Perfect Roast Potatoes

Glaucus said:
Boil in salt water, go as far as you dare on cooking whilst boiling.

Drain carefully, no smashing required as they are so delicate. Let them steam themself dry for as long as possible, heat tray with oil in oven. Carefully place photoessays in tray so they don't fall to bits. Spoon over oil, put in oven. Then once they start forming crust you can turn them over.
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+1

I might also add that cooking them in goosefat will give them a nice flavour. Another tip to give them that nice roasted with meat flavour is to finish them off with a mixture of melted butter and marmite. Melt them together in the microwave for a few seconds and brush over the potatoes to give them a glaze.
 
oli collett said:
Boil in 7 mins? 10mins? You want to boil as long as possible until they are about to fall to pieces!

I've never needed to flour them
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You don't want to take them too far, mainly as you don't want them to take on too much water. Balance of cooked and "fluffable" but then able to drain enough. I couldn't do this in 7mins though, need like 12-15 for spuds.

Oh and I always use Maris Piper, the mothership got me on to them and I always use them now.
 
Marmite and butter glaze; I might just have to try that too! This thread is awesome!

Regarding boiling the crap out of the potatoes before roasting them, I'm not convinced as they just seem to fall completely apart in the fluffing and you end up with bits falling off all over the place. They might turn into nice little crispy bits to munch while the meat is resting, but I just like my roasties still with a little bit of bite in the middle.

Also what size to people cut them to before boiling? Into small quarters almost like you're going to sauté them, or keep them nice and big and cut only in half?
 
As an alternative to the conventional roast potatoes you can roughly dice raw potato into small cubes and sautee them off for colour and then bang them in a hot oven for 15 mins. Take them out and finish them off with whatever herbs and glaze takes your fancy.
 
Axleuk said:
As an alternative to the conventional roast potatoes you can roughly dice raw potato into small cubes and sautee them off for colour and then bang them in a hot oven for 15 mins. Take them out and finish them off with whatever herbs and glaze takes your fancy.
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Parmentier style but with shallot butter, bacon lardons, rosemary, garlic. Mmmmm.
 
QuickLink said:
You don't want to take them too far, mainly as you don't want them to take on too much water. Balance of cooked and "fluffable" but then able to drain enough. I couldn't do this in 7mins though, need like 12-15 for spuds.

Oh and I always use Maris Piper, the mothership got me on to them and I always use them now.
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If you only cook for 12-15mins, they won't be as crisp. There will be virtually no difference to the insides as long as they still hold their shape.

What are people talking about with regards to "fluffing"? Do you mean tossing them in a colander or similar in order to artificially roughen up the outsides? You'll always risk breaking up potatoes that way and it's not necassary if you cook them long enough in the first place
 
oli collett said:
What are people talking about with regards to "fluffing"? Do you mean tossing them in a colander or similar in order to artificially roughen up the outsides? You'll always risk breaking up potatoes that way and it's not necassary if you cook them long enough in the first place
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yep, mainly done by people who part boil. These doesn't and can't be done when boiling to almost destruction.
 
oli collett said:
If you only cook for 12-15mins, they won't be as crisp. There will be virtually no difference to the insides as long as they still hold their shape.

What are people talking about with regards to "fluffing"? Do you mean tossing them in a colander or similar in order to artificially roughen up the outsides? You'll always risk breaking up potatoes that way and it's not necassary if you cook them long enough in the first place
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From boiling, at 15mins they'll be done. I don't want them too soft or they fall apart. I fluff them up in the saucepan, once I've let all water drain out. Slap them in the pan, lid of and shake. Not too hard mind. Never had a hard centre spud at all.
 
oli collett said:
If you only cook for 12-15mins, they won't be as crisp. There will be virtually no difference to the insides as long as they still hold their shape.

What are people talking about with regards to "fluffing"? Do you mean tossing them in a colander or similar in order to artificially roughen up the outsides? You'll always risk breaking up potatoes that way and it's not necassary if you cook them long enough in the first place
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And what about the point about them containing more water the longer you boil them for? You only want to boil them enough such that the outer layer is fluffy.

And of course it's not necessary to fluff them if you boil the crap out of them...that makes no sense, as on the other side of the coin you could say there's no need to boil the crap out of them if you fluff the outsides in the pan or colander. One is quicker than the other.

If you boil them for ten minutes then fluff them for thirty seconds, you have spend less time cooking them than if you'd spent twenty minutes boiling them, they'll have taken on less water, and be just as crispy as if you choose to annihilate them first.
 
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