I'm not sure if every family who had people of my age were the same, but in ours, there were certain traditions. Some foods we''d only eat once a year. Obviously Turkey at Xmas, Easter Eggs at Easter and Pancakes on pancake day. I guess most people would have some sort of variation on these. The one day that I think was the most exciting was Fireworks night. My Dad was a pyromaniac, so it was spectacular. He'd chop down trees in our garden a couple of weeks before and we'd have a huge bonfire. He'd buy the biggest rockets he could find and he'd stock up on booze. When he lit the bonfire, he'd bring 40 gallons of industrial thinners back from his garage, just to make sure that it went with a bang. It always did, a huge mushroom cloud would light up the skies. The best bit of it was that he'd wrap up jacket potatoes in silver foil and bury them at the bottom of the bonfire. When it had burned down, we'd retreive them. The skins would be a bit burned. We'd smear them with Lurpak butter and salt and they were delicious. It was one of the few days of the year when my Mum allowed my Dad to go into full on Aussie nutter mode. Dad told me that the only way to eat Jacket potatoes was out of the bonfire. I didn't disagree.
At some point, I suspect around 1977, mum was away and Dad announced we were going out for a special treat. We jumped in his Capri and zoomed off, I know not where and we arrived at a Spud U Like restaurant. Dad was most excited, a restaurant which only sold jacket spuds with fillings. He wanted to know if they were up to standard. I recall going in and having a cheese and beans filling. It was delcious. I think he had a chicken curry, although I may be wrong. As we headed home, he gave his verdict. He was impressed with the fillings. It had never occurred to him to put more than salt and butter in them. He did, however, say that it confirmed his view that the only real proper way to do them was in the bonfire, as if they weren't a bit burned, they lacked the proper smokey flavour, but as a quick fix for a bit of Jacket potato action it was more than acceptable. For me, it became a bit of a guilty pleasure. None of my girlfriends ever considered a Spud U Like as a suitable food for a night out. For me, I'd nab one after football, if one was nearby.
I was trying to work out when I last had a filled Jacket potato anywhere apart from at home. It may well have been in 2006/7. At the time I was doing some work on the Chip and Pin card roll out and I was despatched to McDonalds head office in East Finchley to validate their Chip and Pin system for the Streamline Card company. It was boring work, putting numerous transactions in and making sure that McD's didn't defraud cardholders. For lunch, we were given lunch in the in house McDonalds restaurant. I am not a fan of burgers and I almost never eat McDonalds. My hosts informed me that everything on sale in the restaurant was on sale in their branches. I noticed they did Jacket potatoes and so had one with a Chicken curry filling. It was delicious. I told my hosts that I didn't realise they did them. They rather sheepishly said "we don't, that's for people visitinmg who don't want burgers". I told them they should, but they didn't listen.
In researching this, I found out that Spud U Like was owned by the British School of Motoring for many years. It seems a rather odd business partnership. Various owners have tried to make a go of the business, but despite the fact that everyone seems to love the product, no one really ever went there. I think they simply got their marketing strategy wrong. They should follow my Dad's example and have restaurants where they could have big firework parties every night and pull them out of the bonfire.
Anyway, I've been thinking about Dad a lot recently, so I thought I'd dedicate this list to him. God bless you Dad, wherever you are. Whenever I see a meteorite, I think it's him being a pyromaniac in the sky and I know I will be lucky that day!
I have spent a long time trying to figure out the best way to make Jacket potatoes without a bonfire. I get large baking potatoes, clean them, microwave them for about 7 minutes, then pierce the skin with a fork. I then make a solution of salt and water and soak the skin in it to salt the crusts. I then bake for 45 mins or until the crust is just about to burn. If I am being fancy, I slice garlic thin, stab the spud with a knife and then insert the thin slivers, but that is only really if I am doing a fancy filling.
So here it is, my top ten fillings.
1. The classic. Lurpak butter and salt. When the spud is out of the bonfire, I'm not sure you can beat this.
2. With Cheese. It has to be a mature cheddar. I tend to put it in the spuds for the last 7 minutes, so it is properly gooey. I like it when a little bit is slightly burned and brown.
3. With curried baked beans. I have to put a caveat on this. Heinz have changed their recipe and are vile. The only ones that I like now are the cheap M&S own brand. A bit of curry sauce and chilli flakes are the perfect accompanyment.
4. With curried chicken. I was very taken with the McDonalds canteen version of this, which I'd have again eating out. What worked really well was when I over ordered from the Mill Hill Tandoori and had some chicken tikka balti left. That was wonderful!
5. Parmasan cheese. This is good. Grate up some Parmesan and about 5-10 minutes before the spuds are ready, cut in half and cover with the cheese and put back in the oven.
6. Cheese and onion. This is very similar to 2, except you sprikle some fried onions on top before you serve. I buy a bag of dried fried onions from the Mill Hill Food Centre for just this purpose. it is wonderful.
7. Cheese and Bacon. This was one of my Dad's innovations. After our visit to Spud you like, he got thinking. Some nice streaky bacon, fried until crispy, stuck in and covered in cheese. Wonderful.
8. Humous and pepper. This works really well for a vegan option. Get good Humous though, the creamier the better.
9. Smoked mackerel Pate. M&S do (or at least they used to) a wonderful Mackerel pate. It works well. I'm not generally a fan of fish or seafood with jackets. I tend to think that the fish taste overpowers the delicate taste of the spud. I also don't like anything with gunge such as Mayonaisse on, so I've excluded them.
10. Kippers. I love kippers. As they are smoked, they go really well with Jacket spuds as per 1. If you wrap kippers up in Silver foil and cook them over the bonfire, it really is wonderful and is how both foods should be eaten together.
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At this point, I will take a break from tradition and tell you why I haven't included a few of the 'loved' Spud U Like options. To me, cottage cheese is disgusting, even with chives which I quite like. Coleslaw suffers from the plague of gunge, what could be more horrible than raw cabbage with mayo? Ditto Egg mayo, I've never seen the point of egg mayo, so why ruin a decent old spud with it. Chilli Con Carne, I don't mind but I feel that the chilli is far better with pasta. Prawn cocktail is another that suffers from the plague of Mayo.
Have a great weekend and if you have a Jacket spud, enjoy!
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