Roast Potatoes

[Scottf]

Hi Heston

A few of us are having a roast potato cook off to decide on goose fat v olive and sunflower oil.

What is your method for the "perfect" roastie, as we could also use that i the competition!

[Heston Blumenthal]

Of course you can give it a go, here is the recipe.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the most important thing of all is the potato itself.

Contrary to popular belief, although the variety of potato is important, it is not as important as the quality of the potato itself. Things like the length of time that the potato has been stored and just how wet the ground was thatt he potato had been grown in can make a massive difference to the end results.

So as long as you do you cook off witht he same potatoes, preferably from the same bag, you will have a fair comparison.

Peel the potatoes and cut each one preferably into quarters, if possible eight pieces- the idea here is to make a lot of sharp edges that will crisp up nicely.

Rinse them off thoroughly and leave them in a container of water

Bring a pan of unsalted water to the boil and add the potates

Cook, simmering until the potatoes are pretty soft. Still intact but before they have started to break uo and become waterlogged.

Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 190C

When the pots are ready, drain them carefully and leave in a colander to steam a little.

Sprinkle over a little plain flour and carefully turn the potatoes in this.

Pour either olive oil or groundnut oil into the roasting tray and place in the hot oven for ten minutes.

When very hot, add the potatoes, making sure that they are all turned in the oil so that they are completely covered in it.

Place in the oven.

After half an hour, add three or four garlic cloves, bashed

After one hour, add a very generous amount of thyme and rosemary

keep cooking, turning regularly until the pots are nice and crisp.

Season with fine salt, sea salt and pepper and serve

It is important to make sure in this recipe that the potato is cooked as much as possible without breaking up beforehand.