Help me get my roast potatoes right please!

[Pumpkinpatch22]

This is how I’d like them to look (pic attached) but can never achieve it.

I have tried oil hot, oil cold, costing them in oil, metal pan, glass pan, goose fat.

My friend always gets them like that with a metal pan and cold oil, but I don’t get how?

I have olive Oil and a metal pan tonight, can I get them to look like that? All tips welcome!

Par boil them, let them cool and rough them up in the colander. Preheat the oven, plenty of oil, cook them for a good 40 minutes. I'm always surprised by how long it takes to get them right even in a properly hot oven.

parboil
leave them to cool
rough them up a bit
put in metal pan pre-heated with ground nut oil
roast

I'm a terrible cook but one thing I get right every time is roast potatoes - I follow Delia to the letter. Par boil, hot oil, turn once during cooking

We follow Jamie Oliver’s method of parboiling spuds first, then roughing them up with fork/ bashing against the colander (more edges for the fat to stick to), heating the oil with a smidge of butter in the pre-heated metal roasting tray before adding the spuds which have steam-dried a bit, and swirling them in the hot oil butter combo. And a generous sprinkle of salt.
Oven temp around 180 fan-assisted for around 30-40 mins (keep checking though!)

Parboil,
Heat up oil in a metal pan in the oven - 190degrees
When soft enough to put a knife through, shake them in a colander to rough the edges (don't bother to cool them)
Chuck them in the pan of heated oil. Turn them over with a spatula so they are covered in oil.
Cook for 45 mins, turn once halfway.
Always perfect.

To get them crispy they need to be as dry as possible when they go into the fat.

Let them air dry a bit but I also pat each dry with a sheet of kitchen roll and dust with flour.

Cross post with @EllieSattler

Pre-heat oven.
Brush metal tray with oil and pop in oven to heat up.
Put potatoes and salt in a pan of cold water, bring to boil and simmer for eight minutes.
Drain, rough them up in the pan and add oil and seasoning.
Roast in oven (Gas mark 6) for 1h15m - turn halfway.

What is wrong with yours?

I do what @EllieSattler does, only I par steam for ten minutes rather than parboil. Perfect crispy roasties with fluffy middles every time.

As above, I always par boil and leave them to go cold. Get these as dry as possible and give them a shake so there's so bits to get crunchy.

Put the oil in the pan and into the oven while it's preheating* so it gets nice and hot.

The potatoes should sizzle when you put them in the oil, roll them around so they're thoroughly coated and put them in the hottest part of the oven for at least 40 minutes. I often give them an hour or more as I like mine really crispy and even a tad burnt.

I read a tip on Twitter recently that I've been meaning to try. It said for the perfect roast potatoes you should add a teaspoon of bicarb to water during parboil step.

Best tip I ever had (from a chef) is to put the pan of hot oil on the hob when you add them, so it stays as hot as can be. Just leave it on from the parboiling - I always do a back ring and put in one at a time, then turn over so they are all nicely coated. And yes, bang them about in the colander when draining first!

First, pre-heat your oven to 220c.

My method is to start with the right floury spuds, King Edward or Maris Piper are ideal. Parboil for 10 mins in salted water, drain then fluff up in the hot pan.

Now for the crucial bit. I use duck fat (not too much) which I heat in the roasting tin until it’s smoking hot. Then, working quickly & using tongs, I turn each individual potato in the hot fat until every surface is lightly coated. Then bang them in the top of the hot oven and set your timer for 15 minutes. When it pings, turn the potatoes over to cook them evenly. Give them another 20 mins or so until crunchy & golden. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately.

Don't use olive oil, it can't get hot enough. I always use sunflower oil.

I can't imagine putting them in cold oil. Don't they get really greasy?

I find mine are best when I use King Edward potatoes.

Boil potatoes with salt for a good 5-7 mins. Drain into a colondar , do NOT just drain from the saucepan using the lid. Then back in the saucepan with the lid mostly on to dry out for about 5-10 mins. Veg oil NOT olive into a Scoville pan and heat it in the oven. Put the potatoes in and the oil should sizzle. Turn them over in the oil and in to the oven@180 for a good half and hour or until they're done. They come out perfectly.

Maris Piper potatoes have been sucessful for us. Agree with drying them off after part-boiling and giving them a good shake in the pan to fluff up before putting into hot oil.

My mum makes the best roasties using crisp ‘n dry oil! I keep meaning to try it.
Mine are alright - par boil, leave to cool and into spitting hot oil.

I par boil and add dripping for the fat. It really adds flavour and crispiness.

Boil until falling apart.
Shake to fluff up.
Put into sizzling hot olive oil, for longer than you'd think - depends on your oven but 40 minutes or more. With lots of salt.

No par boiling, patting dry or special fats. Like most of my cooking, a bit slap dash - but it tastes good!

But you are parboiling them DinosApple?

Mine look like that every time! Here's how to do it.

1. Firstly, you need the right type of potatoes. The best, in my opinion, are King Edwards, but they only tend to be available for a short season in the winter. A good alternative is Maris Piper. If you can't get either of those, look for a variety that has "good for roasting" on the bag. Never try to use New Potatoes for roasting.

1. Peel the potatoes. Don't leave any skin on or you'll never achieve the crispness that you want. Preheat the oven to about 200c (or 170 to 180 if using a fan oven).

1. Boil a large pan of water and carefully drop the peeled potatoes in. Bring back to the boil, turn down the heat a bit and gently boil the potatoes for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how big they are (if they're very small, 3 or 4 minutes might be enough).

1. Drain the water water from the pan. Put the lid on and, while holding the lid in place, shake the pan up and down vigorously about 5 times. Look at the potatoes. If they look hard and smooth, shake again. Check again. Stop shaking when the outside of the potatoes has roughened slightly and looks a bit "mashed". Warning! King Edwards can easily turn into mashed potatoes at the shaking stage, so only shake for a few seconds before checking.

1. Put some cooking oil in a roasting tin and heat it gently on the hob. Place the potatoes in the hot oil and make sure all of them are covered all over in oil. Add more oil as needed.

1. Place the pan of potatoes into the pre-heated oven.

1. Have a look at them after about half an hour but don't attempt to turn them over. Leave them until they've been in for about 45 minutes before turning them, if wished. It's not necessary to turn them but some people like to do it.

The potatoes will take from about 45 minutes to one hour in the oven.

Everyone's oven is different. When you check after 30 minutes, if they seem to be cooking too quickly, turn the oven down and check again after 5 to 10 minutes.

Good luck! My mother taught me how to do roast potatoes over 40 years ago. I was attempting to cook my first ever roast dinner after I'd left home and got married. I realised that I didn't know what to do with the spuds, so phoned my mum!

I can honestly say that I've never had a dud batch of roasties in the whole 44 years I've been cooking them. Mum's method has never failed.

Cut the potatoes quite big. I like Maris Piper for roasties.

I find the best fat for roasties is lard, but as I don't usually have it in the house I generally use vegetable oil.

Put the roasting tin with fat in in the oven to heat while the potatoes come to the boil. Hot oven, 200 degrees at least.

Take the potatoes off the heat almost as soon as the come to a rolling boil, and drain. Leave in a colander over the pan to get rid of any water while you get the tin out of the oven.

Give the potatoes a bit of a shake in the colander then tip into the hot fat. Quickly swoosh them in the fat to get an even coating.

They take at least 45 mins in the oven, more if they are really big. Turn them halfway through cooking and rearrange so that the ones at the edges swap with the ones in the middle for even crispiness.