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Perfect Roast Potatoes
Fluffy inside, shattering outside — the most-argued-over side dish in Britain, settled here with Maris Pipers, hot dripping and a good rattle of the colander.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 60 min
- Total
- 75 min
- Yield
- Serves 4–6
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Era
- Sunday institution
Ingredients
- 1.5kg Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes, peeled, large chunks
- 4 tbsp beef dripping, goose fat or sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp plain flour or semolina
- Sea salt; few garlic cloves and rosemary (optional)
Method
Oven220°C425°FFan 200°CGas 7
- Parboil the potatoes in well-salted water for 8 minutes until the edges soften.
- Drain, steam dry 2 minutes, then rattle in the colander with the flour until the edges are roughed and furry.
- Heat the fat in the roasting tin at 220°C / 425°F (fan 200°C, gas 7) until shimmering.
- Add the potatoes — they should sizzle on contact. Turn to coat.
- Roast 50–60 minutes, turning once, until deep gold and shattering.
- Salt lavishly and serve immediately. Accept no leftovers; there won’t be any.
Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.