4 Levels of Loaded Baked Potato: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur Onika, home cook Gabrielle, and professional chef Frank Proto from The Institute Of Culinary Education - to prepare us their favorite loaded baked potato recipe. Once each level of chef had served up their spuds, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way - both good and bad. Which level of baked potato looks the tastiest to you?


Spend more time learning with Chef Frank on his YouTube channel, ProtoCooks!
Or on Instagram at @protocooks
The Institute of Culinary Education is on Instagram at @iceculinary
Follow Gabrielle at @gabchappel
Find Onika at @onikacomedy
Looking for Rose? Head to @rosemarytrout_foodscience


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[who]

Frank is back people. He has returned from years of growing his potatoes.

[HopeGrace]

Frank creates gourmet food that sounds absolutely delicious without being pretentious

[bboysoulzero]

Level 1 doesnt look, act or is clueless like a real level 1 chef

[legion]

Lv1: "I don't think you need to poke the potato, it makes it ugly"
Lv3: "POKE THE POTATO OR IT WILL EXPLODE"

[tezm]

gabbie: “i love garlic”
also gabbie: “just use 1 clove, we dont need that much”
garlic lovers: 👁👄👁

[igorkedamono]

Frank: now let's prepare the soil for our potato to grow in...

[strategicalwolffe]

The reason they postponed it for so long was because Frank was still growing his potatoes

[DaveCordova]

Please bring Onika back! She is such a joy to watch and a great cook. Definitely worthy of level 2.

[Callithyia]

Onika is all around amazing but can we also just appreciate the artistry that went into coordinating that outfit?

[EastSider]

I love that Frank and Onika are confident enough in their own taste buds to embrace Velveeta. It’s delicious, but its low social status has a lot of people rejecting it for no good reason. Major props to them both!

[leighannaperrin]

Tips from an actual level 1 chef: throw potato in microwave for 7 minutes. Add butter, cheese if it's not expired, sour cream if it exists... Enjoy!

[gubayova]

This level 1 is actually a level 2, you can't fool us

[aposslex]

I think the first two did well but this is one where I’m taking level 3 no hesitation

[ecsix]

All of them look amazing in different ways.

[philodygmn]

Rose did such a good job with this video, answering all the questions at the back of my mind about the recipes shown. I really appreciate her contributions and she is a very good presenter.

[friedrice]

Everyone to anyone else: *who you?*

Everyone when they see Frank: *HEY FRANK*

[alexarose]

They didn’t invite Emily because they knew she’d just stuff her potatoes with ketchup and call it a day 😂😂

[AshrafulIslam]

*Fun fact:* Frank was actually experimenting with different types of soil and farming potatoes for this video and that is why he didn’t make an appearance for a while

[Lightningbomb]

Gabrielle: "we're going to use a sweet potato"
Me: *disqualified*

[GMN]

Onika's First Step - Wash my Russet Potatoes

Gabrielle's First Step - Wash my sweet potatoes

Frank's First Step - Alright so first we create the cells of the potato...