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I'm trying to understand the purpose of salting a potato prior to baking it. I've always oiled to skin to make it softer, but I don't see the purpose of salting it. What does salting the skin accomplish?

Deb McLane
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  • This is a 'hardcore' version of your question, but the answers might provide some insight: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/50468/why-would-you-place-potatoes-on-salt-when-baking-in-the-oven – greedyscholars Nov 05 '17 at 22:08

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Seasoning during cooking always reduces the amount of seasoning needed when compared to seasoning at the table. That is the first reason, the second is that applying salt to the skin helps draw moisture out of the skin, and makes it crisper.

JustDaveN
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    I would strongly dispute “seasoning during cooking always reduces the amount of seasoning needed when compared to seasoning at the table”. Or perhaps I just misunderstand what you're saying... do you mean “when some quantity of seasoning X has already been added during cooking, you need to add less extra X at the table than if none had been used in cooking” (which is pretty much generally true, but rather too obvious to seem worth mentioning) or “when you already apply X which cooking instead of at the table, you need less X in total”. – leftaroundabout Nov 05 '17 at 22:16
  • Leftaroundabout: I meant the first one. While "too obvious to seem worth mentioning", it seemed to me to be the root of the question the OP was asking, so I did not want to make any assumptions. – JustDaveN Nov 06 '17 at 22:46