Perfect roasties

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How do you do yours? I par boil and pop in hot oil for an hour but they are a bit hit and miss, used to add salt but baby eats them too so don't now! Help me make amazing fluffy inside with crispy outside roasties please....

I parboil them - into cold water, bring to the boil, give them 10 minutes. Then drain them, tip them back in the pan, lid back on. Hold together tightly and give it a good shake - it roughens up the surface.

Then into hot oil in a hot tray in a hot oven (usually about 180) for about 45 mins.

The shaking is the key thing - gives much more loose surface for the oil to crisp up.

It helps to let some of the steam escape too, I think, so you've got a dryish roughed-up spud going into the fat.

I use a mix of olive oil and butter, or all butter - tastes much nicer than oil.

Agree with leaving them to cool a bit so they are drier than when they are initially drained (I have even left mine to go cold with no problems) a spoonful of semolina before shaking them to bash them up, gives lovely crispy edges. Finally...goose fat is the best, tho obviously not the healthiest !

Oh I have some semolina and have been wondering what to do with it so shall use that, par boiled for ten mins, I have olive oil, groundnut oil and veg oil, which is best? Also how much?

Same method as AMumInScotland here. Slightly less time on the parboiling... 5 mins... and I use a knob of dripping rather than oil. Heat the fat in your roasting tin in the oven and then put it over a low light on top of the stove when you tip in the spuds so it doesn't cool down. King Edwards give the best results.

Groundnut oil has a higher flashpoint and will give crisper results... Oil to coat is enough - a few tablespoons. Don't have them swimming in it.

I love groundnut oil, I've used all three, olive is a close second but groundnut pips it for me!

I do Nigella's roasties.

Cut the potato so each "roastie" has a flat edge. Look Here

Parboil for 10 minutes. Steam dry. Sprinkle semolina and shake pan to coat all spuds nicely. Hot HOT oil - (goose/duck fat best) vegetable oil best out of your list I think.

King Edwards, parboil until the outside is starting to go soft. Drain and leave to dry. Sprinkle a little flour on and shake like mad to roughen up. Then into hot goosefat for an hour.

I feel very perturbed that I don't have any goose fat! Or even dripping!

It's taken me years to get reliable crispy roasties but both my Dad and DH seem to think I've cracked it.

Yes, agree on the parboiling... I do big pieces with at least one straight edge, and time them 12 minutes from coming back to the boil, though check at 10 mins in case the spuds have started to fall. King Edwards are sods for this!

Yes on the shaking, yes on the letting steam escape and drying them off.

And definitely yes to a good tablespoon or two of goosefat! Baste when putting them in, and halfway through cooking (I do an hour at usual roast meat temp) I turn them and baste again. If still pale at the end, up goes the temperature to maximum and they get another 10 mins at the top of the oven.

DH gets the humph nowadays when we go somewhere and have soggy roasts. He had the humph himself on Sunday as I left him to do the parboiling and he didn't shake, and timed them from putting the boiled water on top of the spuds and not when they had come back to the boil. By the time I got back, they were halfway cold but with no rough surface, and wouldn't shake down, so they just didn't work.

Suspect I'll be back on duty next Sunday!

I use sunflower oil - I'd probably go for veg oil out of your list. And only enough to coat them. I'm pretty good at judging that by eye for the amounts I do regularly, but my mum has a different method to keep the oil level down.

She puts the oil in a small pyrex dish, on top of the roasting tin, to preheat in the oven. Then she pops each spud into the oil and rolls it round, before transferring it to the hot dish. That way any extra oil stays in the little dish and the spuds aren't swimming in it.

A mum in Scotland I LOVE your mum's technique. Will be pulling that out the pan on Sunday!

DH does the best roasties ever - with the advantage that he freezes big batches and can have them with minimum mess and hassle.

1.Parboil them.

2.Then bung them in the freezer.

3.When you need them, put them in a pan of hot oil while still frozen. Cook until golden and crunchy on the outside, melting in the middle.

Well I over par boiled! But covered in polenta and cooked in hot hot oil, they were very good!

piprabbit What a good idea! I'm girding up my loins to do a huge batch and freezing them. Would be good for Xmas.Need to empty a bit of freezer space first though.

I use Maris Piper. And parboil for ten mins. And put them in very hot fat.

You need King Edwards. All roasties must have a flat edge, but don't cut King Edwards too small, otherwise the inside will disappear. I roast mine for about 50 minutes after the parboiling: 40 mins at the same temperature as the meat or chicken and then turn the heat up v high at the end when the meat is out of the oven and resting.

I use desiree potatos, par boil and shake, leave to cool a little, take heated pan of fat from the oven ( goose is best but I usually use veg) and put on hot hob while I put the roasties in, so it's really hot. don'y overcrowd the pan, back in oven for an hour.

I only parboil for five minutes. Cook them for at least 45 minutes in a very hot oven with a coating of fat/oil. Olive oil works well and I like the taste. Goose fat/fat off meat is of course more traditional. I also season with a generous amount of salt.

I also like to put dried garlic or paprika on them, depending on what they are being served with. Num num.

I par boil my potatoes for about 10 mins, drain and shake and leave for a couple of mins to let the steam off, then put them in the tin i used to cook the meat with an extra bit of olive oil, turn them and cook for 45 mins to an hour, turning occasionally, they are gorgeous. (drain of most the meat juice to save for gravy and just leave any fat in the pan)

If im running late i cook them with the meat.

I had always been in the camp who puts potatoes into a hot dish with very hot oil but I hosted a Pampered Chef party a few months ago and bought one of their stoneware baking trays and it's pourus (sp) and so the oil soaks in to it plus they tell you not to put an empty stone dish into the oven as it could crack. Anyway i did the parboiling and letting them dry and roughing up the edges etc but placed them onto the cold tray flat-edge down and sprayed olive oil with a spritzer over them and cooked them for 45min to an hour - wow, amazing roast potatoes which are heathier and so i can eat more

Do them this way every time now and have had so many lovely comments about them.