ROAST POTATOES

What can beat a well roasted potato, an essential part of the British roast dinner with variations around the world! It is important to choose your potato well as not all varieties of potato are suitable for roasting! Waxy potatoes in particular are not really suited, neither are new potatoes but good floury potatoes are by far the best roasters!


Maris pipers and king Edwards being a good choice here in the UK, the latter being my preferred choice. Potato varieties globally tend to go by different names, so at least try and stick to a Floury variety!

Once you have your choice potatoes you need to give the cooking medium some consideration, plus your choice of cooking vessel! I will start with the cooking medium!

For the most adorable potatoes goose or duck fat will make you many friends, but that is only if you can persuade your guest of the health giving properties of this wonderful full flavoured animal fat, that just so happens to be low in saturates.

Beef dripping is another tasty choice for potatoes especially if rendered from meat just cooked, but unfortunately suffers from being very high in saturates, lard will achieve a very good potato but again very high in saturates, with a mix of fats you could still use a little dripping, but combine with oil for a healthier and tastier choice! Personally i would not use butter for roasting, unless mixed with another oil(this should prevent the butter from burning), but even then i find that the potatoes can be too rich!

Olive oil is another healthy option and yields good results as the photo above is testimony, vegetable oil, sunflower oil all coming in close behind! Mixtures of oils at about a 50/50 mix for example olive and vegetable or sunflower/olive and so on will give good results. Olive oil with the a small amount of rendered meat fat or juices are a delight!

The cooking vessel should at least be a good size with ample room to provide space for the potatoes to crisp, overcrowding is never a good practice! A good metal roasting tin /tray should be sufficient, as long as it is of appropriate size.

To cook;
Pre-heat oven to 190c, place a appropriate sized roasting tray into the oven with approximately 5mm of your chosen cooking medium. while your roasting tray is heating up, bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil.
Peel your potatoes, once peeled run under the cold tap to remove excess starch(2-3minutes approx). Par boil your potatoes for approximately 8 minutes, then drain. Shake off all excess water. Remove the roasting tray from your oven, and add your par boiled potatoes, shake the tray or use a spoon to make sure all potatoes are liberally coated with fat. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper,now place the roasting tray into the hot oven for approximately 1-1 half hours.

Note:

Roast potatoes are very giving, so you will be able to get away with overcooking. For extra crunchy roast potatoes rough the potatoes a little after boiling, this can be achieved buy vigorous shaking of the tray or draining colander.