Roast Potatoes........how do you get the "perfect crispy" ones????

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

I sometimes do Roast Potatoes but with varying degrees of success.......how do you do yours?? What oil/fat do you use (I'm not doing a "roast" with them so don't have that option)? Do you parboil first etc etc etc

TIA

Put sunflower oil in the oven to get hot. About 180-200

peel potatoes, put boiling water on them, boil for 7 mins ish

take them out, drain well. When they're fairly dry shake them in the pan to get the edges all roughed up

take hot fat pan out of oven, put potatoes in

cook for about an hour, turning now and then to make sure they're coated with oil

sometimes put garlic and rosemary in too

You must get the right sort of potatoes
Maris Piper are the best

Parboil them for about 6 or 7 mins, then drain them and cover with a teatowl for 5 mins. the outsides should be all powdery then. Next take them in the colander and pour backwards and forwards a few times between saucepan and colander (carefully, you don't want them to break up!) until the outsides are all scruffy.

Then tip in to a baking tray with olive or sunflower oil in. Turn them all so they are coated and i usually put some coarse salt on them at this point and a small sprinkling of dried oregano.

Then roast at 200/400 ish (temp not really important, can be lower for a while then turn up at the end while the meat is resting for 10 mins) I usually allow 45 mins to an hour depending on whether there is a roast in there on a lower temp or not. Turn 3 x to make sure each side is cooked.

The right sort of potato IS THE KEY though i must say

oh yes I do use goose fat sometimes
tbh I don't really truly notice the difference that much!

so basically as I can't afford to buy Maris Piper's "en bulk" they're doomed????

Oh well - we'll have to make do with "ok" Roasties then LOL.

Thanks though

ah.
finally a question in my area of expertise

have to choose floury potatoes, not waxy ones for a start. king edwards are good. (iirc)

then peel and soak to remove excess starch. par boil a wee bit (need to experiment to achieve you ideal ... boiling forst removes some of the goodness - or so my mother says - but imho is worth it for the result.

meantime heat pan in oven with half olive oil and half butter (salted) . butter is for flavour, oil stops it burning.

when potatoes are drained, pour them into the melted butter/oil and stick in fairly hot oven to roast.

you may wish to add a sprinkle of dried minced garlic now - or sliced fresh. i love garlic.

thats it.

toss about a bit halfway thru. if using an implement to turn them, use something fairly stiff so you dont break the spuds up too much in the process.

crispy golden crunchy spuds with fluffy white clouds inside.

what do you mean? Why not just buy a few maris pipers? Are they much more expensive than any other spuds? I don't think they are

Any floury potato will do
it's just MPs make the nicest ones

Well, you should be able to produce the perfect roasters after this, QoQ!

Apart from techniques (already listed), I'd reiterate that the right potato is key. King Edwards or Maris Pipers ... you can't go wrong!

I tend to buy the big packs of white poatoes (haven't got a clue what their proper name is) as for the amount of potatoes we go through they work out cheaper....I guess those are too waxy????

also, the more you boil them the quicker theyll be ready. if youre in a hurry, like. (and they get fluffier YUM)

no you can buy big packs of mps or King edwards too

i only buy a few though as we don't eat spuds other than the odd roastie, maybe 10 x a year

dunno. my guess is that 'white' spuds are whatever variety they have a lot of at the time...

par boiling should help - and CD's fluffification technique with the colander too - even if waxy.

buy aunt bessies?!

I know that the big packs of MPS and KE's are more expensive.....(not only am I a cheapskate - we're on very tight budget with me being on SMP.....even more so when I got a cheque the other day instead of cash for a service I played for ).

Tranquilla - "fluffification" - LOVE it

oh yes.
tis a serious business the making of a good roast tattie. deserves its own vocabulary n everything

Duck or goose fat is brilliant for roasties, especially if you're having chicken or duck etc. You can get goose fat from Tesco and Waitrose, and it keeps forever in the fridge - at least, mine hasn't gone off yet and it must be 6m or more since I opened it. I used to strain off the duck fat when roasting duck, and keep that in a jar in the fridge, but don't bother now that I can get goose fat easily.

The key to good roasties, IME, for any root veg, is parboiling them and then drying them before greasing/oiling. And being generous with the fat.

Marfona are excellent all-rounders, and often cheaper than other named potatoes. They're often sold as 'white potatoes', so you have to check the small print on the bag.

The day before you want to eat them, parboil your spuds, drain and then return to the saucepan with a tablespoon of plain flour & shake them around a bit for the fluffification.

Then put them in the freezer.

Cook from frozen in hot goose fat.

The flour & the freezing give you a crunchier outside & fluffier inside.

loving the general acceptanceof the word fluffification

I cheat and do mine in the chip pan. I parboil them first, then about 5 minutes in the deep frier.

Oven method is to parboil for 15 minutes, then drain and give them a good shake. Then put them in a hot oven for ?20-30 minutes.

thats what caterers do. (deep fat frying)