Without a shadow of a doubt, roast spuds have to be our favourite thing about a Sunday lunch (alongside a homemade apple crumble to follow of course).
There are lots of recipes available to follow online and in cook books for the ultimate roast potatoes but there was one method that particularly caught our eye.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's 'Best Roast Potato' recipe is a bit different to many we had stumbled across before, so we decided to try it out.
READ MORE: We tried Jamie Oliver's 'easy' Yorkshire pudding recipe and this was the end result
Jamie said on his website: “Simple as roast potatoes are, there’s a handful of tiny, but important, details – picked up throughout my cooking career – that when combined give you this ultimate recipe, which I believe creates the perfect roast potato. What a luxury."
Needless to say they were immense.
Crisp and crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle, they tasted absolutely divine.
They did require some prep work as he suggests peeling and buttering them up a day in advance, but it was worth it.
Plus it does save you some stress in the long run especially if you are cooking for a crowd the following day.
The secret to making them super crispy is to "gently half-squash each potato", Jamie said.
He also uses olive oil and garlic, plus fresh garlic and sage to intensify the flavours.
Watch how we got on in the video above and make them yourselves using his easy recipe below.
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Jamie Oliver's Best Roast Potato recipe (serves 5)
Ingredients
1.25 kg medium Maris Piper potatoes
2 tablespoons goose fat or unsalted butter
Drizzle olive oil
1/2 bulb of garlic
1/4 bunch fresh sage
Method
Get ahead
Peel the potatoes, keeping them whole, and ideally all about the same size (8cm). Parboil them in a pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes – this will ensure that the insides become really fluffy.
Drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for 2 minutes – this will help the fat to stick to the potatoes. Give the colander a few light shakes to chuff up the edges of the potatoes, giving you maximum surface area for a crispy exterior as they roast.
Place the goose fat or butter and 1 tablespoon of oil in your largest roasting tray. Tip in the potatoes, add a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then toss to coat, and spread out in one fairly snug, even layer but with small gaps between them.
Cover and pop in the fridge overnight.
On the day
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
Squash the garlic bulbs, then lightly crush each unpeeled clove and add to the tray – this gives you sweet, caramelised garlic and adds a gentle perfume to the potatoes.
Roast for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are crisp and golden all over.
Remove the tray from the oven. We’re nearly there, but we’ve got one last application of love and care, which is the game-changer. Gently half-squash each potato with a fish slice or masher so they kind of push into each other and fill the tray.
Pick the sage leaves and – importantly – toss with a little oil (this will transmit the flavour and make them deliciously crisp). Sprinkle the sage over the potatoes and roast for a further 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and amazing.
217 calories per serving
7.6g fat per serving
Gluten free
Vegan if using dairy free butter
Easy
Meal prep
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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.”
Melt the lard in a deep flameproof roasting tray on a high heat and fry the potatoes on each side until they begin to brown. Sprinkle with salt and roast for 30 minutes, or until starting to colour. Turn the potatoes and return to the oven for a further 20-30 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp.
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.
Vegetable oil is the ideal choice for those who like a subtle, or blander flavour from their roast potatoes, because it cooks best at a medium heat and so the potatoes won't take on too much flavour from the oil. This also means the potatoes won't overpower other dishes.
You don't NEED to, though if you want nice crispy potatoes with fluffy insides, par-boil cut potatoes for ten mins or so, drain in a colander and then shake well to break up the surface. Put into very hot oil and roast until cooked.
Toss the potatoes with the canola oil, garlic paste and salt and pepper to taste. Place on a sheet tray and roast until cooked through and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and immediately fold in the herbs.
The potatoes cook on the inside when you parboil, so the baking time is basically crisping them up to perfection, which we do at a high oven temperature. If the potatoes are raw, when you use a high temperature, the outside of the potatoes will burn before the inside cooks.
Goose fat is one of the first choices for roast potatoes because first of all – it tastes nice! It has a really rich flavour compared to your more common vegetable oils. It's a bit like how cooking your roast potatoes in dripping from your turkey can add more flavour to your spuds too – they're both animal fats.
It is best to season the potatoes before or during cooking, rather than after they have finished cooking. When you season the potatoes before or during cooking, the salt and other spices can penetrate the potatoes and enhance their flavor throughout. This can help to create a more even flavor throughout the potatoes.
If there is one person who knows about crispy and indulgent potatoes, it has to be the king of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" Guy Fieri. To make the most flavorful baked spuds, the chef recommends soaking whole potatoes in brine, a solution of water, salt, and sometimes sugar and other seasonings, for up to six hours.
It's up to you whether or not you peel your potatoes. Potatoes that are completely peeled and then cut into large chunks will crisp up nicely on all sides, whereas unpeeled potatoes that you've cut into wedges, or into halves or quarters, will become really crunchy only on their peeled sides.
Neutral, low-cost oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc., work well for roasting. These oils have a high smoke point, allowing the potatoes to get very hot to achieve maximum crispiness.
Extra virgin olive oil and coconut are both good for slow roasts due to their low smoke point and added flavour, whilst vegetable oil and rapeseed oil are neutral, medium smoke point oils that are versatile and can be used in most roasts.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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