Brits don’t really have the same concept of “comfort food” as Americans do. It’s a phrase with many meanings, some of them – such as junk food or ice cream by the gallon – not particularly admirable. But the nostalgic aspects, the home cooking redolent of childhood, is a powerful and resonant concept. Whether it’s mac’n’cheese or a pot-roasted brisket or a tuna noodle casserole, there is an emotional attachment to the food that I think is great (notwithstanding unfortunate obesity epidemics).

For me as a Brit, with our relatively impoverished culinary heritage, there is only one meal that really captures the nostalgic overtones of good comfort food: Sunday roast. And as I didn’t grow up in a family sufficiently well-off to enjoy a good rib of beef on a regular basis (few did!) that generally meant a roasted chicken served with roast potatoes and boiled vegetables.

We’ll do a roast chicken article of our own here on O:S! one day, but in the mean time, this excellent post on Salt & Fat covers what you need to know. Today I’m going to focus on the most celebrated of British sides; the cripsy-on-the-outside, fluffy-in-the-middle roast potato.

Choosing the potatoes

Potatoes are often described as being of one of two types. Waxy potatoes are those with a higher water and lower starch content. When cooked, they hold their shape well as the cells stick to each other. Floury or mealy potatoes have a greater amount of dry starch in their cells so they are denser than waxy types. As floury potatoes cook, their cells tend to swell and pull apart, giving a dry and fluffy texture. For dishes like mashed potato, floury potatoes are preferred as they will give a better texture. For a gratin, where the potato is sliced thinly, waxy varieties will hold together better.

For roast potatoes, the most important characteristic is the texture of the inside of the cooked potato – the ideal to strive for is the fluffy feel of a good baked potato. As such, floury varieties give the best results. In the UK look for Maris Pipers, King Edwards, and Desiree. In the US, look for Idaho, Russet or Long White. If in doubt, look for anything described as a “baking potato”.

Choosing the oil

Traditionally, roast potatoes would be placed alongside the joint of meat they would be eaten with. As the meat cooked fat and juices would drip from it and soak into the potatoes. This is a very tasty way to cook them but it’s also quite incredibly unhealthy as those juices are very high in saturated fats. It also won’t give the best texture to the potatoes as that needs a hotter oven than you would use to roast meat.

The modern fashion in the UK calls for the use of goose fat, and there are no shortage of cookbooks and recipes that will claim this is absolutely necessary for the ultimate roast potatoes. I disagree. Whilst healthier than dripping, goose fat is still rather high in saturated fat., it’s very expensive, and if you get it too hot it takes on a slightly acrid flavour I find disagreeable. In my own cooking I tend to reserve goose fat for special occasions.

For roast potatoes, I most commonly use peanut oil (which is always sold as “groundnut oil” in the UK for some reason I cannot fathom) because it’s almost tasteless and is very robust in the face of very high temperatures. You can also use sunflower or vegetable oil, but olive oil won’t work at all – it’ll burn and turn bitter in the face of the hot oven we’re going to use.

Pre-heating the oil

Choose a roasting dish big enough to let all your potatoes stand side by side with a little room between them, but (ideally) no larger. This will allow air to circulate but not require you to use too much extra grease.

Many traditional recipies call for oil to be added to quite a depth in the bottom of the dish – as much as 1 cm or so (almost half an inch). A surprising amount of this will be soaked up into the potatoes as they cook. I’m usually trying to cook somewhat healthier than that so I use somewhat less, no more than 2 mm depth. This occasionally means the potatoes stick a little but I’m willing to tolerate that.

The oil needs to be very hot when the potatoes go in – lacking the courage to get the oil hot enough was mostly why my early efforts at making roast potatoes were all so dismal. As long as the oil is at least 200°C then when it contacts the outer layer of the potatoes it will quickly crisp it up and form a protective layer. This layer will prevent the oil from penetrating any further into the food, meaning the final product won’t tasting greasy.

If you’re lucky enough to have a metal roasting dish that can be used directly on the hob, you can use direct heat to warm the oil, taking care not to get it as high as the flash point – if smoke starts coming from it, turn the heat down immediately. I don’t have any small metal roasting trays however so I just put a ceramic dish, with the oil in the bottom, in an oven set to 230°C (450°F). I leave it there while preparing and parboiling the potatoes.

Prepping the potatoes

This can be done very simply: peel and dice them into largish pieces, say a couple of inches on the longest side. Depending on the size of potato this means they might be cooked whole, halved, or cut into as many as eight or so pieces.

However if, like me, you like to over-complicate things then ideally all the potatoes will have this shape:

That sharp cut edge will end up the crispiest, most delicious part when cooked. However to produce a batch like this you’ll need to select potatoes of the correct size so they can be quartered.

Cooking

With your potatoes prepped it’s time to plunge them into boiling salted water for 3—5 minutes. You’re not aiming to cook the potatoes here, just soften the outside. After a few minutes, drain the pan and return it briefly to a low heat to boil off any remaining water. Then put the lid back on the saucepan and toss them, hard, a few times. By the time you’re done the outer surfaces of the potatoes should be thoroughly scuffed, like this:

You’ve created a fragmented, broken surface on the outside of the potato that the hot oil can quickly soak into. This will create a thick, crispy layer on the outside of the finished potatoes. Some recipes also call for a very fine flour to be sprinkled over the potatoes at this stage, usually semolina flour. The idea is that this creates an even rougher surface for the oil to stick to. I’ve tried this a few times without ever being confident I could tell the difference.

So, next, pull your preheated roasting dish from the oven, and (carefully!) put the potatoes in. Remember the oil is very hot so tread cautiously and don’t dump them all out in one go. If in doubt, use a pair of tongs and transfer them one by one. Once they’re all there, turn each potato a few times to coat it evenly in oil and season generously with salt and pepper. You can also add a scattering of a robust woody herb like fresh rosemary or thyme at this point if you want.

Finally, put the dish back into the oven to cook. Timing will depend on the sizes you’ve cut them to but if they’re the size of the ones in the picture then allow 45 minutes—1 hour. Many cookbooks recommend a cooking temperature of 220°C (425°F) – i.e. the temperature you warmed the oil at – but I’ve found them to have a better crispy exterior by cooking them a little cooler and a little longer, say at 180°C (350°F). I generally turn the oven down when I take the oil out.

Final notes

British cuisine is (deservedly!) the butt of many jokes across the world but the roast potato is genuinely something we can be proud of. It is by far my favourite potato dish and it definitely rewards the modest preparation required. It is my humble hope that my writing here might inspire some of my American readers to have a go at it, or some of my British readers to never buy those awful frozen things again.