The Perfect Oven Roast Potato! Viva Potatoes!

A tray of roast vegetables

Potatoes are absolutely worthy of a blog post dedicated solely to them, praising their unrivaled sublimity! Potatoes are of course one of the best and most popular side dishes there is, the side dish par excellence. In fact, French fries are the biggest selling commodity in the world, but in my humble opinion, it is the oven roast potato that reigns supreme. There are few things that can outdo a potato that has received the treatment which will be described below. Crunchy on the outside, and light, fluffy, almost overcooked, on the insid
All root vegetables can be prepared and cooked (and enhanced) in the same manner - sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, celeriac, beetroot, onion in whatever shape or form and so and so forth.

For the frying of the potatoes, one should feel free to experiment with any kind of oil. A powerful olive oil is of course fully legitimate, a knob of butter has never killed anyone and endows the whole thing with its characteristic caramelized taste. But, if you want to tread the path of sin, you use duck or goose fat. Certainly, this is pure decadence (perhaps the definition of it), but the flavor ... is incomparable to say the very least. It is so good, that it should be allowed only once a year.

The Perfect Oven Roast Potato! Viva Potatoes!

You can naturally use any kind of potato - but floury potatoes are even more appropriate than the other denser varieties. This will be clarified later.

The Perfect Roast potato

Rule 1.
Peel the potatoes before boiling. This is an integral step, because the potato has to be boiled well enough so it will be easier to tear up the outermost layer slightly.

Rule 2.

Boil in richly salted water. The potatoes are parboiled for only 7 minutes (not six and not eight, well, this rule doesn't have to be so holy). After the parboiling toss the potatoes around in a colander, but do so with care and grace, you want to just ever so slightly tear up the outer layer before it's fried in the hot fat, but without breaking them apart! While you are tossing them around, dust a bit of flour over them as well.

Rule 3.
Place an oven tray on the hobs and add the fat of choice: vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, butter, garlic oil, or duck fat, whatever your heart desires, but make sure the fat is hot enough when you pour in the potatoes. The potatoes are subsequently fried in the oven tray for a couple of minutes, or until they have been nicely coated with the fat.

Rule 4.

Season with salt and pepper. Now the opportunity is also ripe if you want to add some herbs, which will certainly not do any harm: Rosemary, thyme, and such tough herbs are perfect for this dish.

Rule 5.

Place the oven tray into a preheated oven, 180-200 degrees, and bake the potatoes until they are beautifully golden brown and crunchy: The golden brown color they develop is the archetype of golden brown!

Rule 6.

Conjure a main course which will not pail in comparison to the perfect roast potato (which is arguably difficult to achieve)!

Bon appetit!

Roast vegetables