This Morning’s resident chef Phil Vicker has revealed a genius trick to speed up the cooking time of potatoes so they get crispy skin – and all you need is a teaspoon.
There’s nothing worse than soggy potatoes… (Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley)
by
Liam Gulliver 2024-07-30 10:30 Updated 2024-07-30 11:13
Say goodbye to soggy potatoes with this easy teaspoon hack you may not have thought of.
Jacket potatoes are as quintessentially British as fish and chips and scones with cream and jam, but this easy supper wouldn’t be worth it without a crisp crust. Whether slathered with cheese and beans or slathered with tuna mayo and butter, jacket potatoes are fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Luckily, TV chef Phil Vickery has shown us how to get potatoes crispy without having to leave them in the oven for too long.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning last year, the chef said he always scores potatoes with a sharp knife before cooking them to stop them “exploding”. [the temperature] “As it heats up further, the skin chars and hardens, then expands and explodes,” he added.
Chef Uses Teaspoon When Cooking Potatoes (ITV)
“Not all the time, but it does happen so I always make an incision.” When cooking in a conventional oven, Phil adds a teaspoon “inside the potato” to cut the cooking time by “at least 15 to 20 minutes.” “Is it because the spoon gets too hot and the heat travels down the spoon into the centre of the potato?” asked presenter Phillip Schofield at the time.
The chef replied: “Yes, whether you use pre-made potato tips and stick them on all four and put them in the oven or use skewers, it definitely makes a difference.” Phil’s genius tips don’t just apply to potatoes: root vegetables and even meat can be cooked faster by inserting a metal spoon into the food before cooking it in the oven. If you want to cook your potatoes even faster, try heating them in the microwave for five minutes (without the spoon) before transferring them to the oven. Many people also add butter or oil to the skin of potatoes when cooking them in the oven to make them extra crispy.
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