Community Pick
Best Roast Potatoes Ever

photo by kiwidutch



- Ready In:
- 55mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 4 lbs potatoes (chose the best variety you can get for roasting)
- 4 ounces vegetable shortening (such as Trex or Crisco vegetable shortening)
- 3 -4 bay leaves (optional)
- sea salt (optional)
directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, 200 C, gas mark 6; peel the potatoes and cut them into evenly sized halves or chunks.
- Put the potatoes into a large saucepan, cover with cold salted water and bring to the boil; drain the water off as soon as it comes to the boil - this step isn’t to cook the potatoes: it heats them through so they start roasting more quickly - return the potatoes to the hot pan and dry them over the heat (it is important that the potatoes are dry for roasting, otherwise they are likely to stick to the baking tray).
- Slide a large baking tray into the oven to heat up for a few minutes, add the vegetable fat to the potatoes in the hot pan and let it melt; turn the potatoes in the melted fat until they are shiny and well coated, then tip them onto the hot baking tray.
- Place the tray in the oven for about 45 minutes; add the bay leaves, if using, 15 minutes into the cooking time; turn and baste the potatoes a few times during cooking.
- To serve, lift the potatoes from the baking tray with a slotted spoon, sprinkle with sea salt if desired: NOTE - if you are unable to serve the potatoes immediately, do not cover them (they’ll loose their crispiness); instead keep them warm in the oven until you are ready.
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Reviews
-
I have been making roast potatoes for about 25 years and not once have I ever been able to make them like these. You are so right Mrs B about THINKING we know how to make them. There is no question in my mind as to how to get potatoes crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. This recipe should be in everyone's book. Is it the short boiling that makes a difference? Or is it the hot casserole dish they go in? Maybe it's both. Either way, the difference is unbelievable. This is what I have always strived for. I will never make them any other way! Thank you for helping make the perfect roast potato.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Mrs B
Worcester Park, Surrey
I live with my husband and 2 cats in Worcester Park; a quiet typical 1930s suburb (which no one has ever heard of!) about 12 miles South West of London.
I'm a fair weather gardener and as my husband is a vegetarian I grow a few easy vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, mainly in containers. My husband loves growing flowers, the brighter the better, and we have a pretty garden as a result. Our cats, Araminta and Purrl, like it too!
I do a lot of cooking and try to keep our diet as healthy and varied as possible. Although I work full time, I use very little in the way of pre-prepared foods. This is partly because of the limited choice of vegetarian meals, which I think are overpriced anyway; but mainly because I like to know what goes in my food!
I love using the Internet for all the great ideas it gives me. Last year I participated in the Zaar World Tour (under my previous public name Caroline Blakey), which was great. Mr B and I tried lots of new foods and discovered new favourite meals. Researching recipes for the Tour was really interesting, however as I didn't have time to try them all, some were posted untested. I'm still working my way very slowly through them. To make matters worse I keep seeing other recipes I want to save and have also participated in Zaar world Tour II. So many recipes, so little time to make them!
<img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/kzbhansen/Banners/Animation3.gif">
My 'rules' for posting recipes are a) if I wouldn't make a particular recipe, I won't post it and b) if my husband wouldn't eat it, I won't post it. This means that all my recipes are vegetarian friendly.
As you will see from the number of recipes saved in my cookbooks, I particularly enjoy making jams and chutneys; I'd say it was one of my favourite hobbies. We always have a good supply of home preserves; my friends and work colleagues are well supplied too.
If we won the lottery (say £5m, as a good number) we'd like to give up work, move to the country and buy a place with a bit of land. In my dreams this would be a manor house or old vicarage, with a walled garden, an orchard where I could keep hens, a vegetable garden, etc, etc, etc! In my more realistic moments (the £1m win perhaps) I would like to run a B&B, perhaps offering Vegetarian taster weekends. Luckily it costs nothing to dream.......I’d also love more time to read, do embroidery, learn a language, see more of the countryside; and of course play on Zaar.