The Perfect Roasties

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

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So many guides on achieving the perfect, crisp roastie. However, that end result is not what I crave. No. What I crave is in fact the dark, leathery and soft variety. The type you would find sitting amongst your local butchers who is serving them on a lunchtime with beef and gravy, curry or other toppings. You know the type.

Is it the use of a waxy spud rather than floury variety?
Is it the fact they were once crisp but have given in to a heatlamp for several hours being kept warm?
Is it the type of oil?
Is it the cooking temperature?
Is it in the par-boil?
 
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I don't know the type you mention, but my Mum (of course) used to cut them in half, with deep ridges cut in to the curved side, lay them in oil and splash them over repeatedly until they were crispy, golden oil bombs of delicious glory. I absolutely loved them, however I am under no illusion that these are actually, really, truly something else altogether, and are roast potatoes in technicality only. With that I will bid you adieu, and good luck on your quest for potato nirvana.
 
I believe I am good at this and will post some roasty porn later for judgement....

My approach is simple.

1: Find a roasting spud, the important first bit...
2: Peel said roasting spud
3: Add to pan of cold water, nicely salted, so the water is over the spuds
4: Bring to boil then simmer for circa 12-15 minutes until the edges start to roughen
5: Drain and gental shake so the roughness increases
6: Remove, lay out on baking trail and let dry and cool for circa 15 minutes.
7: Goose fat in oven in roasting tin and head on 220 fan until it's red hot and smoking
8: Remove, add spuds with spoon and be careful. I have a scar for life on my hand from getting to excited at this stage.
9: Gently turn spuds in hot oil then back in the oven top shelf
10: Roast for 45 - 55 minutes to liking
11: Remove from oil, salt and wait for 2 or 3 mins

Serve

I like a real crunch followed by smooth insides. The above always gives me this.

Spud porn will be uploaded later.
 
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My work




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Yeah you got to par boil them and then shake about in the pan to get all those gnarly crispy bits. Then oven roast in dripping/goose/duck fat. Jamie Oliver will tell you to use Olive Oil...I think he must have shares in the stuff.

Also you got some weird ass butchers where you are.
 
oHUTCHYo said:
So many guides on achieving the perfect, crisp roastie. However, that end result is not what I crave. No. What I crave is in fact the dark, leathery and soft variety.
Click to expand...
Highlighted for emphasis, for the benefit of other posters :p

I reckon the parboil is the key to the fluffy/crisp outcome, so if you don't want that, try just cutting up some spuds and chucking them in a tray with some oil, then roasting them?

I doubt it's floury vs waxy, because all large potatoes in this country tend to be on the floury side. For the other variables, I've no idea, but I suspect a longer cook (which you might need if you haven't parboiled them) might also get closer to the outcome you're after.
 
oHUTCHYo said:
So many guides on achieving the perfect, crisp roastie. However, that end result is not what I crave. No. What I crave is in fact the dark, leathery and soft variety. The type you would find sitting amongst your local butchers who is serving them on a lunchtime with beef and gravy, curry or other toppings. You know the type.

Is it the use of a waxy spud rather than floury variety?
Is it the fact they were once crisp but have given in to a heatlamp for several hours being kept warm?
Is it the type of oil?
Is it the cooking temperature?
Is it in the par-boil?
Click to expand...

I think you will find that they are "dark, leathery and soft" because they have been sat for a long time under a heat lamp. The same thing happens in pub carvery's as well.
 
My other half has tried all sorts of different methods and our method is:

Peel large spuds and chop if necessary so all the pieces are largely the same size.
Leave to soak in cold unsalted water for a couple of hours. Change the water once or twice.
Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes on a gentle boil.
Remove from the water gently and leave to cool and dry on a cooling rack. Don't shake them about.
Heat rape seed oil to 200c.
Add spuds to oil, baste with oil and give them a season with salt.
After 30 minutes turn the spuds over and baste again with oil. If darkening too much drop the oven to 180c.
15 minutes later repeat.
15 minutes later remove from the oil and place in a bowl lined with kitchen paper to drain off excess oil.
Devour.

I think this method works great.

Edit - Maris Peer are the best potatoes we've found. When we put them into the roasting tin we don't overcrowd the tin and leave a good gap between the individual spuds.
 
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Does no one else flour them?

I use basically the above methods posted, but before I put them in the oven I sieve flour over them. I used to use onion powder that also works.

