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There are four main factors which influence how a potato turns out when roasted. The first is the amount of starch in the potato, then there is the amount of 'waxiness' followed by the moisture content and finally the sugar content.
What you really want is a potato which contains a decent amount of starch. The starch contributes to a fluffy interior of a roastie. But too much starch will result in the potato having a 'mushy' texture in the centre when cooked
The sugar content of the potato principally affects the how quickly the potato turns brown. Too much sugar and the potatoes will turn brown before the exterior crisps up, too little and they will appear pale and anemic.
Too much starch in a potato will also cause your roasties to appear over brown.
So, what variety of potato can you easily grow as an amateur gardener to produce the perfect roasted potatoes for eating in you own home?
Cooking method aside, two of the the best potato varieties for the very best chips are King Edward and Golden Wonder. They are floury maincrop varieties but not so floury that they fall apart when roasted.
One surprise entrant to the best variety for roast potatoes is Wilja. Surprising because it is not a Maincrop but a Second Early.
There are 100s of recipes on the internet and in cooking books so take your choice. Our best recipe for roast potatoes is based on the BBC Good Food Recipe.
Our only change to it is to use sunflower oil instead of olive oil (too expensive nowadays without any significant improvement in taste and some drawbacks) or goose fat (too rich and overpowering). Secondly we use a sprinkling of plain table salt instead of salt flakes (salt is salt in any form, so keep it easy with plain table salt).
We add at this point, that air fryers will never give you anywhere near a perfect roast potato. They may well be sightly more healthy for you because of the tiny amount of oil used, but let's face it, a acklustre serving of roast potatoes is missing the point of eating delicious food.
Read this article by Jay Rayner - he's writing about chips and air fryers mainly but exactly the same applies to roast potatoes and we totally agree with it.
BEST VARIETIES FOR EARLY POTATO CROP
BEST POTAT0 VARIETIES FOR ROASTING
BEST POTATO VARIETIES FOR CHIPS
BEST VARIETIES FOR MASHED POTATOES
OTHER POTATO PAGES
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