The Michelin Pub Roast Potatoes That Ruined All Others for Me | Elizabeth Haigh’s Christmas

Send this to that friend that is guilty of those sad pale soggy potatoes. So here's the situation, you spent ages perfecting your roast, the meat is fantastic but when it comes to the roast potatoes they're kind of like pale, a little bit greasy. I mean everyone eats them but no one says anything about them. Well today we're going to correct that. I'm going to show you how to make roast potatoes the talking point of your dinner time. So let's crack on. Now with roast potatoes you're going to want to choose the right type of potatoes because there are varieties. I personally like to use King Edward potatoes or Mary's Piper. Now depending where you are based they'll have different variations but the key thing is that you want to have a floury type of potato. The waxy type ones are not suitable for a crunchy crisp roast potato. It's all down to the starches and the sugar content of that particular variety So today I'm going to be using, that one's quite funny, we're using Maris Piper potatoes. These are commonly found in the UK and they're fantastic. And you just want to grab the potato and peel it lengthways like this. Right so once we've peeled them we're going to want to cut them to the same size because a potato this size compared to one this size will cook a lot quicker than this which would be problematic because we don't want to end up with mushy spuds. So Getting a nice sharp knife. You want to get as much surface area on your potato as possible so I recommend cutting just at an angle so you've got all these different lovely edges on the potato. Now when that fluffs up it's going to give such a lovely crust and edge to your potato but the main thing is here is getting them roughly the same size and shape. So you might end up with some little trim, that's okay. Now that you cut everything to the same size we're going to put it into a pan with cold water because you always cook potatoes in cold water not hot because if we cook them from hot water in boiling hot water they will just overcook on the outside and then just be not so great on the inside. So the key thing where if you want to protect water to be covering more than the potatoes because not enough water means obviously you're going to get uneven cooking and then just put it on to a gentle simmer But if it's on a hard rolling boil, what you'll find is the ones at the bottom will cook a lot faster than the top ones. It's all about with potatoes, like cooking everything evenly as possible so you get a nice even outcome. I'm gonna season the water with salt, a generous amount. And then my trick is with these roast potatoes is I like to put the garlic in with the potatoes as well. Because I like to think that it gives a really nice flavour for all of the potatoes rather than one or two tasting like garlic when you fry it in the pan. And so to break up the clove, so I'm going to use a whole bulb of garlic. We all love garlic. In it goes. This is probably the hardest bit is knowing when to take the potatoes out because depending on how big the potatoes are or how small you cut them it will depend on how long you cook them. The easiest trick is to get a sharp knife And just push into the potato and you should feel a little bit of pressure but it shouldn't go all the way through. If it's gone all the way through then you've messed up, they're going to be too overcooked. That has a little bit of resistance towards the centre so I'm going to take them out now. The next part is that we're going to steam them through, that just sort of finishes cooking them and then we're going to get all those craggly, lovely, crispy, fluffy edges. So we've got our potatoes, I've just got to drain the majority of the water off now. All right, and there we have our potatoes. See how steaming hot they are? Just wanna leave those for a little bit, and then what that's gonna do is finish cooking through that potato. So it's gonna be really fluffy on the inside, really nice and soft, and then crunchy on the outside. So we'll just leave those for a few moments right there. The next part that we wanna do is get the tray or your pan ready. I'm going to use a nice big roasting tray, never skimp out on the size, this is where size does matter. You want to have something big enough, it's got a nice surface area that you can have a nice flat layer of potatoes, otherwise it won't get in contact with that hot fat. I'm going to be using some organic grass-fed beef tallow or beef dripping. You can use goose fat, duck fat. I always love at Christmas time using some goose fat that has been rendered off the goose but I've got this incredible beef dripping. I just need a spoon and you want to use enough that when it covers the surface area of your pan or tray. So get it in there. Now if you are vegetarian and you don't want to use an animal fat then using like a neutral oil, you could use like a virgin olive oil but it does leave a little bit more of a taste or flavour imparting on the potato. I just kind of want a nice clean flavour and I love the flavour of this beef dripping. The oven has been preheated already to 210 degrees centigrade or 410 Fahrenheit. You guys always keeping my toes and then you want to heat up that tray. Essentially, that's the hardest bit done. Now we're just waiting for these to steam through, allowing this just to finish cooking, the steaming through, all this water evaporates, because what we want to do is get like the edges of the potato all craggly. We're going to give it a little shimmy, very carefully in this colander. And you can see, hopefully you will be able to see, you're not wanting to completely mess up your potatoes, but just give those tatties a little shake. Right, I think that's enough fluffing up now, so we're going to let those steam up a bit more and wait until that fat has come up to a nice sizzling hot temperature. So I'm going to add some herbs to the roast potatoes. My personal favourite is some rosemary and some fresh thyme. You could use some oregano in there, but I wouldn't use basil or anything. Those would just completely incinerate when you roast them in the oven. But this just adds a really nice aroma to it. Or you can go completely plain with just the garlic, it's up to you. It's your dinner. And hot. Right, we're going to want this really, really hot. And we'll test it before we put the potatoes in with one potato. Right, so it's really important when you're tipping the potatoes in, you do it away from you. I know it could be tempting to do it towards you, but then you risk getting that hot fat splashed on top of you. If you're really a bit on the nervous side just do it by tongs one by one. Now as soon as those potatoes hitting that hot fat they should be sizzling, it should be crackling, it should be nice and hot because that way that fat is going to coat all those potatoes and encourage that really crispy edge. Now I'm just going to give them a gentle toss in that lovely fat without breaking up too much of the potatoes. They're very delicate so be gentle with your tossing and make sure that every edge is covered in that lovely beef dripping or fat. Now I'm going to add in some rosemary. That's just going to go right in the center there. Good old sprig of thyme and of course you need to get the best salt there is out there on your potatoes. You want to get some real flaky sea salt. Now the potatoes back in the oven for about 45 minutes at 210 degrees centigrade, 410 fahrenheit and you want to give them a turn halfway through just to make sure that all the edges are getting all nice and crispy and golden, nice and even. Remember even all over is the goal here for the best potatoes you've ever had. Remember you want that granny, you want your auntie to be saying, oh those potatoes have gone up a notch, they've really really you know where did they learn that I guarantee you these are going to be the talking point over your festive season. Now the beauty of YouTube, 45 minutes is up. Let's go check on them. Now that is a great spud, great potato. So my Christmas survival festive tip is it is an absolute nightmare when you're trying to get all these things together and you're cooking and prepping so many different things at the same time. I would parboil the potatoes, so back to when we cooked them and were steaming them and they were all fluffy and craggled up. At that point I would actually put them into the freezer in a container, tray, sort of freezer, anything that's freezer suitable. And that way you've kind of skipped half of the cooking element of the roast potato straight away. So when you need it, say if it's for Thanksgiving or just when you fancy roast potatoes and some gravy or when the kids are screaming out for a snack, you can just whip these out, you put them into the air fryer with some fat or roast them, get them out for Christmas dinner. Honestly, I always have a freezer ready full of these potatoes. It's such an easy hack and honestly, it's my survival tip that I do rely on. Year upon year. Have a look at these beautiful potatoes. They've got a lovely golden edge all over and they're super soft and fluffy on the inside. It just crumpled and fell apart but you can see how steamy and fluffy that potato is on the inside. It's not mushy, it's still got a little bit structure and seasoned perfectly. Send this to that friend that is guilty of those sad pale soggy potatoes. So make sure you tune in for the next video we're gonna make ahead the gravy. So another Really good video of getting ahead this season. See you next week.