Where's my potato jacket?

Ah, so the drying has to happen when they are fresh? This thread has made me long for an old fashioned jacket potato. I am going to see if any local farmers sell them, but I might have to wait until later in the year.

They've always been baked potatoes around here - Edinburgh had - and still has one or two - some very good 'baked potato' shops.

the jersey royal lack of special taste is in part due to the fact that they no longer use seaweed to mulch them and also I think try to force them which is no good either

Supermarkets have a lot to answer for when it comes to fruit & veg. I try to not to buy from them but sometimes I have no option.

Too much plastic wrapping, too little natural taste. Forcing suppliers to grow "consistent" size and appearance - who cares?

And I hate the strap lines..."taste the difference" etc. Why don't they label the cheaper ones "not so nice" I wonder? .

I'm afraid no one will ever convince me that cooking a baked potato in a microwave, even just to start it off, is going to achieve what I remember. We did it without microwaves then.

The drying out of the potato makes sense and I do remember putting them on the coals of the bonfire on firework night.

Habits change I suppose.

If you have a local farmer who sells some of his produce you will find you will get what you after with your veggies. I buy all mine including eggs from farmer he as a stall near his farm house. His vegetables last a lot longer than them from supermarket that have been kept in the chiller

Baked potatoes here or sometimes jacket potatoes.
Some potatoes when baked don’t have a lot of taste.

By trial and error Maris Pipers are The Best! I always remember by thinking of pushing an MP in the oven …. 🤣

Jaxjacky

I think the trouble is Doodledog most supermarket spuds have been washed and sometimes they’re stored for a while, then sold in plastic bags.
My friend has an allotment I help out with, he’s growing King Edward’s, they will be lifted, left to dry out on the ground and stored in hessian sacks as Gin said. We’re lucky to have access to some of them.

I had been wondering about this Jaxjacky. The other thing is that in the past potatoes, straight from the field were stored in earth clamps, earth and tirves piled on top of them.

Nowadays, they are washed and kept in atmosphere controlled warehouses and sprayed with a chemical to stop sprouting, so as a result the outside skin of the potato we buy to bake now is a very different skin to the one that we used to love when we were children.

When I was small baked potatoes were connected with bonfires. The only time we had them is when there was a garden bonfire in which caset hey were placed on the ground, unwrapped and the fire built round them. We then ate them skin and all. I think the theory was that the outside skin was against the fire so nothing noxious would survive.

I do my jacket potatoes in the air fryer, great result.

I pput mine in the microwave until I can get a fork in easily then put in the airfryer to crisp up - yummy with butter or sour cream!

My favourite meal is a baked/jacket potato with cheese, onion, salad and lashings of proper butter! As I’m just one I microwave them til soft then air fry them in the AirFryer. Lovely and crisp. I can even use the Max Crisp facility in the AirFryer at the very end and get a super skin!

Great minds vintageclassic 😁

I cook mine for 10 mins in microwave on high and then transfer to the oven 30 mins at 200 and they have lovely crispy jacketsand are soft and fluffy inside.

Urmstongran

Baked potatoes here or sometimes jacket potatoes.
Some potatoes when baked don’t have a lot of taste.

By trial and error Maris Pipers are The Best! I always remember by thinking of pushing an MP in the oven …. 🤣

I never buy anything other than Maris Piper. They have such a lovely nutty taste. I tend to bake quite a few potatoes when I have the oven on and then reheat them in the microwave over a couple of days.

Sarnia

My daughters microwave theirs and they never taste quite right to me. I wash the potatoes, pat them dry. prick all over with a fork then rub them all over with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. For a potato about the size of a fist I cook them at 180 for 90 minutes. The skins are just right, not soft but not sharp enough for a DIY tonsillectomy. To digress a little Jersey Royals don't taste the same these days. Blame the potatoes and not us.

The Jersey Royal Potato Company have had to adhere to modern production standards and demands made by the big UK supermarkets. I went there for a tour whilst on holiday and they were explaining that they are no longer able to use the local seaweed which is what gave the original Jersey Royals their nutty flavour. If you buy from hedgerow stalls you can still taste the original flavour but they are few and far between.

We always called them jacket potatoes. Late autumn/early winter my nan would roast a big bowl full in the oven. I remember as a child keeping my eye on the bowl, fingers crossed I could have another one. It was a great treat. Nan said they took so long to cook and therefore a lot of gas, that we could only have them as a special treat.

I do what Delia suggested, but more often start of in the microwave. But I scrub lightly if needed then dry thoroughly, prick, smear very slightly with oil then some salt.
Start with oven high say 20 minutes then go lower and leave as long as it takes to get that chewy gorgeousness.
Never on an oven tray though just the bars.

I too think that the potato varieties on offer in supermarkets lately are not helping. Perhaps they think young ones can’t cope with mucky potatoes 🥔 Hopefully if the cost of living crisis and supply issues ease up there’ll be more choices.

I also think since it is supermarkets that have contributed to the demise of the greengrocer shop (none near where I shop and the market stalls have gone too) then they ought to be trying harder to source as many different varieties as poss.

If the stuff isn’t there we can’t choose it, so we should maybe all get onto them more.

You are doing it all wrong. Light a bonfire and put the potatoes around the edge. When cooked, brush off the ashes and tuck in.

MayBee70

Urmstongran

Baked potatoes here or sometimes jacket potatoes.
Some potatoes when baked don’t have a lot of taste.

By trial and error Maris Pipers are The Best! I always remember by thinking of pushing an MP in the oven …. 🤣

I never buy anything other than Maris Piper. They have such a lovely nutty taste. I tend to bake quite a few potatoes when I have the oven on and then reheat them in the microwave over a couple of days.

I buy Maris Piper too. Lovely potatoes and the make very good oven chips as well

Whitelaw12

I do my jacket potatoes in the air fryer, great result.

How long in the air fryer, please, and what temperature? I am a newbie to the AF!

I slice them around the middle, put them on a baking tray or pyrex dish with salt sprinkled on. Put in the oven at 180c for 90 minutes an they have a nice crisp jacket and soft inside

I called them jacket potatoes too

I scrub, rub with oil, salt, bake, and call them baked potatoes.

Last week I got Jersey royals for a special lunch and ordinary west country ones for us. Our ones were by far the best. I don't know why they don't still use seaweed in Jersey for the potato fields - there's enough of it still, washed up on every tide on every beach to wrap clingingly around every ankle I paddle with...

Yes, they’re very ordinary now and not a patch on our own new potatoes. Such a shame, we always looked for to the first Jersey royals.

Maris Piper or King Edward - a floury type and slow cooking. I've gone over to Vivaldi in general - but they are much damper and don't ever bake well.