WHAT’S COOKING: Throwback Thursday: Ash-baked potatoes

Back in the day, before tinfoil became the ubiquitous thing it is now, the habit was to throw whole potatoes, unpeeled, right into the braai coals.

This I remember from my youth in Oranjemund when my dad would build a massive fire in the braai out back to be sure there’d be plenty of coals. He’d wait until the coals were fulsome and red hot, then shove whole, large potatoes in and pile the coals high on top of them so you couldn’t see the potatoes at all.

Then, one day, charring anything went out of fashion because we all thought we’d get the Big C from all the suspected carcinogens in the char. But scientific research and advice have changed since then, and today charring in cooking is a big thing once again.

The potatoes do need to be large though, because the proximity to the intense heat of the coals, with no barrier at all, means they will form a thick, hard crust which becomes like a shell out of which you can scoop the fluffy innards. All they need then is a great big dollop of butter and a couple of grindings of salt, and you’re in heaven. Or add sour cream and a few chopped garlic chives.

Having retrieved this memory from my own youth, I googled to see what might come up and found a couple of American recipes for ash-baked, or ash-roasted, potatoes, and many more that call for them to be foil-wrapped. Clearly this old-time trick has not been widely revived, but here’s the rub: using foil keeps the flavour of the coals away from the potatoes, by and large; but put them right in there and they really take on that ashy delight. The intense heat makes the insides as soft as the outer casing becomes hard, quite different from the effect of them being foil-wrapped and, perhaps, overprotected.

On the scientific front, the chemical found in potatoes is acrylamide (it’s also what causes burnt toast), and experts such as cancerresearchuk.org have found that levels of acrylamide in charred food is not deemed sufficient to cause cancers. Having said that, the current world trend for charring, which is a Big Thing in cooking right now, is not rash, so common sense needs to be brought into play.

Instead of eating the entire ash-roasted potato, cut it in half, add the butter and salt, and scoop out the fluffy potato with a spoon, discarding the charred shell. You’ll have the benefit of all the flavour without the harsh charring.

Ingredients

Large potatoes

Salt to taste

Butter, as needed

Plenty of hot coals

No foil

Method

Make a massive fire and marinate whatever meat you’re also planning to cook. Once the coals are ready, make a thick bed of them, pack on the potatoes, and pile plenty more coals on top of them, so that the potatoes are no longer visible.

You can place the grid above there now and cook your meat while the coals do their magic on the spuds. For nice fat potatoes, they should take 50 minutes to an hour. Very large potatoes could take up to 90 minutes to become soft right in the centre.

To test for doneness, insert a skewer. They should push through to the centre easily, indicating that they are perfectly soft inside.

Remove from the coals, slice in half, add butter and salt and tuck in. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

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