How to make *amazing* jacket potatoes...

... if you like your potatoes soft and fluffy on the outside, and super crispy on the outside, that is :) No soft and wrinkly potatoes skins to be found here.

You might be wondering what the point is in writing a blog post like this, since jacket potatoes are easy right? Right, it's easy to make a jacket potato that tastes nice (it's also quite easy to mess up jacket potatoes and have some under cooked thing, but that's another story). But I'm talking about a jacket potato that tastes amazing.

The secret to making amazing jacket potatoes:

1. Time/Patience - this recipe does not involve any sort of microwave shortcut!
2. Oil (yes, I know it makes the meal less healthy but I don't care, oil really crisps up the outside nicely)
3. Kitchen foil to wrap, to avoid the skin getting too burnt (though I have cooked without when desperate)

This is not a 'get back from work and rustle up a meal quickly' kind of recipe. This is a 'I have a couple of hours before I need to eat' kind of recipe. Having said that, it involves the bare minimum of effort. Once you do the prep and put the potatoes in the oven, you pretty much leave them be. The recipe instructions may look long but only because I'm making them very precise.

Jacket potatoes are a perfect Sunday-kicking-around-the-house meal. Top with whatever you fancy, though my personal favourite is baked beans with cheese, and some mayonnaise and Encona hot pepper sauce on the side. Yum!

Ingredients:

Potatoes, washed (either 1 very large per person or 2 medium sized. Smaller potatoes will cook considerably faster.)
Olive oil
Salt (preferably a flavoured salt and herb mix in a grinder)
Black pepper (preferably in a grinder)

Instructions:

Before you start:
Cut out foil squares large enough to completely cover each potato.
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C / 445 degrees F / Gas Mark 7

To prepare:
1. Pierce the potatoes thoroughly with a fork, all over.

2. Rub a small amount of olive oil into the outside. For best results brush using a pastry brush so that you don't spread it on too thickly. Place the potato on the pre-cut foil.

3. Grind salt and pepper onto the outside of the potato, turning it as you do to ensure full coverage.

 4. Wrap the potato and place on a baking tray.

5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 for each potato.

 To cook, you want to first cook with the foil on, before unwrapping the foil for the last half hour or so to crisp up the outside.

6.

For medium potatoes: Cook for 1 hour 15 mins covered, then unwrap the foil, checking that a knife easily goes into the potato in the centre. If so, cook for a further 15-30 minutes - until the outside is browned to your liking.

For large potatoes: Cook for 1 hour 30 minutes - 1 hour 45 minutes (but make sure the potato is cooked through when you unwrap it as some very large potatoes can take longer depending on how good your oven is), then unwrap and cook for a further 15-30 minutes, again until browned to your liking.

If you are feeling impatient, just remember: undercooked potatoes are horrible. Potatoes cooked for longer don't taste any worse. So if in doubt, leave for another 10 minutes!

7. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, prepare your filling (whatever it may be).

8. Remove potatoes from oven, slice open, top with your filling, and enjoy!