My roasted potatoes either brown beautifully while staying slightly undercooked in the middle, or become tender and dry before the edges get crisp. I'm cutting them into uneven chunks, which probably isn't helping. I'm going to try uniform pieces, a brief parboil, roughing the surfaces and then roasting on a hot tray with enough room between them. Which step makes the largest difference in your kitchen?
Cooking potatoes so the outside browns before the inside dries out
- practical-cooking
- cooking
- potatoes
- outside
55
5 replies
Uniform chunks make a bigger difference than I expected. If the pieces are all different sizes, the small ones go dry while the large ones a...
Uniform chunks make a bigger difference than I expected. If the pieces are all different sizes, the small ones go dry while the large ones are still catching up.
I think the hot tray matters almost as much as the parboil. If the tray is already hot, the potatoes start browning instead of just sitting there steaming for five minutes.
And don't crowd them. I used to pile them up because I wanted more potatoes on one tray, and all I got was a sad little steam bath with opti...
For me the parboil is the step that changes the texture most. Roughing up the edges helps, but if the inside isn't partly cooked first, the outside races ahead.
I agree with the parboil part, but I think drying them afterward matters too. Wet potatoes never seem to crisp the same way.