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

Didn't Nigella do something fancy with semolina and her potatoes? Was in her ultimate christmas series. My mother witnessed a scrap in sainsbury's over the last pack on Christmas eve.

will go and have a look. I love a good crispy potato.

I also like the word fluffification. most onomatopaeic (?sp)

There we go Nigella's perfect roast potatoes

Much as it pains me to applaud anything the gruesome Lawson suggests, semolina sounds like a cunning & effective alternative to flour.

Got to be cooked from frozen though. Honestly, tis a winner...

Oh yes, I agree with doing them from frozen. very crispy indeed. I also have concerns re Nigella, but I did drown my turkey for 24 hrs at christmas and my word was it a moist bird.

I did them from frozen in goose fat at Christmas and they were almost too crispy, but delicious. Today I'm bringing King Edwards to the boil, drain, back into pan and shake to roughen edges, chucking into very hot tray of sunflower oil in very hot oven for about 50 minutes. With roast pork and apple sauce followed by blackberry and apple crumble and custard

A good cheapo alternative to goose fat is... lard . I know many will faint at the mere mention of the word, but honestly, foody types alway mistake my lard-roasted pots for goose-fat ones .

I think oven-roasted potatoes have to be done in lard. There is no substitute.

lard!

Think my mum used to use lard for her legendary roasties, but it's not something i ever have in the house, hence sunflower oil.

Jamie Oliver tip - par boil then put in plastic collander cover with a saucepan lid and shake them about a bit.

Then roast in goose fat.

oh go on tranquila - you know you want to!

I par-boil, drain and shake (in the saucepan though, bugger using a clean colander) and then toss them into hot olive oil and roast in a hot oven.

I use goose-fat occasionally but if I don't treat the potatoes as above, they still won't go crispy.

One slight variation - parboil potatoes and drain. Pour a couple of spoonfuls of warmed goosefat (or whatever you are using) over the potatoes before you shake them around to fluff them up, then they get really well coated with fat on the fluffy bits before putting them in roasting tray (with a bit more fat to cook)

My mother in law says you should par boil them first then stick a sharp knife in each potato twice, this let the steam out apparently. I just just do the roughing up thing and cook in very hot fat - it must be really hot. Have had good enough results with veg oil but reckon duck or goose fact really does taste better - and apparently contains less saturated fat than lard which is beef fat.

Meaning that I think the important thing is that the potatoes go into HOT oil.

Has to be Nigella's method with semolina. (if you don't have semolina I also get v. good results with polenta. And I always use half lard and half oil.

I was always complimented on mine. I use small salad potatoes, leave the skin on, cut in half or quarters and roast with olive oil, garlic and rosemary. Yummm.....jealous, because can't find quite the right potatoes here in usa.

Do lard/goose fat reach a higher temperature than oil? That may be why they give a good result?

Dumb question from a novice (but hoping to improve) cook: where does one acquire goosefat and/or lard?

waitrose do goosefat

From a goose!

Failing that, you can buy jars of it in Waitrose

the goose fat does get to a higher temp, aparently that is the secret. I didn't notice a mssive difference really though..I sprinkle sea salt on mine too.

So you buy a little tub of goosefat?

I couldn't imagine so many of you cooking a goose and saving the drippings to use later.......or maybe you do?

tins from sainsbury's. extortionate but essential imo.

Earlybird - get the lard1 widely available in all supermarkets - even the 'trose.

I think lard/goosefat is better because these fats can be heated to a really high temperature without impairing the flavour. Olive oil, esp. extra virgin, can taste a bit bitter if heated to hot, IMO.