How to make delicious and perfectly crispy roast potatoes for Christmas

These tips will give you the best Christmas dinner you have ever had

BY MIKIE O'LOUGHLIN
21:00, 20 DEC 2019UPDATED21:43, 20 DEC 2019

HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT ROAST POTATOES

Christmas dinner is not complete without some crispy roast potatoes.

Turkey, ham or a goose are the key element to the important meal but a fluffy roastie is the cherry on top.

Roast potatoes can go wrong though, and they can often end up soggy and tasteless. Here, celebrity chef Gary O'Hanlon shared his expertise to make your Christmas Day more tasty.

"There are a couple of elements that will give you great roast potatoes," he said. "The key is the potato that you use, use a mauris piper if you can, as it’s a little bit floury." That variety of potato is not common in the U.S. of A. But we have suitable substitutes that share their character and flavor. These include “Russet Burbank”; “Kennebec”; a blocky, white potato; and “Desiree,” a red-skinned, yellow-fleshed potato.

How to get the perfect roast potatoes

Cover them in cold water and plenty of sea salt.
Bring them to the boil and leave them simmer. A knife should go through them but there still should be a little bit of resistance.
The next important thing you need to do is to teem the potatoes, which is to pour the water off them when they are boiled, releasing the steam.
Put the heat back on and you want to gently toss the pot over and back, so you are bouncing the potatoes without breaking them. What that does is create a little bit of fluffiness on the outside.
In a separate pan, heat four or five tablespoons of goose, turkey or ham fat until it is properly hot, almost close to smoking. If it’s cold the potato will absorb the fat.
Put the potatoes into a casserole dish or a roasting tray.

Pour over the hot goose, turkey or ham fat, give them a little toss and sprinkle over some coarse polenta. Sprinkle on some crushed yhyme or rosemary leaves. Give them a roll in that and place them in an oven at 190 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit until they are brown.
If you like roasted garlic with your potatoes add a chopped clove or two.
When they come out, salt and black cracked pepper and there you have gorgeous, crusty, roast potatoes.