There are thousands of potato recipes out there, from the roast potato to a shepherd’s pie topped with creamy nursery mash and the body responsible for the promotion of potatoes are always developing new ones. In fact, it’s not just recipes you’ll find on the Love Potatoes site, it’s a resource that tells you all you need to know about the humble potato.
I’m a bit of a roast potato addict, but I’m very particular about they way they’re cooked. The roasties have to be crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. They should be a main crop potato, preferably Maris Piper or King Edward, par-boiled for ten minutes, drained then cooled and then roughed up in a colander. The more they’re fluffed, the crispier the resulting roast. Celebrity chefs championing the use of Goose fat include Nigella Lawson and Mary Berry but for me, the ultimate roast is cooked in beef dripping.
I’m a massive fan of Great Taste and last year’s Golden Fork winner just happened to be a butcher who makes the best Beef Dripping ever. This is what I use to cook my ultimate roast potatoes.
Ingredients
1kg Maris Piper potatoes
100g Beef Dripping
2tsp flour
Sea salt, to serve
Method
Choose a roasting tin that’s large enough to take the potatoes in a single layer and heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Peel and cut the potatoes into four uniform size pieces and drop them into a large pan.
Fill with enough water to cover them. Add salt, wait for the water to boil, lower the heat and simmer your potatoes for around 2 minutes.
Put your Beef Dripping into your roasting pan and put into the oven to get it hot. Drain the potatoes in a colander and give them a little roughing up – you’re aiming to fluff out the potato exterior.
Hot oil has a tendency to spit so be careful when you drop the potatoes into the hot fat. Make sure that each potato is well coated in the dripping. Put a timer on for 15 minutes and then turn them.
Put them back in for another 20 minutes or until they start to look gold and crisp.
Scatter with salt and serve straight away.
