Food - News
For Extra Crispy Roast Potatoes, Boil Them With Baking Soda First
By SEAMUS GREGAN
A great roast potato combines the creamy, fluffy, gravy-soaking powers of mash with the crispy, crunchy crust of a French fry. Choosing a starchy potato, such as russet or Maris Piper, is a good starting point to achieve this desired texture, and you can improve your chances by using this baking soda hack.
Perfect roast potatoes begin with parboiling them — and this is where you can supercharge your potatoes' crispiness by adding baking soda. Chef Lisa Marley said that it "helps the outside of the potato break down, leading to a starchy paste when gently shaken, creating an extremely crispy outside when roasted."
Potatoes cooked with an alkali such as baking soda will start to go crumbly at the edges much quicker, which makes it easier to get those creviced outsides when you parboil them. One final tip: to improve the flavor of your roast potatoes, add some of your (clean) potato peels to the pot as well as the baking soda.