Pan roasted potato questions

Subject: Pan roasted potato questions
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking

From: Dean G. (none at nowhere.mars)
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 17:17:07 -0500
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Yesterday I roasted some potatoes. I cut up a few gold potatoes and some onion. I threw in a few unpeeled (I was following a recipe on this, but it seemed to work ok) cloves of garlic, into a pan with melted butter and oil. I sprinkled on some dried rosemary and black pepper. I cooked it in the oven at 450 for 15-20 minutes then turned the potatoes and cooked for a similar amount of time. Then at the end I added a bit of garlic salt. The potatoes tasted very good, but were not as crispy as I would have expected or wanted. They did brown like I expected, just not crispy on the outside. The potatoes were a bit old, but perhaps there is something else I can do ? The recipe called for only 25 minutes at 450 total. Perhaps a different kind of potato works better ? Perhaps I should have cut the potatoes into smaller chunks ?

BTW, the potatoes went with a USDA Select strip steak. I cooked that in a skillet at high temp with the remaining onions. Well browned on the outside and pink and juicy inside. Kroger's had the steaks on sale for US $2.99 a pound a while back, and I threw this package in the freezer and forgot about it until recently.

From: stan at temple.edu
Date: 18 Feb 2003 23:04:32 GMT
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To get a crispy texture on the potatoes, drizzle them with a little bit of melted butter or olive oil next time before you start roasting them. After you turn the potatoes over, drizzle them with a bit more of the olive oil or butter. Do not cook the potatoes in the same pan as the steak or any other meat because doing so will cause the potatoes to steam from the hot moisture that comes off the meat.

From: Frenchy (Grumpc at wave.invalid)
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 12:20:49 +1300
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Stan wrote:
> To get a crispy texture on the potatoes, drizzle them with a little bit
> of melted butter or olive oil next time before you start roasting them.
> After you turn the potatoes over, drizzle them with a bit more of the
> olive oil or butter. Do not cook the potatoes in the same pan as the
> steak or any other meat because doing so will cause the potatoes to
> steam from the hot moisture that comes off the meat.

Missed the start of this thread. Best way to do Roasted potato's is to peel, cut them in half and boil in salted water for 8-10 minutes. Drain and then get an electric frypan with about 1" of good cooking oil nice and hot and "roast" them with a lid on the pan. Turn them after 10 minutes. Very crispy and tasty and not oily at all if you start with hot oil that foams when spuds go into it.

From: Dean G. (none at nowhere.mars)
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:44:59 -0500
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Thanks everyone. I haven't had time to try again yet. It looks like I have three things to try :

1) Coat the potatoes more carefully (with oil/butter)
2) Par-boil the potatoes first
3) Use New Potatoes if available

Thanks again,

Dean G.

From: blake murphy (blakem at ix.netcom.com)
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 05:59:31 -0500
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Dean G. wrote:
>3) Use New Potatoes if available

not quite new potatoes - but the red-skinned ones that you'd use for salad - have been cruddy in my supermarket *for months*. i'm thinking, 'what is this, russia?'

From: Joe McElvenney (ximac at btinternet.com)
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:43:12 GMT
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Hi,
A common way of getting the crispy outside on roast spuds is to boil them for about 10 minutes, drain, return to the pan and then give them a good shaking. This produces a surface that helps them to crisp-up more easily.

Cheers - Joe

From: Janet Bostwick (nospam at cableone.net)
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 17:57:24 -0700
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You need to be careful not to crowd in the roasting pan as well as coating the potatoes with oil before roasting. I have made the following recipe many times and the potatoes always turn out crispy and puffy. I have also done the potatoes without the meat. The term new potatoes refers to small potatoes a little larger than a large egg.

Herbed Pork Tenderloin With Oven Roasted Potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves, crushed
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 whole pork tenderloins (3/4 to 1 pound each)
2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, quartered

Heat oven to 375F. Stir oil, garlic and seasonings; coat meat with 3 tablespoons of seasoning mixture. Place in large roasting pan. Toss potatoes with remaining seasoning mixture; arrange around meat in pan.

Roast 35-40 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 155F and juices run clear, stirring potatoes after 20 minutes. Broil on top rack of oven 5 minutes to brown. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Serves 8.

From: jacqui{JB} (shining_one_wh at NOSPAMhotmail.com)
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:30:02 +0100
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Janet Bostwick wrote:
> The term new potatoes refers to small
> potatoes a little larger than a large egg.

Just to reply to this one point (and the recipe sounds good :)).

New potatoes are not just any small potatoes. New potatoes are the first small potatoes culled in late early-mid summer (depending on where you are in the world). They are very different from mature potatoes, with a distinctly earthy flavor and very moist texture. I'd never had them until I moved to Denmark; "new potatoes" in San Diego meant small, rather than young.

Definitely worth seeking out.

From: C. L. Gifford (saiga at concentric.net)
Date: 19 Feb 2003 09:10:11 GMT
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jacqui{JB} wrote:
> Definitely worth seeking out.

New potatoes are very easy to find in San Diego at the right times of the year. Mind, they are expensive usually. Fingerlings are a little more difficult.

Charlie

From: Janet Bostwick (nospam at cableone.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 03:29:18 -0700
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jacqui{JB} wrote:
> New potatoes are not just any small potatoes. New potatoes are the
> first small potatoes culled in late early-mid summer (depending on
> where you are in the world). They are very different from mature
> potatoes, with a distinctly earthy flavor and very moist texture. I'd
> never had them until I moved to Denmark; "new potatoes" in San Diego
> meant small, rather than young.

As soon as I posted, I knew I had either said too much or not enough. New potatoes are what I pull from under my potato plants--lovely, but not always available. Practicality dictates that I use the small white or gold or red salad potatoes that are generally available year round. What I had in mind when I pointed out size originally was the size of pieces used for roasting in this recipe.

From: barry in indy (barrydressindy at ameritech.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 11:40:40 GMT
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Janet Bostwick wrote:
> As soon as I posted, I knew I had either said too much or not enough. New
> potatoes are what I pull from under my potato plants--lovely, but not always
> available. Practicality dictates that I use the small white or gold or red
> salad potatoes that are generally available year round. What I had in mind
> when I pointed out size originally was the size of pieces used for roasting
> in this recipe.

What about "creamers?" I worked in a restaurant where they always used these small, red potatoes. They were so smooth and delicious you could easily make a meal out of them. This was in Pennsylvania, and I have since moved to Indiana and cannot find them.

From: Janet Bostwick (nospam at cableone.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 12:59:36 -0700
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barry in indy wrote:
> What about "creamers?" I worked in a restaurant where they always
> used these small, red potatoes.

I understand what you are talking about "creamers," but I don't associate any particular potato with this kind of dish--creamed potatoes and onions/creamed potatoes and peas. These dishes would be early summer dishes when the potatoes would be "new" and the onions and peas would be young and tender. The particular potato you are remembering could very easily be a variety that is special to the area where you worked. Any small, tender-skinned potato should work for roasting in this manner.

From: barry in indy (barrydressindy at ameritech.net)
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:23:20 GMT
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Janet Bostwick wrote:
> I understand what you are talking about "creamers," but I don't associate
> any particular potato with this kind of dish--creamed potatoes and
> onions/creamed potatoes and peas.

The potatoes themselves were actually called "creamers" or "red creamers." They were oven-baked with clarified butter and herbs, and that was it. Yet they had a smooth, creamy consistency.