Pefecting a jacket potato can be a tricky kitchen task at the best of times, so if you’re someone who likes their jacket potato crispy on the outside but fluffy in the middle, this may be the method for you.
Culture Cravings, who showcase online how to prepare the most popular dishes from around the world, explained the key to success. They began a TikTok video by pointing out that their new approach does not involve wrapping the potato in tin foil at any point.
“The last video about how I bake my jacket potatoes caused a bit of a stir in the comments section about the dangers of cooking with aluminium foil,” they elaborated. “So I listened and baked them without it.”
Culture Cravings went on to reveal how their recipe differs from many others’. “Boil the potato for 15 minutes first,” they advised.
Next, they safely removed the potato from a pan and placed it into a baking dish before drizzling oil over it and seasoning with salt and pepper. “Bake in the oven for about one hour at 220 degrees [Celsius],” Culture Cravings recommended.
Writing in response, one TikTok user asked: “May I ask what you stuffed the potatoes with in this video? It looks delicious!” To which Culture Cravings said it was an Indian Kemma Curry, topped with grated cheese.
101 Cookbooks offered further advice, meanwhile, on how to create a perfect baked potato that has a fluffy, light interior and crisp skin. “Run a sharp knife down the jacket of one and you reveal the kind of potato interior that loves to drink butter and doubles down on salt,” they recommend.
As for baking without foil, they concur online: “The short answer is no [don’t use it], unless you’re camping and cooking potatoes in the coals of a campfire. Wrapping a potato in foil yields a potato with wet skin. The foil prevents moisture from the potato from escaping, and keeps it close to the skin. If you like a crisp, dry skin (as most of us do), skip the tinfoil.”
Parboiling also works for roast potatoes too, according to Nisha Vora, a vegan recipe developer at Rainbow Plant Life.
“It softens the insides just enough so that when they hit the hot oven, the outside gets gorgeously golden and crispy while the interior stays fluffy and tender,” she explained. “Your potatoes start to brown on the outside before the inside has fully cooked through, so you end up with potatoes that are either too firm in the center or a little dry and leathery – not the crispy-crunchy, soft-inside magic we’re going for.”
Nisha added: “Parboiling is the unsung hero of perfectly roasted potatoes.”