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Perfect Roast Potatoes
How to make utterly perfect roast potatoes every time.
Servings: 2
: 375 kcal
Author: Just Jo
Ingredients
  • 3 baking potatoes
  • 2 tbsp duck/goose fat or vegetable oil rapeseed
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 2-3 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 stem of sage
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Sea salt & black pepper to season
Instructions
  1. Peel your potatoes and cut into three pyramid shapes as per the graphic below this recipe.
  2. Put the potatoes in a large pan of cold water and bring to the boil, then reducing the heat to a persistent simmer for 8 minutes.
  3. Test the potatoes with the point of a small sharp knife - the very middle bit should still have some bite, the exteriors will be soft.
  4. Drain into a sieve or fine colander and toss GENTLY a couple of times to fluff up the edges. Leave to stand in the sieve/colander for at least 10 minutes to steam dry a little but you could prep to this stage much earlier in the day and allow them to go cold.
  5. Heat oven as hot as it will go (if you're just cooked the turkey, it won't take too long to get ferociously hot). Put a small oven tray* with the fat of your choice in to preheat with the oven.
  6. When the fat is shimmering, quickly and carefully remove from the oven and using tongs, slowly lower a potato into the hot fat - if it doesn't sizzle immediately, put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. If it does, place all the potatoes in the oil spaced out 1-2 cm and then nestle in the herbs and garlic cloves between them.
  7. Roast on the top rack of the oven for 20 minutes, before removing and turning the potatoes over once in the fat - the surface immersed in the oil will already be crisp and golden. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes.
  8. Repeat once more (total cooking time of 60 minutes). When golden and crisp on all sides, remove from the fat and season generously with sea salt and pepper.
  9. NOTE - I keep the oven on as high as it will go as I'll be cooking veg and stuffing on the lower two shelves and this means the heat is dissipated somewhat. Always go by an oven rack thermometer to control the heat. If you feel better, reduce the heat to 220˚C and be prepared to give an extra 10-20 minutes cooking time.
Recipe Notes

*= I use a 30x19cm heavy duty metal baking tray. It's the perfect size for 2 people's worth of potatoes and it means you don't need a gallon of fat to have adequate depth to roast in. I prefer using metal trays as they conduct heat better than ceramic ones - just make sure it has a reasonable lip on it to contain the fat when the potatoes are added.

Having an Instant Pot makes this a much faster and less faffy recipe - simply par-cook the potatoes by placing them in a steamer basket over 250ml of water and giving 4-5 minutes on Manual High with a QPR. Give them the extra minute if very large only,