Also when I put them in pre-heated roasting tray with fat already hot, I take a spoon and tip the tray a little so the fat pools in one corner, and then spoon it over the potatoes (should cook a fried egg like this also).

The other thing I find is contrary to what you read, but I don't put the oven too high, if you got time 150-160 is fine, saves getting those corners too dark, more even roast.
 
Housey said:
I believe I am good at this and will post some roasty porn later for judgement....

My approach is simple.

1: Find a roasting spud, the important first bit...
2: Peel said roasting spud
3: Add to pan of cold water, nicely salted, so the water is over the spuds
4: Bring to boil then simmer for circa 12-15 minutes until the edges start to roughen
5: Drain and gental shake so the roughness increases
6: Remove, lay out on baking trail and let dry and cool for circa 15 minutes.
7: Goose fat in oven in roasting tin and head on 220 fan until it's red hot and smoking
8: Remove, add spuds with spoon and be careful. I have a scar for life on my hand from getting to excited at this stage.
9: Gently turn spuds in hot oil then back in the over top shelf
10: Road for 45 - 55 minutes to liking
11: Remove from oil, salt and wait for 2 or 3 mins

Serve

I like a real crunch followed by smooth insides. The above always gives me this.

Spud porn will be uploaded later.
Click to expand...
I do pretty much the same expect about 3/4 the way through roasting i squash the potatoes to increase surface area then pop them back it to get even more browned crispy bits.
Got to be either truffle salt or rosemary salt as well for me
 
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Maris pipers. I used to use king eddies but now a Maris piper convert.

Par boil. Drain and shake to break them a little. Then cool.

Put them in a roasting dish with cold oil. I use a mix of olive and rape seed. Stir salt, pepper and paprika into the oil. Potatoes in the oil and make sure all the surfaces are covered. Arrange potatoes so the least amount of surface area is touching the roasting dish and the larger potatoes are at the sides.

Into a preheated oven 180c oven. Roast for an hour or so, or until the spuds all move when you shake the roaster. Roll them around a bit to soak any excess oil. Roast for another 20 mins or so at 200c.

Done. Crispy on the outside. Like mash on the inside.

The art is the balancing the parboil, the amount of oil and how long you roast them. Those depend on how large you cut the spuds, the variety and how fresh they are.
 
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oHUTCHYo said:
So many guides on achieving the perfect, crisp roastie. However, that end result is not what I crave. No. What I crave is in fact the dark, leathery and soft variety. The type you would find sitting amongst your local butchers who is serving them on a lunchtime with beef and gravy, curry or other toppings. You know the type.

Is it the use of a waxy spud rather than floury variety?
Is it the fact they were once crisp but have given in to a heatlamp for several hours being kept warm?
Is it the type of oil?
Is it the cooking temperature?
Is it in the par-boil?
Click to expand...

In my experience you get the leathery outer by roasting your potatoes from a more raw starting point so a 10 minute par boil where the potatoes are not cooked when you roast is more likely to get that leathery outer. To get the crunchy outer you want to boil them to soft cooked and ideally cool/chill them afterwards to dry the outside.
 
Similar to the above b

Maris Piper or King Edwards.

1. Peel.
2. Chop into irregular pieces.
3. Drop in pan, add salt, cover with water. Bring to boil.
4. Dump into colander and leave to cool.
5. Turn oven on at 180, usually takes around 8/9 mins to heat up.
6. Cover base of tray with olive oil and stick in oven for 2mins.
7. Toss potatoes in colander to rough up edges.
8. Remove tray and pour in potatoes and use a spoon to cover, sprinkle with pepper and salt and any other seasonings.
9. Cook for 30mins.
10. Remove and turn potatoes, add more seasonings.
11. Cook for another 30/45 mins.
12. Serve.
 
I did some the other night i guess they could be called roasties and had what sounds like the texture you are looking for.

Got some new potatos and cut them half/quarter
put them in water for an hour or 2
drain and add some sunflower oil, salt, coarsely ground pepper or whatever you like (I used Italian herbs and spices)
Left them for 20 mins then preheated the air fryer at 200DegreesC
Put them in for 15-20 mins depending on how you like them shaking half way through, adjusting time depending on how you like.
Once cooked leave then in the air frier for 10 mins and eat!
 
I do the same as pretty much everyone else in the thread.But i saw a post in another thread which i thought was a good idea.A guy had a deep fat fryer that he filled with goose/duck fat and after par boiling he fried them in the oil for a few minutes let them drain and then either roasted them in the oven or put them in bags and froze them for next time.
 
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