Cornish Food Market

The best crispy roast potatoes…

November 21, 2012 in | 0 comments

It's definitely not rocket science but roast potatoes fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside take a little bit more effort than just tossing peeled potatoes in a pan - here's the secret.

Pre-heat your oven to 200degC or 180degC for a fan oven. Take your peeled potatoes (King Edwards are the best variety) and cut into decent sized chunks then part cook in boiling water for a few minutes until the outside are just softening. Put a roasting tin in the oven with enough goose fat to evenly coat the bottom of the tin. Take off the hob, drain, return to the pan and leave to cool with the lid off for a minute or two, this lets the surface moisture evaporate. Once the steam has cleared give them a good shake to break up the surfaces of the potatoes then sprinkle with seasoned plain flour (a couple of tablespoons of flour seasoned with salt and pepper will do enough potatoes for 4 or 5 people). Give the pan a shake again to coat the potatoes evenly in the flour then tip into the pre-heated roasting tin, spoon hot goose fat over the top of the potatoes and put back in the top of the oven.

Patience is now the virtue needed, the potatoes need to be left long enough to crisp on the bottom bofore you can start turning them - check them after twenty to twenty-five minutes they should be a deep gold colour on the bottom - try and move one - if it comes away from the pan cleanly and easily they are ready to turn.

Turn a couple more times to ensure they are golden all over - the last time drain as much oil as possible from the pan (you can even drop them onto a clean tea towel or some kitchen roll to remove any excess oil) give them a sprinkle of Cornish Sea Salt and put them back in for a final crisp. Total cooking time is somewhere between an hour to an hour and a half.