The bag of Russet potatoes, having started to grow eyes, kept staring me down every time I went into the back room. It was time to finish them off and we needed a side dish for our go-to garlicky chicken meal. I went to the first place I often look when I want to review old-school ways of preparing staple foods - my mom's 1973 edition of Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking. Looking for some sort of baked potato recipe given the type of potatoes I had, I came across an eponymous dish on the page facing the various baked potato recipes which I had (surprisingly perhaps) never heard of that Rombauer describes as "one of the most beautiful of all culinary wares." She was referring to a version of Potatoes Anna made with a lidded copper dish and that called for the use of "a corer the size of a small biscuit cutter" in order to make even rounds. Not having either of those tools at my disposal, I did a quick online search to see if I could find a simpler version of the dish. Scanning the numerous recipes that came up, I settled on a Martha Stewart recipe that merely required the potatoes, just under a stick of butter, and salt/pepper. We did have to eat a slightly later dinner because I hadn't realized that the dish needed to cook for at least an hour in a 450 degree oven.
I wouldn't call it the most beautiful culinary creation, but I was impressed by how the whole thing stayed together after Owen inverted it onto a serving plate (I am way too impatient and not careful enough to be in charge of any transfers from cooking to serving dish so the task always falls to Owen). It was tasty too but then again can you really go wrong with butter, salt and pepper?
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