very deep X into the top, within a millimeter or so of the bottom, and baked them for at least 90 minutes, usually when I was baking a whole chicken. Super long baking is what did the job for me, that with a very large cut into the potato to release all the steam.

I'm in an apartment and have noplace to grill, so this is what I have to do. It's just an alternate method to yours.