Roasted Potatos

[stagis]

OK, guys.... ('specially since it seems to be all guys in the Roast Potato Cookoff thread)... What's roasted potatos?

I picture: cut-up taters surrounding a piece of meat.

cut-up taters on a baking sheet (nope - this won't work)

cut-up taters in foil with seasonings...

What are we making?

[Miss J]

[Gavin Jones]

Showing the combination of golden-brown crunchy exterior and inner radiant fluffiness that only animal fat can truly bestow.

[Andy Lynes]

Miss J - that's a lovely coal-effect fire, but can we get back to roast potatoes please.

Roasted potatoes are peeled, cut to a uniform size if necessary, par boiled for 5 minutes, drained and tossed in the pan to create a rough exterior. They are then placed in a roasting pan which contains hot lard, basted immeadiately, then placed in a hot oven for 50 mins to 1 hour, basted every 10 mins after the first 30 mins. Serve with roasted meat, gravy and far too many vegetable side dishes. Bread sauce is obligatory. Eat left overs at midnight after too much wine, salted and dipped in mayonnaise (not you, the potatoes!).

[macrosan]

Roasted potatoes are ...placed in a roasting pan which contains hot lard .....

No no no no no no no NO !!!!!!!

... a roasting pan which contains hot goose fat or schmaltz ....

Now continue with Andy's script

[Suvir Saran]

Fried or Roasted Taters, a previous thread

[macrosan]

Roast potatoes, a current thread

[Jinmyo]

This thread.

[johnjohn]

which type of potato is best for roasting?

johnjohn

[Toby]

Too lazy to look at link -- the most delicious roasted potatoes I ever ate were Idaho potatoes, parboiled in salted water for 3 minutes, and then slowly (300 degrees) roasted in goose (or duck) fat for 2 hours, turning from time to time, until crusty and brown. Then the oven was turned up to 375 for 15 minutes. Served sprinkled with salt, and chopped parsley and garlic.

Recipe from Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Southwest France, Potatoes in the Style of Quercy. And, as she writes in the headnote to the recipe, when the potatoes are done, you can drain off almost the exact amount of the fat that you started with, and yet the potatoes are imbued with the flavor of the fat.

[Jinmyo]

Heston Blumenthal on roasties in the Q&A:

clickit

[Andy Lynes]

the most delicious roasted potatoes I ever ate were Idaho potatoes

Idaho potatoes are absolutely gorgeous, I love them baked. I really wish we could get them in the UK. Actually, does anyone know if we can?

[helenas]

Heston Blumenthal on roasties in the Q&A:

clickit

There is also his article on roasted potatoes (among some other things) in Guardian. If somebody tried it, could you please share the tasting notes? I'm definitely willing to try but i have cook-them-untill-still-intact-but-before-they-have-started-to-break anxiety problem, so i'll try instead a Wolfert's recipe (thanks, Toby, for reminding)

[stagis]

Having perused the included links (and having heaved a heavy sigh of foodlust after reading the home-fries links - my Dad ran a breakfast diner for years) I only question the amount of fat/lard/schmaltz..... how much is not enough? My dad loves this small diner in Plainville, CT (Howie's) and, granted, the owner is an artist at the grill, but Dad is complaining that he deep-fries his potatos - and too much oil in roasted potatos is going to deep-fry them, eh?

[Priscilla]

Helena, thank you for posting the Guardian link. I share the unease about par-cooked potatoes falling apart, but maybe this is the means of combatting same? I aim to attempt.

[Wilfrid]

I'm sure Heston's a dab hand with that approach, but I do not like the sound of it one bit. His flavorings sounded good though.

[Priscilla]

What do you object to Wilfrid.

[Wilfrid]

Parboiling them until they are very nearly cooked but just holding their shape. Apart from the inhrenent difficulty of doing just that, and not overooking them, I just can't imagine them crisping up very well.

[gknl]

Wouldn't the flour take care of that?

There's a recipe in the first Frugal Gourmet book for something called "Old French Style Potatoes" that's pretty similar. Par boil potatoes, dust with flour, add oil, onions and garlic and roast away in a 450 oven until

brown.