Jacket Potatoes

In the US, baked potatoes typically play the role of the reliable side kick in a steak dinner. Served alongside your favorite ribeye, the potatoes are either simply topped with a dab of butter or smothered in melted cheese. They are definitely not the most exciting part of the meal.

My introduction to baked potatoes was in the UK, where they are known, rather quaintly, as jacket potatoes. Serving as a meal in itself, the potato in this British version is the receptacle for toppings like ham, cheese, or robust chili con carne. It is one of the most common and cheap food options in the UK, served out of food stands during office lunch hours. To a poor student, a piping hot jacket potato topped with a generous helping of chili con carne was an affordable and comforting meal on cold and grey days. In our dorm kitchen, we would stick an indiscriminately pierced potato in the microwave and top the cooked spud with whatever we had on hand as well as liberal amounts of Tabasco. Scrambling to meet essay deadlines, we could quickly put together this simple meal that kept us full till dinner time.

When I choose to make jacket potatoes at home now, I am usually rushing to get something on the table within minutes. That means there is no time to warm up the oven or wait for the hour the potatoes typically take to cook through. So, even though oven baking promises to yield a more evenly cooked potato with a crispy skin, I usually resort to zapping in the microwave in the interest of saving time. I have found that the results from the two approaches are usually undistinguishable from each other. So, my potatoes get the microwave treatment. Topped with the right fixings, they make for a hearty and satisfying meal.

What You Need (For 4 whole jacket potatoes)
4 Russet potatoes (Aim for the mid-size ones. These cook up the best in the microwave.)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp salt
4 tbsp butter
5-6 slices of bacon
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
4 tbsp green onions (chopped)
Hot sauce

Directions:
Scrub and wash the potatoes. Pierce them all over with a fork and place potatoes, two at a time, on a microwave safe plate.

Pour 1/2 tbsp olive and 1/2 tbsp salt over the two potatoes and rub them all over.

Crisp the bacon slices in a pan, turning over once. Remove from pan, drain the fat on paper towels, and crumble roughly.

Place plate with potatoes in microwave and cover with a damp paper towel. Cook on high for 3 minutes. Flip the potatoes over, moisten the paper towel if needed, cover potatoes and cook for another 3 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from the microwave and gently press all over. If the potatoes are hard to the touch, put them back in the microwave for another couple of minutes.

Repeat the same process with the remaining two potatoes.

When ready, make a slit on top of each potato and fluff up the flesh with a fork. Sprinkle with salt and add lashings of butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, green onions, and hot sauce.

Serve hot.