Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff
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@Hooroo said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@MajorRage same!! and worse is when you are 20-30 from the end of the cook and then the demand for Mash comes in as well as roast potatoes.
What is you Roast Potato Secret, if you don't mind sharing??
Similar to this Heston Blumenthal I use. They come put fluffy and soft on the inside, just crisp on the outer
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The three main things with roast potatoes are:-
- Type of spud (see @MajorRage above)
- Choice of roasting fat. To a degree a matter of taste but the imperative is a fat that will have a high burning point. For me there is no real substitute for lard or beef dripping.
- Temperature of oven, but taken into account point 2 (above).
Everything else is a matter of personal taste.
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@MajorRage said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@canefan not that dis similar to mine. The pre boil and cool makes a massive difference.
He’s wrong about salt afterwards tho imho. Tried it, disagree.
I always salt the water, and I've tried salt before roasting and after. Can't say I notice that much difference. I do like adding the oil when the potatoes are steaming hot out of the water, makes them fluff up all over the outside and they continue to dry out nicely in the pot
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Bear in mind that not just variety but age of spud makes a difference. Even 'floury' type spuds are much better once a bit older.
Obviously waxy varieties are unsuitable for a very long time and floury types suitable much earlier.
All purpose varieties can be very 'fluffy' when harvested late in the season compared to early.Older Agria make fantastic mash and roast. Lots of flavour AND the right texture. New season Agria are almost like salad spuds.
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@MajorRage said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@canefan not that dis similar to mine. The pre boil and cool makes a massive difference.
I got into your method about a year ago MR, and agree totally. The rest/cool period is key to dry the spuds out and makes them extra crispy.
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Oooohh, fat dispute!!! Pass the popcorn!
I also do the boil, cool, rough-up, method, and also go heavy on the rosemary, garlic and salt. Only place I differ is I tend not to peel. I enjoy the skin.
Have used duck fat plenty, and would have to agree that it's not the silver bullet it's made out to me.
But here is my disgusting admission when it comes to potato fat - I never, ever, fully clean my roasting tray. It has this beautiful residue on it of oil mixtures, some leftover herbs, salt etc. For each new batch I just add a little more of whatever oil I have handy - most often vegetable or canola oil, occasionally lard, and sometimes some bacon fat from the morning fry up.
Top it up, roast away, and just give it a dry scrape afterwards. Keep that nasty water and dishwashing liquid well away!
And whoever said "as long as it takes", is bang on. If some prick serves me soggy potatoes at a dinner party, I'm never going back. Conversely I'm happy to sit and wait until midnight drinking red wine if necessary until the fuckers are properly crispy.
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@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Duck fat
Great for taste (IMO) but poor for texture.
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@MajorRage said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Duck fat
Massively massively over rated.
Get entirely fucked
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@mariner4life said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@MajorRage said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Duck fat
Massively massively over rated.
Get entirely fucked
You can be so eloquent
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My mate who is a butcher here in Matamata was out side his shop so I pulled over coming back from the supermarket for a yarn and talk about the upcoming races at Randwick.
He popped back inside and got me a four bone Scotch rib!! $20!! Happy days. The best part is that he is tight with the owner of the bottle store so is organising a few trays of large cans for me! Sooo happy
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@mariner4life said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@MajorRage said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@dogmeat said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Duck fat
Massively massively over rated.
Get entirely fucked
Seriously? Prepare 3 spuds. One duck fat, one goose, on canola.
You’ll pick the canola. Every single time.
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I'm trying to get to grips with this fat argument. Apart from the flavour aspect, which is just preference, surely the oil preference is entirely dependant on cooking method.
Canola, Goose and Duck don't have the highest smoke points by any stretch. You need to use very refined oils to get high smoke point.
Surprisingly Clarified Butter/Ghee will outdo all of these temperature wise. Next comes refined sunflower etc.
So technique wise it is going to depend on whether you want a long cook out with some of the fat penetrating the outside and eventually crisping or a quicker roast in a pre-heated very hot oil which would give a result closer to deep frying.Presuming that the former gives a deeper crust then it comes back to taste. Canola is fairly neutral so you will taste more spud. Goose/Duck will add a flavour.
The only other consideration between these options is pre-heating and the time taken to return to optimum temp.
I actually think Ghee could be the best answer. You can preheat to a much higher point. Adding the spuds will cool it down and some will penetrate but then it will come back to whatever temp you then want for length of time without maxing out.