Ingredients
4 large baking potatoes - I always use Vivaldi potatoes that you can only buy from Sainsbury’s
Olive Oil
Crushed rock salt
8 slices of streaky bacon
8 tsps butter
4 tbsps sour cream
160g cheddar cheese

Method
Heat the oven to 190c.

Wash the potatoes and with a sharp knife poke the potatoes for the steam to escape.

On a baking tray put a mound of rock salt.

Pour some olive oil into your hands and smother the potatoes in oil and place on to the salt.  Put into the oven for 1½ hours or until soft. If you don’t have rock salt, just season with salt over the olive oil and cook in the oven on a baking tray.

When your potatoes are ready turn the oven off and cook your bacon.  In the frying pan add 1 tsp of oil and your bacon.  I lay out as many rashers as I can over the bottom and then I layer on top because as it cooks you can turn it over and wait for it to shrink then it will all fit.  Keep cooking and turning until the bacon is golden and super crispy.  This will take around 10 minutes.  Drain on kitchen paper.

When you cut open the potato and smother with butter, don’t forget to season the inside of your potato.  Top with the cheese, then ½ tbsp of sour cream per side and crush or cut the bacon up and put all over the top.

Method
Cook the potatoes as above.

For the bbq sauce, put the oil into a small saucepan and heat on medium.  When hot, add the shallots and the garlic and cook gently for around 5 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring to stop them sticking.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the sugar has melted, stirring all the while.  Put into a small blender and blitz until smooth.  Put back into the saucepan.

When the potatoes are cooked, cut them in half lengthways. Scoop out the insides into a small and put the skins back onto the baking tray.

Using a fork, mash the potato until smooth.  Add the butter some salt and pepper and mix through.  Taste and add more butter/seasoning as you like - remembering that the cheese adds some oil so I tend to put less butter than I would in mash.  Add the spring onions and half of the cheese and mix through.  Put the potato mix back into the skins and top with the cheddar.

Put the potatoes into the oven for a further 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.

When you are ready to serve, reheat the bbq sauce.  Top the potato with sour cream, bbq sauce and the bacon.