OT but sort of DIY

[Andrew Gabriel]

Most low grade commercial kitchens produce their "roast" potatoes by deep frying them. What you're really eating are giant chips.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yup. she's spot on. except I think King Edwards are rubbish. Desiree, Romano or Vanessa if you can find em.

I HATE cheap floury fluffy potatoes..

MOST of the pink skinned ones are better.

Potatoes need 45 mins in the oven to cook from 'almost raw' and 25 minutes to reliably cook when boiling.

Time and temperature..the MOST important things.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Nothing wrong with that as long as you realise what you are getting.

But not restaurant really ever produces a good roast and three veg dinner - you have to cook to a time, and its a 45 minute cook minimum.

[Tim S]

Jim wibbled:

And dust very lightly with flour at this stage if you don't get the result wanted. I seldom do this, but when I did, the results were very good.

Definately :)

Yep - different potatoes do have quite different properties.

[Dave]

My local pub roasts them the normal way and then stores them. When a food order comes in that needs roast spuds, they warm them up in the deep fryer.

Dave

[Dave]

Apart from which, olive oil has too low a smoke point, so you can't get the oven hot enough.

Dave

[Frank Erskine]

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:24:56 +0100, Peter Parry had this to say:

Being a vegetarian I deplore the idea of beef dripping or duck fat being used for a vegetable part of a meal...

YMMV.

[The Medway Handyman]

I believe WD40 is suitable for vegetarians...

:-)

[Frank Erskine]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:05:36 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

It has to be suitable for _something_, I suppose.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , The Wanderer writes

Oh yes... excellent stuff for roast spuds. I never par boil potatoes before roasting but would second the longer at lower temperatures comment, 45 mins to an hour at gas 6 or 7, choice of potato makes a

*huge* difference, I find Maris Pipers are good but YMMV, it's personal taste.

As an aside, check out the budget bags of spuds at places like Asda, quite often in small letters you'll find that they are a very good variety, the only difference is that they haven't been washed and you need to buy 5 kilo at a time (but they keep well covered in mud inside a dark paper sack)

>

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

Makes it taste better (although cooked properly they taste pretty good anyway). I suppose you'd argue that 'proper' gravy made from the juices of the meat (yeah, blood) is deplorable too and it shouldn't be let near the vegetables either?

[Derek Geldard]

They also vary according to how long they have been stored. So as the seasons change different varieties appear in the shops and as the weeks and months go by their chipping and roasting qualities change.

The current new crop of maris piper makes very good chips to my taste, The previous variety i had (Saxon) turned dark brown straight away before the insides were anything like cooked. Something similar would presumably apply to roasts.

Derek

[Man at B&Q]

What would you recommend?

[The Natural Philosopher]

sunflower or peanut for dense taste.

rape if you like them to taste of metal, but its cheap.

Olive for poncey piotatoes.

Sesame for REAL flavour BUT..gasp at the price.

[Frank Erskine]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:53:11 -0700 (PDT), "Man at B&Q" had this to say:

Sunflower oil.

[Owain]

[culinary bulletin from Scotland] You can do that with steak pies and frozen pizzas too!

Owain

[Doki]

I rarely ever do roast potatoes, but variety and giving them a shake to rough the edges up helps.

However, I do find that the waitrose website recipe section is excellent. Every recipe I've ever had off there (and I've had a few) has been foolproof and tasty.

[Peter Parry]

I came across that a few years ago. The locals were buying frozen pizzas and taking them to the chippy to be dipped in batter and deep fried!

[Dave]

In my early 20's I visited relatives in New Cumnock and ordered steak pie and chips. The chippy dropped the pie in the fat before I could say anything. Now I like my pastry, but not fried :-(

Dave

[Pete Verdon]

Last time I cooked roast potatoes with a veggie present, I did a separate little tin with groundnut oil for her. Wasn't going to give up lard on the main batch, no way.

Pete