The Unexpected Ingredient You Should Use For Crispier Baby Potatoes
Making the crispiest potato is a feat that many cooks attempt. Whether by adding more oil, upping the oven temperature, changing to cast iron, preheating the cooking vessel, adding cornstarch, or trying myriad other tricks, home cooks are often stymied by proper potato cookery. Often, and unfortunately, due to mistakes we make when cooking potatoes, we end up with a mushy, unappealing dish instead of a crisp, crunchy exterior and smooth, creamy interior. Potato nirvana, however, isn't too difficult to achieve.
Often, many home cookies are perplexed by the binary: A super-soft potato that doesn't have any textural appeal or an overcooked, quasi-burnt potato that is not especially appetizing. Although the aforementioned tricks are good options for diversifying your potato approach, there is one trick that might strike you as unique. It only involves one ingredient, and, we are certain, it's something you already have on hand. Read ahead to learn more about the secret to picture-perfect, uber-crispy potatoes.
The secret ingredient might shock you
This piece from Epicurious espouses Chef Dan Kluger's potato method from his cookbook Chasing Flavor: Techniques and Recipes to Cook Fearlessly. As Epicurious notes, "Kluger tossed very small new ... potatoes in whipped egg whites before seasoning the mix and putting it all in the oven." Yep, you read that correctly — the secret is egg whites. Kluger tells Epicurious that the potatoes are "a different kind of crispy, a delicate crispy; like little starch balloons that pop when you bite into them." If that doesn't make you want to immediately try this method, who knows what will. Epicurious notes that the whipped egg whites both add crispness and also help seasoning adhere. In a conversation with Epicurious, Kluger notes that "as the potatoes roast, the water evaporates from the egg whites and you're left with a certain crispness." Genius!
Kluger is not alone in suggesting this technique. Kevin is Cooking swears by the same cooking method noting that "the whites help steam the homemade potato wedges, resulting in both fluffy and crispy textures." What's Cooking America also boasts the use of egg whites, instead using russet potatoes which have been cut into wedges and cooking them in a 400-degree oven for a half hour. TODAY shares a latke recipe that includes egg whites, which help to bind the potatoes and — as discussed — make sure they're super crispy.
Clearly, this surprising (and simple) egg white technique is a worthy approach.