For many across the UK, a Sunday roast is simply incomplete without a generous helping of perfectly golden, crispy roast potatoes. Yet, achieving that ideal combination of a fluffy interior and a shatteringly crisp exterior can often feel like culinary sorcery. Fortunately, a cooking expert has shared a revolutionary one-ingredient swap that promises to elevate your roasties to a whole new level of deliciousness.
The Secret Ingredient for Superior Spuds
Cooking expert Georgina Hartley, founder of From The Larder, has disclosed that her secret to impeccable roast potatoes is to never boil them in water. Instead of using the traditional method, she advocates for a more indulgent approach: gently baking the potatoes in cream until they are fork-tender. This simple substitution, she explains, is the key to a vastly superior texture and flavour profile.
Speaking about the results, Georgina revealed: "The result is the creamiest roast potatoes that are beautifully rich with a fluffy interior but with the gorgeous golden crunch that we need from our roasties. A really luxurious way to pamper your potatoes and your guests on special occasions."
Why Cream Makes All the Difference
At first glance, submerging potatoes in cream might sound unusual, but the science and culinary benefits are compelling. As the potatoes soften during their slow cook, they actively absorb the cream, along with any added flavourings like garlic and herbs. This allows the rich, savoury notes to penetrate deep into the potato, resulting in a far more flavourful bite than the sometimes-bland taste achieved with water.
Furthermore, cream behaves fundamentally differently from water in the cooking process. It helps the potatoes retain more of their structural integrity, significantly reducing the chance of them falling apart compared to vigorous water boiling. When it comes time to roast, the potatoes hold their shape beautifully. Crucially, the fats within the cream coat the exterior starch molecules, which encourages spectacular crisping and colouring in the hot oven.
How to Make Cream-Baked Roast Potatoes
Ready to try this game-changing method? Here is Georgina Hartley's detailed recipe for the ultimate creamy and crispy roast potatoes.
You will need:
- 1.5kg of potatoes
- 400g of double cream
- 400g of whole milk
- One tablespoon of unsalted butter
- Three cloves
- Five black peppercorns
- Three garlic cloves, crushed
- Two bay leaves
- One sprig of thyme
- 50g of olive oil
Method:
Begin by preheating your oven to 160C (or 140C for a fan oven, Gas Mark 3). Peel your potatoes, then cut any small ones in half and larger potatoes into quarters.
Place the prepared potato pieces into a large, oven-safe casserole dish. Pour in the double cream and whole milk, ensuring the potatoes are fully submerged in the liquid. Sprinkle over the butter, bay leaves, cloves, crushed garlic cloves, black peppercorns, and thyme.
Cover the dish with its lid and place it in the preheated oven. Cook for one and a half hours, or until the potatoes are completely soft and tender.
Once cooked, remove the dish from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 200C (180C fan, Gas Mark 6). Pour the olive oil onto a separate roasting tray and place it in the hot oven to heat up for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, carefully drain the potatoes in a colander. Give them a gentle shake to roughen up the edges, which is a crucial step for creating more surface area to crisp up later. For an expert touch, place a clean tea towel over the potatoes and let them rest for ten minutes. This helps to draw out any excess surface moisture, ensuring they roast instead of steam in the oven.
When the oil in the roasting tray is shimmering hot, carefully remove the tray from the oven and tip in the drained potatoes. Place the tray back into the oven and roast for 45 minutes. If possible, turn the potatoes over every 15 minutes so that each side develops a deep, golden-brown colour.
The final result will be roast potatoes that are impossibly crispy on the outside, luxuriously creamy and flavourful on the inside, and a guaranteed showstopper at any dinner table.
