Cook 'fluffier' jacket potatoes with crispy skin - just 3 ingredients




There are many cooking methods for jacket potatoes, from wrapping the spuds in foil to smothering them in oil before baking them.

One cooking expert has crafted a foolproof alternative that promises perfectly crispy skin and fluffy insides within one hour.

Sharing the tip on the YouTube channel 'America's Test Kitchen', test cook Ellie Simone revealed how she uses salt, water and oil to achieve such desirable results - but not in the order you may think.

In keeping with the Test Kitchen's ethos, Ellie's recipe has been tried over and over again to make "the absolute best baked potatoes".

The first step in Ellie's method is to poke six holes in each Russett potato. This variety is ideal because of the high starch content which means "fluffier potatoes".

She then created a brine for the spuds, made from half a cup of water and two tablespoons of table salt.

Ellie said: "We're brinning our potatoes because it's very hard to season a potato - normally the salt will roll right off but if we put it in water, it sticks to the potato."

Simply roll the pierced spuds in the brine for a few seconds until coated. Ellie noted that she had tested soaking the potatoes in brine "for up to an hour", but found that "just a few seconds in the brine works".

The next step involved transferring the potatoes to a wire rack set on a baking tray ready for them to be cooked.

According to the test cook, the wire rack allows the potato to cook evenly from the bottom, on all sides and on top. She added: "It's also just easier to get it from the oven."

The potatoes should be cooked in the oven at 450F (233C) for 45 minutes, though some larger russets may take up to an hour. Ellie noted that "it's very important" to let the spuds cook until they register at 205F (96C) internally.

Once cooked, Ellie removed the potatoes from the oven and pointed out that they "look a little frosty" from where the salt has dried out. She said: "You can actually see the salt crust - that's going to be delicious later."

The brine steamed the inside of the potatoes thanks to the water, while the salt dried out the skin to leave it crunchy and crispy.

Before tucking into the potatoes, Ellie urged anyone trying the hack to test the internal temperature using a meat thermometer. Doing this has two benefits; ensuring the potato is hot inside, and also that the core is perfectly fluffy if the probe slides out easily.

One final step is to brush the potatoes with vegetable oil or warmed duck/bacon fat. Doing this at the end rather than before cooking ensures the potatoes are crispy rather than leathery, which is a common "mistake" many people make, said Ellie.

Oiling the potatoes before cooking them traps the moisture and leaves the core chewy rather than fluffy.



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Posted: 2024-06-20 11:33:03

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