One step should be added when you are cookingroast potatoes to make sure they are extra crispy. Roast potatoes are a staple part of many British meals, such as a Sunday roast, and many households have a unique way of cooking them. But there is a common mistake that many people make when they are making roast potatoes, and they probably don’t even realise it. Experts have shared their top tips for cooking the best roast potatoes, and it involves this often-skipped step.
It is common to parboil potatoes before you roast them. This helps them to get soft and fluffy in the middle before they get crisped up in the oven. But there is one more thing you should do before you pop your potatoes into the oven after boiling them. According to many cooks, you should let your potatoes steam dry after they have boiled and before you roast them in the oven, as this drastically helps when it comes to the crispy texture we desire in a roast potato. This is a step you may have never considered, but it’s actually rather important when aiming for the best roasted spuds.
Angela Nilson, who shares recipes on BBC Good Food, explained the importance of steam drying when it comes to cooking roast potatoes. She revealed that they potatoes should steam dry for at least 15 minutes.
This means that, once you take them out of the pot, you should let the potatoes sit for 15 minutes, which should be enough time for them to stop steaming and become cool enough to handle. The reason for this is the moisture levels.
You want some of that moisture to be released so that the potatoes get crispier in the oven. This is a simple way to achieve the best results, simply by having a little patience and adding an extra 15 minutes to the process.
Chef Esther Clark also shares this trick and says it stops her potatoes from becoming “soggy”. She boils her potatoes for between 8 and 10 minutes before letting them steam-dry and shaking them to roughen them up a bit.
Following that, she places them on a tray, tossing them in fat and seasonings before they cook at 200C for an hour. For her recipe, she uses goose fat.
The potatoes are done when you notice them become golden and crispy. Using the steam-dry trick, they should be perfectly soft on the inside while getting a lovely crispy outside, the ideal roast potato texture.