Roast potatoes are a beloved side dish, known for their delicious taste and crispy texture.
However, achieving the “perfect” roast potato can be tricky. Cook Sam Stern has shared a simple trick to make the “best roast potatoes”, which involves adding bicarbonate of soda to the water when boiling them.
In a TikTok video, Stern explains: “Add your potatoes to cold water with salt, bicarbonate of soda and parboil. Meanwhile, take a chicken stock cube, add oil and combine.
“Pour clarified butter onto a baking tray and place into the oven until hot. Then add the potatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme the stock oil and season.”
Once this is done, he said you should combine all the ingredients before roasting them for 25 minutes. Then turn them and roast them for another 25 minutes.
In the video, you see that the potatoes end up looking absolutely amazing. It’s hard not to want to give the recipe a go as they look so delicious.
The video has gone viral, having been viewed more than 140,000 times – and people were quick to share their thoughts. It looks as though people have all sorts of methods for roasting potatoes.
One person said: “Try vegetable stock in the pot while they’re boiling – game changer!”
Another wrote: “You forgot to mention the most important thing – buy good potatoes first!” A third also replied: “I’d take the thin shell around the garlic off as it’s like paper. Although I’ll try this, as it looks great.”
Why does bicarbonate of soda make roast potatoes crispy?
It breaks down the surface of the potatoes, creating a starchier, softer exterior that increases the surface area for crunch.
But, if you fancy trying something else, there are other methods to achieve extra crispy potatoes. Some people boil potato chunks until they’re just tender, then toss them in fat such as beef drippings to roughen up their surface.
After this, you can roast them until they’re crunchy. It’s another technique worth trying to get your spuds right.