Roasted Potatoes

lots of variations. I’ve settled on parboiling chunks of Yukon golds, smashing them some, coating lightly in olive oil and spices—rosemary, garlic powder, pepper, sometimes paprika—baking in oven till crisp, turning occasionally. Delicious esp with the pan drippings of roast chicken or that provençal bird I posted recently.

sounds great! my go to for potatoes is the mini golds. steam them until done and then smash and pan fry in butter, finish with butter and spices. just parsley for fish, or add more spices for more pop.

I like russet potatoes. Cut into 1.5’ x 2" pieces (with or without peel) and place in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 4 to 6 minutes.
Drain, and put back in the pot to dry out any excess water.
Then coat the potatoes with olive oil and let sit. Pour out onto a metal tray; roast in 450F oven. Turn them over after 10-12 minutes.
Cook for another 10-15 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
Add a little salt and fresh cracked black pepper and a little sprinkle of Spanish hot paprika.

This is a modified version of the Serious Eats (Kenji alt Lopez) recipe.

Funny in that I made these tonight and they were delicious.

The real question is whether ketchup (catsup?) is allowed or served on the table with roast potatoes.

For me, if there are herbs, butter or any special combination of spices . . . then NO.
If they are just roasted potatoes, then Yes Please! Heinz Organic - Non-Corn Syrup version.

Key step if you like the little crunchy outside layer, is to toss your cut par-boiled spuds in a colander to “rough up” the outsides, then toss in oil or duck fat, then roast at your preferred temp. Have seen some like to use alkaline water to boil the spuds, but don’t think it’s needed if you toss them.

will add to my list!

325 oven
Don’t cut potatoes too small.
Boil 20+ mins, lightly salted water, drain carefully they will be soft. Let cool
Def rough them up.
Optional dredge in flour ( La Lawson says this, I usually don’t)
Duck or goose fat. Olive oil is ok.
Warm the fat/oil in the roasting pan.
You want a generous coating across the whole pan in the oven.
Toss potatoes in the warm fat.
Cook 60-80 minutes till golden. Turn three or four times carefully.
Dry on paper towel.
Toss with Maldon salt and optional chopped herbs (rosemary , thyme)
(The Mad Magician of Bray says to put the herbs in the boiling water. Also garlic. To me that’s a bit weird).

lots of articles re adding baking soda to the water, something about alkaline water to crisp up taters.

came here to add this. game changer. here’s the science:

nice but not sure you also need all that salt if using baking soda since it is sodium bicarbonate.

Cut up Yukon golds, cut up an onion, then oil a baking sheet, add a couple tablespoons of duck fat and roast away at 375-400. Stir them up a couple time to get good browning.

Use leftover potatoes the next day for a frittata.

You can do the same on the stove top, with a Dutch oven. Tilt the lid, to allow moisture escape. This avoids overheating the entire kitchen, during the summer.

I like to use fingerlings or some other variety of new potato (Yukon gold preferably but can work with white or red as well) cut potatoes in half, in a bowl mix 1/2 tsp of salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and smoked paprika. finely grate approx. 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. mix dry ingredients well, add potatoes and toss to coat with spice/cheese mixture. add olive oil and toss again until spuds are well coated. Place potatoes flesh side down onto cookie sheet lined with parchment or aluminum foil. 400degree oven, roast 15minutes, flip pan around and roast another 15minutes until skin is just starting to shrink/bubble and flesh side is golden brown.

I like this recipe (paywall)

https://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/carbones-take-on-potatoes-anna/

More complicated than most. Pickled green tomatoes are hard to find but add a lot to the dish.

Made this tonight with roast chicken. Yum. Half didn’t make it to the table.

I’ve never parboiled but got 4 thumbs up yesterday (both kids), thanks for posting. I did not see any need to add baking soda to help rough up the pieces, 5-6 minutes of parboiling and tossing in colander does it just fine. But the Serious Eats suggestion to make a garlic-herb infused oil then add back the solids at the end sounds intriguing.

the purpose of the baking soda is to increase the ph and therefore increase browning. that’s the whole point of the recipe.

I understood that - the article is saying that the the browning isn’t directly due to increased pH but rather increases pectin breakdown which produces the slurry on the outside which is what results in more browning. But I got quite a bit of slurry from simply tossing in a colander with large holes, any more breakdown for what I had would been too much lost material and indistinct shape.

If I recall correctly, the recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

This is my go to roasted potato recipe. It’s fantastic with duck or chicken fat.

The serious eats recipe is definitely one I am going to try – though perhaps with the colander variation rather than baking soda.

What I dont understand is the separating the aromatics from the oil, then adding the oil and then the aromatics back – any reason not to strain and just add the oil with the aromatics all at once?