Roast potatoes can be made extra crunchy with one unusual ingredient: semolina. This coarse flour, traditionally made from durum wheat, is used by well-known cooks including Mary Berry and Nigella Lawson.
After par-boiling and shaking the potatoes, adding semolina helps achieve a golden and crispy exterior while the inside stays soft and fluffy. Semolina is available in both coarse and fine milled versions at most supermarkets.
Mary Berry's method
Mary Berry sprinkles semolina over her potatoes for an extra crunch. Her recipe on BBC Food says: "A roast potato should be ultra crispy and golden on the outside with a fluffy light middle. Par-boiling and roughing them up before roasting gives a lovely crunchy exterior and the semolina adds an extra crunchy coating."
The recipe uses 1.5kg/3lb 5oz old potatoes, peeled and cut into medium-sized cubes, 40g/1½oz semolina, 4 tbsp goose fat or vegetable oil, 3 thyme sprigs, and salt.
Step-by-step cooking
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Put the potatoes in a saucepan of cold salted water, bring to the boil, and boil for about 5 minutes until starting to soften around the edges.
Drain in a colander until completely dry, then return to the saucepan and shake to roughen up the edges. Sprinkle in the semolina and shake again until coated.
Roasting the potatoes
Preheat a large shallow roasting tin in the oven until hot. Add the fat to the tin and heat for 5 minutes until smoking. Carefully add the potatoes, turn in the fat until coated, and scatter over the thyme sprigs.
Return to the oven and roast for about 45–55 minutes until golden brown and crisp, turning the potatoes halfway through the cooking time. Serve piping hot.
