We’ve written before about how Mary Berry adds unexpected ingredients to everything from her midweek lasagne recipe to her mash.
And it turns out that the Cordon Bleu-trained chef also has a... lesser-known (to us, anyway) approach to jacket potatoes.
In a recipe for her fancy baked spuds, it turns out that the baking queen adds an extra step after the tatties have cooked.
After opening up the potatoes to mash their centres ahead of receiving toppings, the former GBBO star adds butter (standard) and... milk (less usual, we feel).
We’re not saying it doesn’t make sense
“Slice each potato in half and scoop out the soft potato into a bowl,” her recipe reads. Then, “Add the milk and butter and mash with a fork. Stir in the topping of your choice... season and mix to combine.”
I mean, loads of us do it with mash. I’d just never heard of doing it with baked potatoes before ― but of course, it’s the same principle, so maybe we shouldn’t be so alarmed.
After all, we at HuffPost UK found out that the best mashed potatoes are first boiled in dairy rather than regular H2O.
And none other than Nigella herself adds evaporated milk to her mac and cheese. Dairy’s the secret hack for many a midweek recipe, it seems.
Any other baking potato tips?
Yep ― Mary Berry mixes her fillings in with her mashed spud, essentially creating stuffed potato skins.
She adds that you can fill the potatoes with their new innards (sorry) up to four hours before re-baking the lot ― you’ll just have to cook them for a little longer.
And if you notice the tops browning too soon, she suggests you cover the baking potatoes with tin foil.
Far be it from us to question the cooking legend...