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Mary Berry’s Best Roast Potatoes

For the ultimate roast potato to serve at your Sunday roast, look no further than Mary Berry's failsafe recipe. It delivers perfectly crisp roasties with a fluffy centre every time.

From the book

Introduction

A roast potato should be ultra-crispy and golden on the outside with a fluffy light middle. Par-boiling the potatoes ahead and roughing them up before roasting gives a lovely crispy outside, with the semolina adding extra crunch. If you don’t have any goose fat, use extra sunflower oil.

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Ingredients

1kg (2lb 3oz) potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward, cut into medium-sized chunks
50g (2oz) semolina
3 tbsp goose fat
3 tbsp sunflower oil
salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/Gas 7.

Put the potato chunks in a pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and boil for about 5 minutes until the potatoes are starting to soften around the edges. Drain in a colander until completely dry, tip back into the pan and shake to rough up the edges. Sprinkle in the semolina and shake again until coated.

Preheat a roasting tin in the oven until hot. Add the goose fat and oil and heat for 5 minutes until smoking. Add the potatoes and turn them in the fat until coated. Return to the oven and roast for about 45–55 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp, turning them over halfway through the cooking time. Serve piping hot.

Prepare ahead: Can be roasted up to 12 hours ahead. Before serving, reheat in a hot oven for 15–20 minutes – no need to add extra fat.

Reviews

4 out of 5 stars

2 Ratings

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2 Comments

    default user avatar Jennie Thompson

    Always do them like this up to a point – when boiled for 5 mins & dried – I pour red hot fat over them in pan & then sprinkle with semolina before putting into oven in roasting tin. Doing this coats them all over with fat without turning.

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    default user avatar Iain Marley

    Ever since first seeing this suggestion, it’s been my go to Christmas Day shortcut – don’t know about anybody else but, juggling oven temperatures up and down when you’ve only got limited space is a faff on. Now I always precook these on Christmas Eve and then on the day itself, reheat with the other bits and bobs when needed.

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