In the United States, "baked potatoes" are usually seen as a side dish, and - at least in Oregon where I live - not terribly exciting.
In the United Kingdom, we call these potatoes, baked in their skin, "Jacket Potatoes" and we love to elevate them. Common fillings are:
mushrooms and bacon
baked beans and cheese
cream cheese and chives
roast tomatoes and black olives
curried lamb and apricots
prawn and courgette (zucchini)
sauteed mushrooms and chili flakes with cojita cheese
Jacket potatoes come in all sizes. A large jacket potato can be a complete meal, or bite size potatoes, elevated, can make a wonderful amuse-bouche or appetizer.
I recently started working with vinegar powder, as an alternative to the wet stuff. When you're making jacket potatoes, you begin by coating the raw potatoes in either olive oil or melted butter. If you then try to roll the oily potatoes in wet vinegar then guess what? oil and vinegar don't mix and you end up getting nowhere. But if you roll your oily potatoes in a lovely blend of salt and vinegar powder, then you end up with a heavenly skin on your completed dish.
I don't think a recipe is necessary, but here's what I do.
I take small potatoes, (the size of a large egg), prick them a couple of times with a fork and roll them in melted butter. I mix half a tablespoon of good-quality salt with a tablespoon of vinegar powder and put them on a baking tray. I bake them at 425°F (200°C) for about 80 minutes to get the jackets really crispy. I cut a cross shape in the top and use a kitchen knife to slide some really great butter inside. I use a small fork to smush the butter into the inside of the potato then, if I've disturbed the lovely crisp skin, I rearrange it. I sprinkle on all the flavors I love, trying to get a good balance of sweet (carrots, caramelized onions, roast parsnips) and tangy (pickled beets, pickled prunes, pickled baby onions) with spicy (roast garlic, gochujang, za'atar, sumac) and some different textures (pine nuts, croutons, roast soft tomatoes).
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