Cooking roast spuds
Discussion
Fantastic delicacy, really hard to cook perfectly.
My general thought on the matter is that people do too much thought on how to make it crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside during the cooking whilst actually the worst thing a roast spud had to endure is you doing all that and then Great Auntie Doreen decided to go to the toilet. So it ends up like a leather oblong after everyone has sat there looking at it.
First rule of roast spuds is you take them out of the hot oven last over all other items when serving. This is the golden rule. Never to be broken.
Given that you can now start to cook your spuds. There's a lot of talk about roughing up your spuds by using a fork or bashing about in big pan. Ok, this might add a bit of extra crispness but in the greater scheme of things the serving up whilst cooling down period might scupper you.
So lets start.
1. Cut all the potatoes to be egg size shaped and then throw them in a pan of gently boiling water, very gentle, for 20 mins.
2.Strain with a sieve.
Meanwhile put your baking pan into the oven with beef dripping or lard or duck fat or whatever your preference is. Lots of it, it will be drained off later
So we have got to this point
At 200C + Roast potatoes take 1 hour; 4 x 15 minute turns, how simple? After the first two 15 mins you drain off the excess fat -
The big problem here with one oven is that your potatoes are in competition with your main dish. With a leg of lamb, as per here, not so many issues as the leg has not much moisture given off compared to something like a turkey / chicken .
You still want to keep the potatoes away from other cooking items steaming them from below though, especially with big roasts with high moisture content. I swapped mine down to the bottom
Final 15 min and a last dab of the kitchen towel similar to how a middle aged lady would do to a chippendales chest
And to say once again, no resting time with roast potatoes. First law, out of the oven and as quickly into the mouth as possible.
You won't go far wrong given all that.
Finally. Best spud to use for the above? The simple but classic King Edward.
My general thought on the matter is that people do too much thought on how to make it crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside during the cooking whilst actually the worst thing a roast spud had to endure is you doing all that and then Great Auntie Doreen decided to go to the toilet. So it ends up like a leather oblong after everyone has sat there looking at it.
First rule of roast spuds is you take them out of the hot oven last over all other items when serving. This is the golden rule. Never to be broken.
Given that you can now start to cook your spuds. There's a lot of talk about roughing up your spuds by using a fork or bashing about in big pan. Ok, this might add a bit of extra crispness but in the greater scheme of things the serving up whilst cooling down period might scupper you.
So lets start.
1. Cut all the potatoes to be egg size shaped and then throw them in a pan of gently boiling water, very gentle, for 20 mins.
2.Strain with a sieve.
Meanwhile put your baking pan into the oven with beef dripping or lard or duck fat or whatever your preference is. Lots of it, it will be drained off later
So we have got to this point
At 200C + Roast potatoes take 1 hour; 4 x 15 minute turns, how simple? After the first two 15 mins you drain off the excess fat -
The big problem here with one oven is that your potatoes are in competition with your main dish. With a leg of lamb, as per here, not so many issues as the leg has not much moisture given off compared to something like a turkey / chicken .
You still want to keep the potatoes away from other cooking items steaming them from below though, especially with big roasts with high moisture content. I swapped mine down to the bottom
Final 15 min and a last dab of the kitchen towel similar to how a middle aged lady would do to a chippendales chest
And to say once again, no resting time with roast potatoes. First law, out of the oven and as quickly into the mouth as possible.
You won't go far wrong given all that.
Finally. Best spud to use for the above? The simple but classic King Edward.
I par-boil for 5 minutes (20 seems far too long, they will be near cooked) , drain them and put the colander back on the pan for 5 mins to let the potatoes dry off a bit.
Back in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of plain flour, lid on and rough them up by shaking the pan.
Oven tray out of the oven (gas mark 7/8) with the hot lard all smoking, put the tray on a hob to keep the lard hot, each potato is placed in the hot lard and turned to make sure it is covered completely, once done to all potatoes throw in a bulbs worth of un peeled garlic cloves, quick turn of salt all over and return to the oven for 20 mins.
Out of the oven, turn the potatoes and throw in a load of thyme leaves, shake the pan and back in for 20 mins, take out and shake again and should be done in another 10-15 minutes.
Yum!
Back in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of plain flour, lid on and rough them up by shaking the pan.
Oven tray out of the oven (gas mark 7/8) with the hot lard all smoking, put the tray on a hob to keep the lard hot, each potato is placed in the hot lard and turned to make sure it is covered completely, once done to all potatoes throw in a bulbs worth of un peeled garlic cloves, quick turn of salt all over and return to the oven for 20 mins.
Out of the oven, turn the potatoes and throw in a load of thyme leaves, shake the pan and back in for 20 mins, take out and shake again and should be done in another 10-15 minutes.
Yum!
Don't forget to make sure you have the right potatoes to begin with.
Maris Piper = Good
Marfona or Estima = Not good
King Edwards used to be my regular for roasting but are a bit of a PITA to get hold of. I normally use Maris as they are easily available, anyone else got a favourite?
And don't forget to over salt the water when you par boil!
Maris Piper = Good
Marfona or Estima = Not good
King Edwards used to be my regular for roasting but are a bit of a PITA to get hold of. I normally use Maris as they are easily available, anyone else got a favourite?
And don't forget to over salt the water when you par boil!
Gandahar said:
The big problem here with one oven is that your potatoes are in competition with your main dish. With a leg of lamb, as per here, not so many issues as the leg has not much moisture given off compared to something like a turkey / chicken .
