Amazing hasselback potatoes | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak potatoes before roasting? ›

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

In a video online, Gordon explained: “For crispy roast potatoes, you can depend on them, my tip is to parboil them, leave them to steam dry, then sprinkle them with semolina or flour, and then give them a good roughing up.”

Choose from three different flavour combos: olive oil and rosemary; butter, sage and clementine; or goose fat and thyme – every one's a winner!

If the potatoes are raw, when you use a high temperature, the outside of the potatoes will burn before the inside cooks. That's why the parboiling is really important!

"Placing [peeled and cut] potatoes in water helps prevent oxidation, which turns their exposed flesh brown," says Ronna Welsh, the author of The Nimble Cook and the owner and chef instructor at Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn, N.Y. While oxidation won't make the potatoes unsafe to eat, it does change their flavor.

The main reasons to cut the potatoes and pre-soak in water are: To allow the excess starches and sugars to be removed from the outer surface of the fry strips AND to keep the potatoes from browning prematurely from exposure to air. Covering in water helps the potato from turning a dark color.

Boiling your potatoes for a little bit before roasting helps make sure that you get that beautiful crisp crust on the outside. If you don't parboil your spuds, the outside skin will remain quite tough, meaning that whatever fat you use will not be able to get inside the cracks.

It's all about the steam-dry; potentially the most important bit of achieving a crispy, crunchy spud without the need for any extras. Once you've finishing the boiling stage, drain your potatoes in a colander, place the colander back over the pan you've boiled them in and immediately cover them with a clean tea towel.

Overall, what is the best fat for roast potatoes? The team considered goose fat to yield the most flavoursome roasties. Despite the potatoes having a slightly oilier texture, the goose fat provided a satisfying savoury flavour which didn't overpower. Butter makes a good vegetarian alternative for golden brown tatties.

What type of potato is best for roast potatoes? ›

The Best: Yukon Gold Potatoes

The Yukon Gold potato — which is also one of our favorites for mashing — is an obvious choice for roasting. Their skin is thin, so they cook through fairly quickly, and they're just waxy enough to hold their shape.

Also, be mindful of the oil. Potatoes can react like sponges; too much oil can make your potatoes appear to be soggy. Try placing oil in a spray bottle or using an aerosol to apply the oil to the potatoes. Lastly, ensure that the potatoes are dry before you add the oil.

Olive oil is one of the most popular oils for frying and roasting foods, but it is not necessarily the best choice for Christmas roasties because it can be a little greasy. Extra-virgin olive oil should be avoided as it will burn easily in a very hot oven.

Lay the chopsticks down on your work surface parallel to each other, as if they are train tracks. Set the potato down, running lengthwise between the two sticks. Now, you can start making your slices, using the chopsticks as guardrails to stop you from cutting all the way through the spud.

It's simple: Pan-fry with cooking oil(s), not butter. As much as we love butter, it burns too quickly over high heat, which is necessary for optimal crispiness. While olive oil does taste great with potatoes, it also has a lower smoking point.

You'll just have to boil the potatoes for only about 10 to 15 minutes, or until you can easily poke through them with a fork, then proceed with the baking as usual. And for even more crispiness, Ramsay suggests sprinkling the potatoes with a bit of flour right before putting them in the oven.