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Seaweed-Cooked Baked Potato
The no-waste tinfoil: an egg-in-a-potato, wrapped in seaweed, buried in coals.
How to use seaweed as a no-waste replacement for tinfoil. On the beach we cook straight in the coals, and a couple of layers of fresh seaweed do everything foil does — hold in the steam, shield the food from the fierce heat — then go straight into the compost when you’re done.
Method
- Carefully carve out the inside of a potato, keeping the top as a lid.
- Gently break an egg into the hole and replace the lid.
- Wrap the potato in two layers of seaweed, using the second layer to seal the open ends.
- Secure the parcel with small sticks or skewers.
- Place it safely into the hot coals, turning once if the fire is hotter on one side.
- Allow around 15 minutes, until the potato feels soft.
- Remove from the fire, cool slightly, and peel away the burnt seaweed — the potato inside should be cooked but not burnt.
- Slice in half and serve as you like. All the waste goes straight into the compost.
Step by step
This is exactly the kind of cooking we do on the beach at every workshop — if you want to try it with the tide at your back and a fire in front of you, come along to On the Rocks. And before you light anything on a shore of your own, read our A.L.L.W.E.T. safety guidance.
Want to learn this standing in the kelp instead of reading about it? Join a workshop on the East Neuk shore — dates and booking here — or take home Jayson’s 52-page e-book Thriving in the Intertidal.