Nigella Lawson's secret to perfect roast potatoes is using 'major aid'
Once you roast potatoes Nigella's way, you won't go back.
If there is one thing most people can agree on it is that roast potatoes make or break a Sunday lunch, and while everyone has their own particular tips and tricks that they swear by when it comes to getting the perfectly golden brown crunchy roastie, Nigella Lawson's method is pretty much undefeated. The TV chef makes a couple of minor tweaks to the classic potato roasting method, but they make all the difference, and once you serve these potatoes up to your family at your next roast dinner they will be begging for you to share where you found the recipe, it's up to you whether you share the secret or not.
Nigella has said that making her roast potatoes brings out her perfectionist side - which is probably why hers taste so good, "It's impossible to cook roast potatoes without needing them to be perfect, which to me means sweet and soft inside and a golden-brown carapace of crunch without. And, strangely, no matter how many tricksy things you may succeed at in cooking, no matter what techniques you may master, nothing gives quite the contented glow of achievement that cooking a good tray of roast potatoes does".
Sharing her method on her website - from a recipe that originally appeared in her cookbook Nigella at Christmas - she explains "There are three crucial things that I think make the difference: the first is the heat of the fat – if it's not searingly hot, you don't stand a chance, and since goose fat has a very high smoking point and tastes good, it is my annual choice here".
If you would rather err away from using animal products, you can always swap this out for a vegetarian option, but you still need to ensure that it is heated up thoroughly before starting to cook your potatoes - a step some people miss out on, but is well worth the wait.
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Nigella's second tip is to focus on "the size of your potatoes - you want them relatively small, so that the ratio of crunchy outside to fluffy interior is optimised; and, finally, I think dredging the potatoes - and this is a family practice, inherited through the maternal line - in semolina rather than flour after parboiling, then really rattling the pan around to make the potatoes a bit mashed on the surface so they catch more in the hot fat, is a major aid."
Finally, this recipe aims to feed a large group of between 10-16 people, so if you're making these for less people divide the ingredients down accordingly.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Large roasting tin
- Vegetable knife
- Large saucepan
- Colander
Ingredients:
- 640g goose fat (or vegetarian alternative)
- 2.5 kg roasting potatoes (Nigella recommends Yukon Gold or King Edwards)
- 2 tbsp semolina
First up, you need to preheat your oven, to 230 degrees Celsius, then place your fat into the roasting dish and pop it in the oven, letting it heat up until it is "frighteningly hot" - this should take between 20-30 minutes.
As your oil is heating up, peel your potatoes and cut them into chunks. Nigella recommends cutting them into thirds, using angled shops at each end so you're left with a wedge-shaped, almost triangular middle piece. Pop them in salted water and parboil them, for about four minutes, before draining them safely with your colander and returning them to the now-empty saucepan.
Grab your semolina and sprinkle it onto the parboiled potatoes, then - and this is crucial - put the lid back on before giving it a good shake - or "proper bashing" as Nigella puts it. Your potatoes should be thoroughly coated in the semolina and look a little bit mashed around the edges, which will help make them crunchy once they are cooked.
Then carefully remove your roasting pan from the oven, and pop your potatoes into the hot oil - they should sizzle as they go in. It should take around an hour for these to cook to perfection, and make sure to turn them halfway through.
You can currently buy Nigella Christmas from Amazon for £19.71.
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