This Morning's resident Chef Phil Vickery as revealed a simple hack to cook for perfectly cooked jacket potatoes in record time. In a recent episode of the ITV talk show, the cook shared his tip to reduce required oven time - all it takes is a teaspoon.
Phil, who spoke about having jacket potatoes for dinner regularly, says that the spuds should be cooked twice to ensure a crispy skin. While this may seem time consuming, you can still save time thanks to the metal utensil, the Express reports.
Explaining how to prepare the veg before cooking, Phil said: “Now, the thing to say also is - always, always, always use a sharp knife and score the potato around the outside because they will explode otherwise. Sometimes, if you start potatoes in a cooler oven and [the temperature] gets hotter, it bakes the skin so tight they will expand and explode. Not all the time, but it does happen, so I always [score] them.
“I also put a teaspoon in the potato - not when cooking in the microwave - but a conventional oven, it cuts the cooking time down by at least about 20 minutes.”
Presenter Phillip Schofield asked: “Is that because the spoon gets so hot the heat goes down the spoon [handle] and into the centre of the potato?” Phil replied: "Yes. You can use ready-made jacket potato spikes and you put them on all four and into the oven, or you can use a skewer, but it certainly makes a difference."
“So that will take it down from what time to what time?” Phillip wondered. The chef revealed: “I reckon it will take 15-20 minutes off the cooking time, so 35-40 minutes as opposed to an hour.”
“Can you do that with anything you put in the oven?” Holly Willoughby asked. “Yes, with root vegetables,” Phil said. “Things like lamb, the bone in the lamb, the heat transfers through the lamb. But metal certainly does.”
Before inserting a teaspoon handle into the jacket potato, you can blast the potato in the microwave to reduce cooking time further - remember not to put a teaspoon in the potato if using the microwave, as this is a health and safety risk.
Waitrose suggests using both the microwave and oven to cook jacket potatoes, and if done in conjunction with Phil’s spoon hack, it can take just 20 minutes for a crispy, fluffy jacket potato in the oven. Microwaves are the cheapest kitchen appliance to use in terms of energy usage, costing just 1p for three minutes based on the running for a 700W microwave.
Place the potato in the microwave on a plate on high for three minutes, then turn it over and microwave for another three minutes. Transfer the potato to a baking tray, season with salt pepper and olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
If you also push a spoon inside the potato, this will speed up the cooking process in the oven even more. The cooking times are dependent on the size of the potato; a bigger potato takes longer to cook.
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