Roasting potatoes question

[Douzer77]

Evening all,

Have friends coming over for roast dinner on Sunday so hoping to get prep done early in day.

When roasting potatoes I normally par boil for 10 mins, let sit in steam for 5/10 min, do the banging round in the pot to roughen the edges then into oven in oil/meat juices for 45/60 mins.

My question is if I parboiled early in the morning and then let them for a couple of hours would they still turn out okay if I put them in for the last hour?

Or any other suggestions gratefully appreciated.

 

[Andy M.]

Assuming you cut the potatoes into pieces, 45-60 minutes in the oven with the roast is all that's needed. The parboiling and steaming is really unnecessary.

 

[taxlady]

Assuming you cut the potatoes into pieces, 45-60 minutes in the oven with the roast is all that's needed. The parboiling and steaming is really unnecessary.

Agreed.

 

[TATTRAT]

Assuming you cut the potatoes into pieces, 45-60 minutes in the oven with the roast is all that's needed. The parboiling and steaming is really unnecessary.

Agreed.

+1

You can certainly cut the spuds in advance, store in water until needed, then just drain when needed. hen, it's just a matter of oil and seasoning, laying in a single layer and getting the, all roasty toasty. Just potatoes, no need to re-invent the wheel.

 

[Douzer77]

OMG have been roasting potatoes for the last 20 years and have always always always parboiled Each normal potatoe is cut in 4 and the smaller ones 1/2 or 1/3 so they are all roughly the same size. Will certainly be happy to give the no boiling a try.

 

[Rocklobster]

I have been microwaving them for a few minutes first. I put them in a glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Nuke on high for 4 or 5 minutes and then drain the condensation. Meanwhile, I put the pan with olive oil in the preheated oven by itself to heat up the oil. Then after a couple of minutes I take the pan out and pour the potatos on and return it to the oven. The microwaving creates a different texture than placing them directly in the oven raw. They get a very nice chewy outside skin on them and stay moist and fluffy inside. I do it like that always now.

 

[jennyema]

You are cooking them so much that I am surprised they aren't "mashed" by thectime they're done.

Like the folks above have said, potatoes are easy-peasy. I would recommend using uniform pieces of the same kind of potato. Different types cook at different rates. And make sure they are well seasoned.

 

[garlicjosh]

As said, the boiling is very unnecessary and you're really over cooking the poor spuds.
I know a lot of people who do the microwave method.
I always cut my down to uniform size, tossing them in some oil with whatever herbs im feeling that day (if any) and then into the oven.
Also as said, I agree fully with cutting them ahead of time and just stashing them in some water to keep them from changing color.
Stash in the fridge until ready to use, pull them out of the water and roast.

 

[taxlady]

I have been microwaving them for a few minutes first. I put them in a glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Nuke on high for 4 or 5 minutes and then drain the condensation. Meanwhile, I put the pan with olive oil in the preheated oven by itself to heat up the oil. Then after a couple of minutes I take the pan out and pour the potatos on and return it to the oven. The microwaving creates a different texture than placing them directly in the oven raw. They get a very nice chewy outside skin on them and stay moist and fluffy inside. I do it like that always now.

I'll have to give that a try.

 

[taxlady]

+1

You can certainly cut the spuds in advance, store in water until needed, then just drain when needed. hen, it's just a matter of oil and seasoning, laying in a single layer and getting the, all roasty toasty. Just potatoes, no need to re-invent the wheel.

I wonder if the water is necessary. Wouldn't putting the oil on them ahead of time keep them from changing colour? I'll have to do an experiment.

 

[Andy M.]

When you can bake a whole potato in an hour, it should be easy to believe you can roast cut up potatoes in an hour or less.

Toss cut up potatoes with a variety of seasonings and roast. In a pinch, a packet of Lipton's onion soup and dip mix does a good job of flavoring roasted potatoes.

 

[garlicjosh]

so I was reading an old issue of cooks illustrated tonight and it had information about making perfect roasted potatoes and actually they do recommend parboil... I'll explain more tomorrow..I'm far to tired to pull the information back out

 

[cmarchibald]

My oven tends to cook a bit fast, so I have to use lower temps for cooking meat to avoid drying them out (and even then the cooking time is on the short side of the range). As such, if I cook potatoes with meat they won't be done by the time the meat is done....UNLESS I parboil first. So I always do.

I think it may depend on the oven, as well as what dish you're using (metal, glass, etc) whether or not boiling first is necessary. Where I am living and with the oven I have, it absolutely is.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

The Micheal Caine method, "not a lot of people know this", parboil the spuds, cool, roughen, dip the spuds in cold Evoo, take out, place on the metal tray you use to roast then leave in the coldest part of your fridge, repeat the dipping after about 8hrs so you get a good Evoo coating on the spud, leave in the fridge for another 16 hrs, then roast cold from the fridge in a very hot oven to start.

 

[cmarchibald]

The Micheal Caine method, "not a lot of people know this", parboil the spuds, cool, roughen, dip the spuds in cold Evoo, take out, place on the metal tray you use to roast then leave in the coldest part of your fridge, repeat the dipping after about 8hrs so you get a good Evoo coating on the spud, leave in the fridge for another 16 hrs, then roast cold from the fridge in a very hot oven to start.

Pardon my ignorance but....Evoo?

 

[Zhizara]

Pardon my ignorance but....Evoo?

Extra virgin olive oil. It's even been added to the dictionary and was coined by Food Network star Rachel Ray.

BTW, it is pronounced E V O O. I'll bet you thought e-voo!

 

[cmarchibald]

Extra virgin olive oil. It's even been added to the dictionary and was coined by Food Network star Rachel Ray.

BTW, it is pronounced E V O O. I'll bet you thought e-voo!

Indeed I did!

 

[Zhizara]

Indeed I did!

Personally, I hope e-voo catches on.

 

[garlicjosh]

Personally, I hope e-voo catches on.

Sounds better then the current version..anytime I hear someone actually say the current out loud I have to walk away.


Ok, basically parcooking will remove some of the surface starch which will aid in a crispy exterior on the spud..the trick is to not cook them to far so they become soft and you are unable to toss them in oil/herbs. This also cuts down the roasting time...I know most of the time I roast potatoes it takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour and usually they don't cook evenly.

"The big breakthrough came courtesy of our science editor, who observed that the parcooking step was doing more than just jump starting the surface starch. It was also speeding up the evaporation process by creating a rough surface. A rougher surface, he explained, offers more escape routes for moisture than the flat surface of a raw potao and the damaged exterior cells surrender their moisture more readily than intact cells."

It also talks about that the parcooking time is really low..you bring the water to a boil and then drop it to a simmer and only cook for roughly 5 minutes. Enough to start to cook them, to roughen up the surface and wash the right amount of starch away before tossing in your oil and then adding to a preheated baking pan.

So with this new information
my verdict is this...(granted it is now sunday so the information is no longer of use for the current post)
If I was going to prep these for later use, I would cut them, stash them in the salted cooking water. pull them out, and then finish.
btw, with this method..and the recipe your roast time is only 10-20 minutes.

 

[Rocklobster]

Another thing I find useful is having a good spatula to scrape the potatos from the bottom of the pan/sheet, so you get all of the skin and leave nothing stuck to the bottom.

For the last few years I have been using a stainless steel paint scraper. I have a couple I bought exclusively for scraping food off of pans and cookie sheets, or when I cook some stuff in my cast iron pans. They are very thin and sharp and really do the job well. You need to splurge and get a good one because the cheaper ones will rust.