Sunday is the day for the traditional Sunday roast and with it being Easter Sunday it’s probably a legal requirement along the lines of fish on Good Friday. (Do not take that to mean we have fish so please don’t make enquiries in that respect.)
For me the roast in Sunday Roast or in Roast Dinner, if eaten on another day, is not the meat it’s the spuds. Of course you need the meat because how else would you make the gravy! (The m-i-l made instant gravy with gran u l e s – ughh I can barely type it.)
After getting home from my last Royal trip I was craving a Sunday Roast as I tend to after any period of avoiding hosptial food. Now Bernard won’t have a Roast on a Sunday – today being the exception but that was because Auntie Ann made it. The reason behind this being that he works on a Sunday night and considers the making of a Roast too much for a Sunday afternoon especially if he has only got up at one. I mean I usually do any Roast we have and it’s not that often but as B has now taken over control of most of the cooking he feels he needs to be involved in additional ways than previously – I used to let him, er I mean request that he cut the meat and he used to stir the gravy BUT only once it had thickened – I once had to trust him with stirring before it had settled and I didn’t think he used the spoon in a manner that fully encompassed the bottom of the roasting tin.
Anyhoo, shortly after I got home we had a Roast and I decided to try something different with the potatoes. Now I’m not going to say this was an easy decision by any means but sometimes you have to be adventurous and try something new.
When I was on my last Royal holiday me and a lady in the same room were informed by one of the hostesses that Aunt Bessies Roast Potatoes in goose fat were exquisite. Neither of us were convinced as no ready made Roast Potato can compare to a homemade one. The fellow patient was 80 so had a few years experience of Roasties, well in fact of everything, so I took note of how she and previously her mother had done theirs and thought I’d give it a whirl.
Instead of par boiling the spuds before popping them in pre heated oil (I use mild olive) her method involved putting the potatoes into cold oil completely raw.
There they are all cold and completely uncooked which is the way they still looked about 40 minutes later – and remember as B was going to work we were on a strict schedule. A friend happened to ring at this point and she suggested that I turn the heat up. I responded that considering they were already on Gas Mark 8 I didn’t think that turning them up to 9 (the maximum) would make that much difference.
Eventually though, and let me tell you way more eventually than was to B’s liking, they did look like this…
I do like mine very crispy. They even looked good on the plate with everything else…
BUT although they were initially crisp, and even though I purposely avoided gravy coming into contact with the top of them, they didn’t stay that crispy and they didn’t have that extreme change of texture that mine usually do with a hard crispy outside and soft fluffy inside. So would I make them like this again – I think not.
On that note may your Easter be Happy and your Roasties be crispy and fluffy!
Feresaknit's Blog 
Did you poke a hole in them mid-way through the cooking? I have found this to be a good way to get them to fluff up inside and to keep the outside more crispy… still looks pretty delish to me, tho.
Oh yes. Crispy roasters are the only ones to eat. You have to par boil and you have to cook in fat or you won’t get crispy. Sorry weight watchers.
My favorite meal… The spuds in the picture look delicious but I agree with your preferred method. My Mom would par boil and then roast the potatoes in the same pan as the roast itself. I’m the oldest of 14, and Sundays was the one day that we were all required to be at the table together. Most often it was a roast dinner. At 88 she has relinquished the head chef responsibilities, but remains in the kitchen to instruct and advise as needed.
WOW!!!!!!! I think at 88 your Mom has earned a rest from the hundreds of potatoes that must need peeling to feed that many! 😀
Goose fat is great, but I always par boil the potatoes, give them a good shake in the pan to roughen the edges for the perfect crisp and then put in the piping hot fat. Works a charm every time. I even keep a tub of goose fat just for the roasts!
Gravy from granules …. ugh! Even my dogs would refuse to eat that! Did Buddy enjoy his roast dinner?!
I tend to over par boil so shaking results in the spuds falling apart rather then getting fluffy.
Bud was really funny with his roast. When Auntie Ann put it down it was still quite warm and I think this put him off! We only give him things when they are really cool. I wondered why he wasn’t eating it and got up to encourage him (which was a bit of an excuse because I thought I was going to throw up – I didn’t). He just gave it a look but wouldn’t touch it. It was only after I’d hand fed him a piece of beef and potato that he tucked in. He declined the horseradish though! ;D
Nah nah nah that’s not how you make roast potatoes! Don’t peel them.
Give them a scrub and sit them round the chicken (because it is a chicken not a cow), drizzle with about 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil, sprinkle with salt and stick in oven at 200 for 2 hours, turning and basting at 1 1/2 hours when you turn the chicken over. Oh – you stuffed a lemon and rosemary inside the chicken, so by now it is pouring lemony goodness into the pan – mmmm!
As delicious as that sounds (and it does sound very delicious) – an unpeeled roast potato!!!!!!
Having never had an official “Roastie” I have to admit they look delicious!
We had ham and sweet potatoes!
{GASP} – never had a ‘Roastie’!!!!!!!!! I’d send you when but I don’t now what condition it would be in when it got there. ;D