The Perfect Jacket Potato
The clue to the perfect jacket potato lies in the name – any old baked potato can have a delectably fluffy interior, but it takes real skill to achieve that wonderfully crunchy skin. It's not something which can be rushed, which is presumably why most high-street potatoes are such damp squibs: this is a treat best cooked at home. A note of caution, however, from the ever-wise Nigel Slater: "A good baked spud is as much about luck as good planning," he warns. "You can follow all the rules and yet food sometimes does its own thing … Sometimes cooks just have to cross their fingers." True enough – but you can at least improve your chances by getting the rules right to start with.
Ingredients
- 1 floury potato per person e.g. Maris Piper, King Edward, Estima, Desiree
- about 0.7 oz coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 430F.
- When the oven is up to temperature, wash the potatoes well, and prick each in a couple of places with a fork. Allow to dry slightly, while you tip your salt into a shallow bowl. Roll each potato in the salt to give an even coating, and then place on the middle shelf of the oven, preferably directly on the rack.
- Cook for around an hour, then give them a squeeze – the potato should just give, and the skin should be distinctly crisp. If not, leave them for 10 minutes, and check again – if you overcook them, the insides will be dry, so it’s important to be vigilant.
- Take out of the oven and put whole on to plates: they shouldn’t be opened until you’re ready to eat, and then preferably by hitting them sharply so they burst, for maximum fluffiness. Do your thing with butter, and tuck in immediately.