Perfect roast potatoes

It's all about roasties

Roast potatoes are the key element of Christmas lunch, Thanksgiving, Sunday roast and any traditional roast dinner, whether the roast is beef on the bone or nut and butternut squash. If the roast is not a success, you can always blame the cow/squash and the diners will be forgiving: as long there are enough golden, crusty spuds to go round.

But if the potatoes are soggy, bland or tough, the occasion will be a write-off. I'm joking. But not entirely.

I and a bunch of friends go every year for a pre-Christmas meal, exploring local outfits and their festive menus. Invariably, the place is judged to be only as good as its roast potatoes. We still wistfully say: 'remember those awful boiled spuds three years ago? that place went downhill.'

How to make the crispiest roast potatoes

So if the roasties fail, you only have yourself to blame because it's easy. There's no rocket science.

You can use whatever fat you like, see below, but oil is foolproof, and democratic for the vegetarians and carnivores alike. You can sprinkle them with fancy seasoning, but nothing beats salt, pepper and rosemary.

If your supermarket's potato varieties bewilder, go for standard loose and cheap ones. They're likely to be King Edward or your locality's equivalent. And just bear in mind the following tips.

• Do:

• pre-boil them until soft and frazzled around the edges
• shake them after draining to roughen up those edges further
• use a generous amount of fat
• heat the fat in the baking tray before adding potatoes in
• season generously
• roast them in hot oven (tricky, I know, if you have a roast going at the same time on low)
• put them under the grill if no way can you spare the space in the oven, and the grill is a separate compartment

• Don't:

• keep them pre-boiled overnight and roast the next day – they’ll be nasty
• panic if they start to disintegrate when boiled – the rougher the surface the better
• be afraid of goose or duck fat – it’s excellent and does not give you a heart attack
• let them stand around when ready – meat should rest, potatoes must not
• just stick sprigs of rosemary among the spuds for roasting – it needs to be chopped finely to give them flavour

More Christmas side dishes

Parmesan roasted turnips flavoured with thyme and rosemary salt, crisp, tender and caramelised, are the less common but as delicious option for a Christmas dinner side.

Festive red cabbage stir fried with apples, raisins and spices, super quick to cook. Red cabbage can be sauteed very quickly and easily, and it's great not only for Christmas.

Carrots and parsnips roasted with garlic cloves, harissa, herbs and honey, that's a classic trimming for a Christmas dinner. But a tray of fragrant roast vegetables is far too good to only have once a year!

More potato recipes

Crispy chorizo potatoes, slices of leftover cooked new potatoes crispened in flavourful chorizo fat, that’s the best way to use up yesterday’s boiled potatoes. You might want to cook them specifically for this recipe.

Hasselback potatoes, Swedish baked potatoes, are also known as ridgeback or hedgehogs. Take unpeeled, medium sized potatoes and slice them almost, but not quite through - that's the trick. Here's how!

Potatoes boulangeres, or baker’s potatoes; sliced thinly and baked in stock in the oven. A simple side of potatoes boulangeres is traditional with beef bourgignon. Potatoes boulangeres are baked with thinly sliced onions and a little butter.