Indeed, that's why I've got two ovens. Usually the meat goes in the small one and the rest in the big oven (roasties, parsnips, stuffing balls, yorkies etc.), especially useful when doing something like a pork or lamb shoulder that needs slow roasting. Low temp in the meat oven, high temp in the other for crisp spuds.Hard to mess up really. Maris piper, fat, garlic, rosemary, salt and the miracle of time.
Peel and chop to similar sized pieces. Plum sized is good for a nice ratio of crunch to fluff.
Parboil 5 mins. Drain and let sit in pan for a few minutes (or longer) to steam off.
Smoking hot fat, literally smoking. I preheat at 220-250 for at least 10 minutes. Here people will hark on about smokepoints of different fats, but I've found it much of a muchness. Beef/pork/goose fat is my preference but I've roasted spuds in butter, sunflower oil, x virgin olive oil and mixtures of all as well. I find little difference in the quality of the end result. With virgin oil/butter I do however use the lower end of the temp range.
If they need to hang around whilst you finish other foods they keep very well in a shallow bowl on a couple of layers of paper towel. I normally place the bowl on the opened oven door to keep them warm. Does not affect the crunch too much even if they have to sit 15-20 minutes. Some fresh rosemary leafs sprinkled on the finished spuds is nice.
Ah yes I turn them every 10-15 minutes. Cook time 45min to 1hr.
Peel and chop to similar sized pieces. Plum sized is good for a nice ratio of crunch to fluff.
Parboil 5 mins. Drain and let sit in pan for a few minutes (or longer) to steam off.
Smoking hot fat, literally smoking. I preheat at 220-250 for at least 10 minutes. Here people will hark on about smokepoints of different fats, but I've found it much of a muchness. Beef/pork/goose fat is my preference but I've roasted spuds in butter, sunflower oil, x virgin olive oil and mixtures of all as well. I find little difference in the quality of the end result. With virgin oil/butter I do however use the lower end of the temp range.
If they need to hang around whilst you finish other foods they keep very well in a shallow bowl on a couple of layers of paper towel. I normally place the bowl on the opened oven door to keep them warm. Does not affect the crunch too much even if they have to sit 15-20 minutes. Some fresh rosemary leafs sprinkled on the finished spuds is nice.
Ah yes I turn them every 10-15 minutes. Cook time 45min to 1hr.
Edited by fredt on Thursday 20th April 11:39
21TonyK said:
Don't forget to make sure you have the right potatoes to begin with.
Maris Piper = Good
Marfona or Estima = Not good
King Edwards used to be my regular for roasting but are a bit of a PITA to get hold of. I normally use Maris as they are easily available, anyone else got a favourite?
And don't forget to over salt the water when you par boil!
I use Baking potatoes as they seem to be the most versatile for my usage. Maris Piper = Good
Marfona or Estima = Not good
King Edwards used to be my regular for roasting but are a bit of a PITA to get hold of. I normally use Maris as they are easily available, anyone else got a favourite?
And don't forget to over salt the water when you par boil!
Those spuds look good but they are too big.
Cut them all in half and you have an increased surface area to crisp
My tip is allow them to dry via steaming. You want them soft and nearly falling apart around the outside.
Boiling time depends on the size in my experience.
Does anyone have any tips for roasting sweet potatoes?
They definitely require different timings for boiling and roasting to normal potatoes.
Cut them all in half and you have an increased surface area to crisp
My tip is allow them to dry via steaming. You want them soft and nearly falling apart around the outside.
Boiling time depends on the size in my experience.
Does anyone have any tips for roasting sweet potatoes?
They definitely require different timings for boiling and roasting to normal potatoes.
condor said:
I use Baking potatoes as they seem to be the most versatile for my usage.
Which are most likely Marfona or Estima. Much higher water content than Maris so tend to be more waxy texture when roasted, less "fluffy".Although I am a bit sad having four (and right now five) varieties of potato in the cupboard most of the time.
HTP99 said:
I par-boil for 5 minutes (20 seems far too long, they will be near cooked) , drain them and put the colander back on the pan for 5 mins to let the potatoes dry off a bit.
Back in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of plain flour, lid on and rough them up by shaking the pan.
Oven tray out of the oven (gas mark 7/8) with the hot lard all smoking, put the tray on a hob to keep the lard hot, each potato is placed in the hot lard and turned to make sure it is covered completely, once done to all potatoes throw in a bulbs worth of un peeled garlic cloves, quick turn of salt all over and return to the oven for 20 mins.
Out of the oven, turn the potatoes and throw in a load of thyme leaves, shake the pan and back in for 20 mins, take out and shake again and should be done in another 10-15 minutes.
Yum!
Exactly , 20 mins seems a very long time to par boil. But they still look yummyBack in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of plain flour, lid on and rough them up by shaking the pan.
Oven tray out of the oven (gas mark 7/8) with the hot lard all smoking, put the tray on a hob to keep the lard hot, each potato is placed in the hot lard and turned to make sure it is covered completely, once done to all potatoes throw in a bulbs worth of un peeled garlic cloves, quick turn of salt all over and return to the oven for 20 mins.
Out of the oven, turn the potatoes and throw in a load of thyme leaves, shake the pan and back in for 20 mins, take out and shake again and should be done in another 10-15 minutes.
Yum!
LeadFarmer said:
A sprinkling of semolina powder as your putting the part boiled spuds into the oven really helps get them crispy. Semolina also works well on pizza base to make it crisp.
Home Bargains sometimes have a sachet of seasoned semolina for coating your roasties. About 25p if I remember correctly, although it's been a while since I used it.I've also tried coating the par-boiled spuds in flour before putting them into the oil. It creates a batter-like coating when they coat.
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