Best potato for roasting

[DeanR32]

Afternoon everyone

As per title, what's the best potato for our roast dinner? We like em fluffy inside nice and crispy outside.

Also, how do you cook yours? Any tips on how to get it bang on?

[Big Al.]

IMHO

King Edward or Maris Piper

[Sharted]

king ed, cold oil, salt.

is all.

[smileymikey]

Sharted said:

king ed, cold oil, salt.

is all.

What kind of witchcraft is that Sir...peel and soak for an hour, par boil and drop the puppies in oil hotter than Pompei High St

[AndyHCZ]

Hot oil/fat is the secret - you almost want to deep fry the outside of them.

I boil them for about 5-7 minutes first, drain (use the steam to dry them), give them a good shake in the pan with the lid on to fluff them up, salt + pepper and then straight into boiling hot oil/goose fat.

[21TonyK]

I use maris pipers. I peel, size and then soak in hot water for a bit while I boil a massive pan of very salty water. I soak in hot to help remove a bit of starch but also to help reduce the thermal shock to the pan of water helping to keep it on the boil!

Add and boil for a few minutes then out and allow to dry. Fluff a bit then roll around in hot veg oil before roasting at 200 for an hour,

[smileymikey]

AndyHCZ said:

Hot oil/fat is the secret - you almost want to deep fry the outside of them.

I boil them for about 5-7 minutes first, drain (use the steam to dry them), give them a good shake in the pan with the lid on to fluff them up, salt + pepper and then straight into boiling hot oil/goose fat.

+1

[Soir]

As above but after half an hour roasting (halfway) add whole cloves of garlic, some rosemary and little red wine vinegar/olive oil.

[smileymikey]

Soir said:

As above but after half an hour roasting (halfway) add whole cloves of garlic, some rosemary and little red wine vinegar/olive oil.

Take your fancy continental ways the feck out of this forum....Garlic. Good on bread and an affront to baby jesus with roast potatoes!!

[Big Pants]

As above with parboil, fluff, salt and boiling oil.

BUT I'm a big fan of Michael Caine's culinary tip, which is to pour out as much of the oil as possible for the last 15 minutes. They dry roast crispily. Mmmm.

[anonymous-user]

I always leave the skins on, quarter them, then part boil and allow to cool. I then poor super hot duck fat over them before cooking for 45ish minutes in a hot oven

[Big Pants]

Oh, and Desiree, King Edwards or those Bartlett's Roosters all turn out well.

[Tickle]

I like to use cyprus potatoes, put about 1/2 inch of water, lemon juice and oil in tray. Straight in the oven and turn occasionally. As the water boils off the oil sinks on top and into the potatoes.

Not traditional in the UK way of a 'roastie' but I do prefer them this way.

[uncinqsix]

Has to be an Agria. Nothing else comes close.

[sherman]

I find if you halve baby potatoes, brush them all over with oil,salt and pepper and place on an oiled baking tray in a hot oven for around half an hour you get nice and crispy roasties

[Pferdestarke]

Spunta. Large Italian whites. Great chipped too.

[jet_noise]

Dear D,

another vote for King Teds from me - best combination of flavour & texture.
Maris Piper are probably consistently better texture but they don't have the flavour of the Teds.

Method:
Parboil 5 mins. Shake 'em a bit to fluff the edges <insert obligatory Carry On snigger here>.
Into, as an earlier poster said, fat hotter than Pompeii High Street.
Turn well to coat the spuds.

Enhancements:
Beef dripping, goose fat or plain old lard instead of oil add even more yumminess.
A couple of bits of smoked streaky in with the spuds if you've just got vegetable oil.
A sprinkling of dried mixed herbs for summat different,

regards,
Jet

[Sharted]

Try soaking par boiled spuds in cold oil then roast, taken from Michael Caine.

[matchmaker]

Big Al. said:

IMHO

King Edward or Maris Piper

I'd agree. King Ed first, then MP.

Strangely, I discovered from a greengrocer that not all Maris Pipers are created equal. I went to buy some to make chips and I was asked if I wanted Scottish or English. Naturally, I answered Scottish

He asked me what I wanted them for and when I said chips, he told me English ones made better chips! So I bought a kilo of both and did a comparison. It pains me to confirm that the English ones did indeed make better chips

Fluffier inside, crispier outside.

[soad]

Sharted said:

Try soaking par boiled spuds in cold oil then roast, taken from Michael Caine.

The secret of a perfect roast potato? Not a lot of people know that (but Michael Caine does)