How to skewer a baked potato without leaving bits of foil My preferred method of cooking baked potatoes is to lightly coat them in olive oil, then wrap them in foil and skewer them before baking for a couple of hours. 

The purpose of the skewer is mainly to help the heat conduct through to the centre of the potato, but also to stabilise the potatoes in the baking tray (I balance the skewers across the corners and it lifts the potatoes up out of the tray a little way). The purpose of the foil is to stop the skins drying out and mean you can leave them in the oven for as long as you like without worrying about scorching the skin.

The problem I have is that it's very hard to wrap foil around an already-skewered potato, and if you stab the skewer through the foil-wrapped potato you sometimes end up with "flakes" of foil where the foil tore at the entry and exit points.  

Is there a trick I am missing here?
While I have not tried doing this myself, I would imagine cutting an x into one side of the potato should give you an opening through which to skewer the potato, without dragging foil into the potato itself.