How do I cook the perfect roast potatoes???

[LadyTophamHatt]

because I've never managed yet!!

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i par boil mine then drain and give them a good shake so they fluff up, drizzle a bit of oil over them and bung them in the oven, you can either slow roast them around a joint of meat, or pop them in on their own.

peel, chop into reasonable roast spud like proportions. Put in saucepan with boiling water for 6 mins (this is called parboiling them). In the meantime, heat some oil (I use crisp n dry - I blame my mother) in the roasting tin in the oven.

Drain well, dump straight in the roasting tin (be careful, you can get a bit of fat spit and sizzle) then pop in the oven with the rest of the roast. They take about 1hr 15mins ime. Turn over half way through. Easy

Definately do the shaking thing gives lovely crispy edges. Make sure that you have preheated the tray and the oil (like with yorkshire puddings) so that its absolutely scolding (spell?) when they go in. And only use a little oil, the more you use the less brown they go in my experience.

Par boil them and then shake in a pan with the lid on and with a tablespoonful of plain flour.Then tip into hot roasting tin and take out when golden YUM!

you have to put the pan in the over with some oil in it so that it gets really hot...smokinghot almost.

then drop the boiled and shaken spuds in.....stand back and make sure there is as little water as possible sa it will spit.

the hot oil will make them go really crispy on the outside and speed up the cooking process...they dont need too long as they will already be cooked in the middle from the boiling.

you can put some garlic and rosemary into the oil as well for a nice change...they are lovely.

I've treid them part boiled, fully boiled, boiled to within a millimeter of their potatoey lives.

Tried, a little oil, a lot of oil, differnet oils.

and they always turn out shite. They're either too hard on the outside and virtually empty inside (how does that happen, where does the potato go??) or crispy on the outside and treally greasy on in the middle.
Or just not cooked enough....

I always use olive oil

Sounds like oil not hot enough LTH.

pmsl at boiled to within a millimeter of their potatoey lives! sorry,

dont cut them too small, an average sized tattie needs just cutting in half, dont have the oven too hot, you do need to watch them, i find that if i turn them frequently, they come out just right, i use olive oil.

if they are empty inside you have overboiled then over cooked.

greasy inside means the oil isn't hot enough.

if they are too hard they aren't boiled enough.

you need to boile them unytil they are soft but not soft enough for mash.
you need to bash them about in teh saucepan and you dont want them falling apart, just going fluffy round the edges.

if doing them with a roast, we always put them in with the meat, meat in the middle of the roasting tin and the potatoes round the edges - they soak up the flavour of the meat and are bloomin lovely.

I find red potatos (desiree ?) are pretty good for roasts.

And I know its not the most healthy way but if you use lard instead of oil its much nicer. Also salting the parboiling water livens things up.

The oven needs to be on at least 200c , maybe 220c ,and if you line the baking tray with baking parchment first then they dont stick and the washing up is easier.

Right, will be starting dinner soon and will follow these instructions to the letter.

Dh would eat shit of it was camofladged so he's not really a good guinea pig to test them on but after growing up with my mums roast spud my standard are sky high, hers are amazing.....fingers crossed I'll get it right this time.

Goose fat makes the best roasties, but whatever fat you use, shaking is the only way to go.

ooh I prefer duck fat for my roasties. But yes, must shake them after par-boiling and I usually do them separately so they don't go soggy in any juices from the meat. The fat has GOT to be hot.(or hot, hot, hot as Big Cook Ben would say).

How were your spuds LTH?

Oh bugger....forgot about this one!

Well, by a very long way they were the niciest t I've cooked. Parboiled, then I drained them and put the whole suacepan in the over for 5 mins to dry them off, the took them out and shook them.

Olive oil rather than sunflower.

They must have been nice because I ate the kids ones too!!

Don't think I'll ever manage them like my mums though.....but I think she uses Lard so maybe it's better that I don't. I value my arteries too much

Never ever boil them first if you want them to taste nice. Believe me, I could never get mine to taste any good then I stopped boiling them.

Cut them, put them in hot fat (not olive oil) and cook them til brown and crispy. Lovely.

I par boil mine with a chicken stock cube if I am making a roast chicken Gives them a nice chickeny taste

I par bol until the edges start to go fluffy and give them a nice good shake. Heat butter in a roasting pan in the oven and then add potatoes when hot. Roast for an hour turning at intervals. Always taste delicious.

Have you tried Maris Pipers? They are the best!

Cut them into BIG chunks, parboil for 10 mins, drain, season with salt and pepper and
give them bloody good shake - then tip them into the oil (we use rapeseed but any will do) you have previously heated in a roasting tin, and put them on the top shelf for c 45 mins.

And yes, Maris Piper (or King Edwards) are the best (for jackets too)

Heston Blumenthal said you have to salt the water you parboil them in. Without that apparently nothing else will help.

Oh, and they should be at a hotter temperature than your roast - 250- ish for 45 mins