How to Cook the Perfect Jacket Potato
There aren’t many foods as comforting as a really good baked spud, piping hot and slathered in butter. But there are so many ‘tried and tested’ techniques on how to cook it. Do you wrap it in foil first? Sprinkle with salt and rub with olive oil? And what difference does doing all that make? Well, I grabbed a couple of packets of baking potatoes and set to work to find out…
Salt and Oil
This is pretty easy. You just grab the potato, wash it under the tap and then prick it a few times with a sharp knife or fork. You dry it and rub olive oil all over before throwing on a good pinch or two of salt. After around an hour in a hot oven (I used gas mark 7) you should have crisp skin and fluffy potato flesh inside. And it worked. It was probably my favourite out of all the methods I tried, although it did take the whole hour to cook. In a perfect world, the skin could have been even more crisp than it was, but then a longer spell in the oven could have sorted that out. 9/10.
Drying the Potato After Washing
It’s thought that for really crisp jacket potato skin you need to wash and then thoroughly dry the potato before rubbing in the olive oil and salt. This would mean less moisture and steam while cooking and hopefully a really crisp skin that crackles as you cut into it. But does drying it actually make any difference? Well, not much. I didn’t dry this potato - just rubbed oil and salt in while it was still wet from the tap to see what happened. The skin was slightly less thick and crispy but still satisfying. 8/10.
To Wrap or Not To Wrap
Let’s get something straight here. Wrapping your potato in foil does not give it a crisp skin. I tried it. Twice. The centre of the potato was fluffy enough, but the skin was soft and peeled away easily. Save the foil for something else. And yes, the photo was taken AFTER an hour in the oven. 4/10.
The ‘Skewer’ Method
The idea behind this is that the metal conducts the heat from the oven and cooks the inside more quickly. It baked, speared with its skewer, alongside the other potatoes. After 30 minutes I tested it with a knife to see how it was getting on. It was actually cooked through to the centre, while the others were still solid in the middle. So that worked. But it needed crisper skin, so it ended up staying in there until the others were done anyway. The skewer, by the way, gets INCREDIBLY hot. Use tongs or good oven gloves to remove it. 7/10.
Microwave and Oven Combo
For this method, you pierce the potato all over first. Then it just needs a 4-minute blast on high in the microwave. Take out the fizzing, hissing potato (be careful, by the way), give it a salting and oiling and bake it in the oven. All for a speedier baked potato. And yes, it does cook more quickly - it was ready after about 45 minutes. The only other difference between this potato and the dried salt + oil one was that the knife marks became a bit stretched and more obvious, but the skin was indeed just as crisp. 8/10.
Slow Cooker Spud
You might have seen these ‘jacket potatoes in a slow cooker’ posts all over Pinterest. I had, and I was excited to try it. Could this be the answer to effortless crowd food for Bonfire Night? Sorry to disappoint, but it isn’t. I wrapped the potato in foil as directed and placed it in the slow cooker for 3 hours. On unwrapping, it was hot but looked like a giant boiled potato. The skin was fragile and thin, and easily peeled off. Also, the inside wasn’t actually that fluffy, although it was totally cooked through. 2/10
Baking it PLAIN
So what if you wanted to bake your potato without salt or oil? What’s all the fuss with it, anyway? I baked one absolutely plain (just pierced so it didn’t explode) to find out. When it emerged from the oven, the centre was good - nice and hot, tender and fluffy - but the skin had a soft, puffy, leathery texture. Seems that oil and salt is pretty important for that perfect, crisp skin, after all. 5/10.
So. Lesson learned. For the best jacket potato just wash it, prick it all over with a sharp knife and dry it. Then rub with olive oil and salt and bake for about one hour at around gas mark 7 or 8 (220-230ºC) until it’s crisp on the outside and tender in the centre. Stick a metal skewer in or give it a quick blast in the microwave first if you want it to cook quicker. But don’t bother with foil, or the slow cooker if you want crispy, crackly skin.
[Photos: Jo Romero]
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