Very Important Jacket Potato question....

[SparrowSally]

Do you

1. Slice it in half
2. Put a cross in the middle

DH thinks DS and I are weird for option 2. I think option 1 is wrong as the filling just goes over the side. With option 2, it holds its shape more, so it's more of a vessel for the filling....

I can’t answer this as it depends on the filling. Can you elaborate?

I slice in half. I like half with just butter and half with the other toppings.

A cross

We are having tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise. Apologise for this massive drip feed....

Slice in half.

Scoop out potato.

Put skins back in oven.

Mash insides with butter, pepper, cheese and then take the skins out, scoop mashed cheesy loveliness back into skins, put back in oven for ten mins and then serve with a salad.

Heaven.

My DH does @AlisonDonut's method. Personally I can't be bothered and I just go for total destruction of the potato, cut it all up, then layer topping.

I answered one then the other then realised I do both depending on how I feel. Argh.

Yup this. Open the thing up totally.

Tea towel on top then karate chop it- gets the steam out and makes a lovely heap of fluffy potato. Then pile on butter, salt and cheese any old how.

Has to be a cross, always a cross ❌

I do halves then scoop out middles and mash into sauce/butter. That way you get the crunchy skin as an extra to add or eat separately without it going soggy. Potato needs sauce but crunch needs to stay crunchy!

Cut it in half. Mash in salt, pepper and butter. Put the topping on.

Slice in half, then more slices the same way so can gets lots of butter and cheese slices in, then pile topping over.

I'm a bit of a devil and so I usually cut a pentagon into mine - certainly not a cross. 👹

Standard practice is to cut a cross. However, sometimes I do twice baked potatoes and these are cut in half then filled and baked again.

Cut fully in half, then score each half in a criss cross pattern so the butter oozes into all the cracks. Then add toppings

Yes this! Allow butter to melt in then add copious amounts of topping.

DH has recently become obsessed with creating the perfect JP, following instagram accounts etc. I am so bored of hearing about the best way to get crispy skin (even though I fully appreciate his efforts).

Why oh why did I open this when I’m doing the Fast 800 diet and have had a grilled chicken breast and salad for dinner and am now wondering whether to treat myself to a strawberry 😥

A cross and then I push in the sides so the insides push up and spill out. It keeps it fluffy.

This BUT I slice it in half then squash it so the insides push up and spill out to keep it fluffy!

Nigel says, and I agree - always bash your potato to fluff it. I get the cooked baked potato, smash it on the plate like I’m opening a chocolate orange, then cut in half along the place where it broke. It’s a bit feral but it makes the potato lovely and fluffy. Can’t bear it when the butter is all sliding around on a smooth surface. It’s so wrong.

Cross and a squeeze.

My top tip for crispy skins and fluffy insides is to cross the skin before putting them in half and inch of water to cook. Allow the water to dry up as they cook.

Potato Poppy does a 6 slice star and I haven't tried it yet but deffo going to.

Former cross and squeeze spudder here - but that came from working in a pub.

Before that I just did the boring half slice.

Cut in half but not all the way through. Mash the insides a bit with butter using fork then pour the filling in the gap and spilling around. I’ve noticed that jacket pots in cafes aren’t mashed at all so that if you get butter it just makes filling slide about.

Also, cafes sometimes ask if you want the cheese in first and then the beans. Strange, why would you want a different beans/cheese dynamic from cheese on toast

Cut in half, but then I squash the halfs together. (I know it's halves, but it looks wrong to me so I am sticking with halfs.)

Always a cross