I was curious if this word shares its etymology with the word “shale” in English, describing a type of rock that tends to break off in thin layers. Sure enough, they come from the same root. It looks like the word “shale” in English originally also meant a shell or husk, but that use is archaic.
Perhaps “Did you cook the potatoes in their skins?” would be a better translation. Never heard of a potato jacket.
It’s common in the United Kingdom to refer to a potato skin as a jacket.
For example, in the UK a jacket potato is another name for a baked potato, as mentioned in the first line of the Wikipedia article for baked potato. When I was young (back in the last century!), we would normally use the term “jacket potato” when talking about a baked potato, particularly as they would come out of the oven with a nice dark brown crispy jacket. Having said that, if the potato were to be cooked in a microwave oven, I would just call that a baked potato as it would have a soggy pale limp skin and would therefore not be worthy of using the name “jacket potato”.
If I were referring to boiling potatoes without first peeling them, I would probably be inclined towards using your suggestion (i.e. refer to cooking them in skins rather than jackets), but that’s just my personal preference and “cook the potatoes in their jackets” would still be perfectly valid to my mind.
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In German a baked potato is “eine Ofenkartoffel” although the English “baked potato” is also common e.g. in “Steakhouses”.
A potato cooked with skin is “eine Pellkartoffel” (because normally you have to peel it afterwards).
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Ah, if it’s quite universally known as Ofenkartoffel then that’s probably why it isn’t one of the entries in the Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache.
In the ninth round they had the “battles” between (Back-)Ofen/Rohr/Röhre for oven, and Kartoffel/Erdapfel/Grundbirne for potato.
I guess nobody calls a baked potato a “Backröhregrundbirne” then 
This is probably for the best, otherwise it could have ended up as complicated as the map for mashed potatoes 
!
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This is a fascinating website.
You have to realize that nothing - at least in German(y) - is as local as the words for foodstuff.
I moved a few times and I had to relearn my vocabulary for the baker and butcher more than once!
That “Ofenkartoffel” is not mentioned in this Atlas has a very simple reason: It is not a tradtional German dish at all. My grandparents have not known it and my parents consider it an “US import”.
Btw, is there a similar website for the Anglo-Saxon world?
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I do like that website, particularly as reading about words in context helps me to remember them. I came across the website a few weeks ago, as someone referenced it in a Reddit discussion about spülen or abziehen for flushing the toilet.
Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a similar thing for the major English-speaking countries. I too would be interested if something like that existed, even just within one country let alone across the whole Anglosphere.