Perfect Roast potatoes

Roast potatoes in England are a very important component of a roast dinner, and there are many theories and methods of how to make the perfect roast potatoes.  Recently when I was in London James decided he was going  to try a method that his mother had read recently that apparently would impart the perfect crispy coating to the perfect roast potatoes.

The theory was if you tossed the parboiled potatoes in cornmeal before adding them to the fat they would crisp up even more.

First parboil the potatoes, you need floury potatoes for this not waxy ones as you want them to just be breaking down around the edges before you start roasting.

par boiled floury potatoes

Then he tossed them in a little cornmeal and added them to a roasting tin with the hot beef fat in it.  We got a great action shot of this happening.  If potatoes can be said to be in action.

Potatoes in action

Ready to roast

Roast on high turning a couple of times so that they are browned all over until they are crispy on the outside and cooked through.  This would depend on the size of the potatoes, but I think these took about 1/2 hour.

Were these the perfect roast potatoes? Hard to say, but they certainly were good and very crunchy on the outside.