Hasselback potatoes | Potato recipes | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak potatoes in water before roasting? ›

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

I first came across this trick from a post on Serious Eats – baking soda creates an alkaline environment for the potatoes to boil in, which maximises the starch so our roast potatoes are extra crispy! Swish the potatoes around your colander after boiling.

An overcrowded pan will turn a sauna into a steam bath; Your potatoes will cook, but they'll be soft, moist, and bland like steamed potatoes. Even if you're tempted to save dishes by throwing a mound of potatoes onto one baking sheet, parsing them out over two will give them the space they need to crisp up.

You don't NEED to, though if you want nice crispy potatoes with fluffy insides, par-boil cut potatoes for ten mins or so, drain in a colander and then shake well to break up the surface. Put into very hot oil and roast until cooked.

If the potatoes are raw, when you use a high temperature, the outside of the potatoes will burn before the inside cooks. That's why the parboiling is really important! Now these potatoes are my "basic" ones with my usual go-to seasoning.

Yes! Soak the potatoes in cold water to remove the excess starch from the outside of the potato. There are a few reasons why you want to remove that starch (it makes the potatoes burn, it keeps them from crisping up, it turns to sugar) but all you really need to remember is to soak them at least one hour.

"Placing [peeled and cut] potatoes in water helps prevent oxidation, which turns their exposed flesh brown," says Ronna Welsh, the author of The Nimble Cook and the owner and chef instructor at Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn, N.Y. While oxidation won't make the potatoes unsafe to eat, it does change their flavor.

2. Soak potatoes in cold water for about 15 minutes. 3. Rinse potatoes under cold water in colander and place into a large pot.

The acid in the vinegar can also help to slightly break down the surface of the potatoes, aiding in the development of a crispier texture during frying. Additionally, the vinegar can contribute to a golden-brown color on the exterior of the fries.

Neutral, low-cost oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc., work well for roasting. These oils have a high smoke point, allowing the potatoes to get hotter without imparting off flavors.

Why do restaurants put salt on the outside of baked potatoes? ›

Q: Why is it common to salt the exterior of a baked potato? A: Chefs started doing this years ago to allow the salt to absorb or draw out the moisture of the potato while baking, which results in a dry, fluffy potato.

To have a truly marvellous roast potato, one must simply let the potato dry completely after parboiling, before roasting in extremely hot fat. If you have two ovens you can cook them separately to your roast at a different temperature.

Roast for 1hr until golden and crisp, and don't forget to turn them occasionally to ensure they cook evenly. Here's a few tricks to try to make them even more delicious. Sprinkle your parboiled potatoes with flour. This gives potatoes extra crunch.

The key to the crispy, crunchy exterior is in the method for their recipe: shaking the boiled and drained potatoes roughly until the outsides break off and begin to form basically a “potato paste” on the outsides. For my recipe, I add potato flour and cornstarch to encourage an even crispier-crunchier crust.

Parboil them in a pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes – this will ensure that the insides become really fluffy. 2. Drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for 2 minutes – this will help the fat to stick to the potatoes.

Wash your potatoes and parboil until almost tender, then drain. Pick and bash the rosemary leaves. Drizzle with just a little touch of oil and roll in a teaspoon of sea salt, a little freshly ground black pepper and the rosemary. Put the potatoes in a roasting tray and cook in the oven for 25 minutes until golden.