Roasted Potatoes (English)

english-roastedpotatoes Known as the Best Crispy Roasted Potatoes Ever. These are the most flavourful crispy roast potatoes you'll ever make. The Brits get a bad rap for their cuisine and in some cases rightfully so - the beef cooked until gray and the gravy-made-from-granules that I ate every Sunday were not the height of culinary greatness - but dang if there aren't a lot of things they do better than almost anyone else. I'm talking savoury pies, fried fish, Yorkshire puddings and roasted potatoes. The British method of roasting potatoes is one that I've taken a strong liking to. It's simple and it produces amazing results. Boil chunks of potato until they're just tender, toss them none-too-gently with fat (ideally beef drippings) to rough up their surface, then roast them until they're crisp and crackling.

The boiling and roughing-up steps are the real keys. They create a thin slurry of mashed potato that clings to the surface of the potato chunks, which ends up crisping beautifully in the oven as the potatoes roast. It's the technique I use for pretty much every holiday. This year, I decided to reexamine the method from the ground up with the idea of completely maximizing that crisp-to-creamy contrast in each chunk of roast potato, testing and retesting every variable, from cut size to potato type to boiling and roasting methods. The result is this recipe, which I firmly and un-humbly believe will deliver the greatest roast potatoes you've ever tasted: incredibly crisp and crunchy on the outside, with centers that are creamy and packed with potato flavour. I dare you to make them and not love them. I double-dare you.

2 Tbsp. kosher salt (~ 1 oz; 25 g)
½ tsp. baking soda (4 g)
4 lbs russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters, sixths, or eighths, depending on size (2 kg)
5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, duck fat, goose fat, or beef fat (75 mL)
1 small handful picked fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
black pepper, freshly ground
1 small handful fresh parsley leaves, minced

Preheat an oven to 450°F (230°C) or 400°F (200°C). Adjust an oven rack to the center position.

Heat 2 qts (2L) water in a large pot over high heat until boiling. Add kosher salt, baking soda and potatoes. Stir. Return to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until a knife meets little resistance when inserted into a potato chunk, about 10 minutes after returning to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine olive oil, duck fat, or beef fat with rosemary, garlic and a few grinds of black pepper in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook, stirring and shaking pan constantly, until garlic just begins to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Immediately strain oil through a fine-mesh strainer set in a large bowl. Set garlic/rosemary mixture aside and reserve separately.

When potatoes are cooked, drain carefully and let them rest in the pot for about 30 seconds to allow excess moisture to evaporate. Transfer to bowl with infused oil, season to taste with a little more salt and pepper and toss to coat, shaking bowl roughly, until a thick layer of mashed potato–like paste has built up on the potato chunks.

Transfer potatoes to a large rimmed baking sheet and separate them, spreading them out evenly. Transfer to oven and roast, without moving, for 20 minutes. Using a thin, flexible metal spatula to release any stuck potatoes, shake pan and turn potatoes. Continue roasting until potatoes are deep brown and crisp all over, turning and shaking them a few times during cooking, 30-40 minutes longer.

Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and add garlic/rosemary mixture and minced parsley. Toss to coat and season with more salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Cook's Notes:

Russet potatoes will produce crisper crusts and fluffier centers. Yukon Golds will be slightly less crisp and have creamier centers, with a darker colour and deeper flavour. You can also use a mix of the two.
The potatoes should be cut into very large chunks, at least 2-3: or so. For medium-sized Yukon Golds, this means cutting them in half crosswise, then splitting each half again to make quarters. For larger Yukon Golds or russets, you can cut the potatoes into chunky sixths or eighths.

Choosing the Right Potato Size and Variety:

Russets get the crispest crusts and roast up a pale golden brown. Their interiors are fluffy and mild.
Yukon Golds roast a little darker owing to their lower starch content and higher sugar content. This leads to more flavour, but it also means a slightly less crisp crust. Their interiors are nice and creamy, with plenty of flavour.
Red potatoes roast up very dark because of their very low starch content, but have difficulty getting crisp. They come out of the oven crunchy, but soon lose that crunch, turning soft and tender.

Cold Starts Leave Me Cold: Starting With Cold Water vs. Boiling Water:

Another element worth considering is the way in which the potatoes are boiled. In most potato recipes, I recommend starting potatoes in cold water and bringing them up to a boil. This helps ensure that the exteriors don't turn to mush before the insides have a chance to cook through. It's especially true for larger chunks of potato, because heat can take a good deal of time to travel through to the core.
But here we've got a whole different ball game. We actually want the exteriors to break down more than the centers. That means starting the potatoes in already-boiling water. I made sure to salt the water well (about an ounce of kosher salt for two quarts of water) to season the potatoes as they cooked.

Why It Works:

Large chunks of potato maximize the contrast between exterior and interior.
Parboiling the potatoes in alkaline water breaks down their surfaces, creating tons of starchy slurry for added surface area and crunch.
Offering you the choice of oil, duck fat, goose fat, or beef fat means you can get whichever flavour you want.
Infusing the oil or fat with garlic and herbs gives the potato crust extra flavour.