Roasted: ???Roasting potatos

Subject: ???Roasting potatos
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: D/L Wray (qpup at pangea.ca)
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 09:51:00 -0500
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Hi,
Excuse my ignorance here but could someone please tell me how to go about making roasted potatos???

Thanks oh so much.

Daave
From: Gail Thaler (gail at ricochet.net)
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 08:34:55 -0700
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Only mothers-in-law and grandmothers can make roast potatoes properly. I know because I've tried. To be really tasty they should be combined with pot roast or roast chicken. I find if I microwave the potatoes first and rub them with lots of butter and then roast them with (or without) the meat in a hot oven, then they are really tasty. Check out Barbara Kafka's
Roasting book.
From: Nancy Young (qwerty5 at ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 12:01:43 -0400
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Gail Thaler wrote:
> Only mothers-in-law and grandmothers can make roast potatoes
> properly.

I thought it was me ... I cannot duplicate my in-laws roasted potatoes that they make in the roasting pan with pork roast.

Took a while of nagging till my m-i-l said, oh, didn't I tell you to rub the potatoes with oil first??

At any rate, they make the best roast pork ... garlic cloves stuck into the roast, surrounded on one side by potato wedges and the other by sauerkraut (to my horror, and they do this to turkey as well - I was amazed how great that tastes after cooking with a roast for however long) ... but I just can't get my potatoes to come out the way theirs does ... grrrr ....
From: Nancy Young (qwerty5 at ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 17:20:24 -0400
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Bob Y. wrote:
> You might also try boiling them for a few minutes before coating with
> oil and putting in with the roast. It gives them a lille head start, so
> to speak.

Will that give it that ... ugh, my vocabulary is letting me down ... tasty yet tough outside and mashed potato inside? I'm willing to give it a shot ... just have to wait till fall ...

By the way, I am not really accusing my m-i-l of holding out ... she doesn't even realize she does certain things when she cooks ... but her potatoes come out excellent every time! I didn't mean to imply she was being hostile ...
From: Myra (myra at primenet.com)
Date: 26 Jul 1997 17:18:00 -0700
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Nancy Young wrote:
> Will that give it that ... ugh, my vocabulary is letting me down ...
> tasty yet tough outside and mashed potato inside? I'm willing to
> give it a shot ... just have to wait till fall ...

My roasted potatoes come out like that *all* the time!

Whenever I roast chicken or make a pot roast, I just chunk up some russet potatoes (peeled or not, your choice), and place them around the meat. If it's chicken, I wipe a little oil in the roasting pan. If it's pot roast, the potatoes will be "lubricated" in the liquid.

The potatoes always come out with that chewy exterior and light, fluffy interior. Yum.
From: Don McGranahan (mcgranahan at no.spam)
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 11:52:55 -0400
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D/L Wray wrote:
> Excuse my ignorance here but could someone please tell me how to go
> about making roasted potatos???

One way is to peel and cut up potatoes, put them in a zip lock bag with 1/2 cup of oil and a package of dry onion soup mix, and shake the bag to coat the potatoes. Put in a pan in the oven at 350 for about 35 to 45 minutes or until browned on the outside. (Don't forget to take them out of the bag first!)
From: pthornwgtn at ihug.co.nz (Pam Thornbury)
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 08:10:19 GMT
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I'm a MIL and a grandmother. Will you accept my system for perfect roast potatoes?

First peel potatoes. Cover with cold water and heat to boiling and boil for approx 5 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 200c. Put 1 Tbspn butter and 2 Tbspn cooking oil in a roasting pan in the oven to heat.

Drain water from potatoes and let steam without lid for 1 minute. Put lid on and shake several times (this is to rough up the outside). Put potatoes into roasting pan and swirl around in the fat mix. Cook for approx 45 minutes until golden brown and soft inside. I tend to baste the potatoes at least once during the cooking time.

I have to say though, that sometimes the variety of potato will let you down. I find the best time to cook these is in winter when the "old" potatoes are available.
From: Ciara (cici at iol.ie)
Date: 30 Jul 1997 23:52:57 GMT
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> First peel potatoes. Cover with cold water and heat to boiling and
> boil for approx 5 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 200c. Put 1Tbspn
> butter and 2 Tbspn cooking oil in a roasting pan in the oven to heat.

oooh - Thats exactly the way we do them and having tried numerous other ways - especially with Olive oil and the like, this was the way my mother cooked them and thats the way I do now!
From: zedapoo at hotmail.com (Lea)
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 21:31:48 GMT
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cici wrote:
>oooh - Thats exactly the way we do them and having tried numerous other
>ways - especially with Olive oil and the like, this was the way my mother
>cooked them and thats the way I do now!

What size potaoes do you use for this? I am asusuming you mean what we call russets here in the us, but these can be pretty large, how big are the ones you use for this?

Sounds good and something I want to try!
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: ???Roasting potatoes
From: Rob (rob at csiuk.com)
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 16:57:51 +0100
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D/L Wray wrote:
> Excuse my ignorance here but could someone please tell me how to go
> about making roasted potatos???

Everybody knows how roast potatoes should be, and no two people agree!

*got* to add my thoughts here (from the UK, by the way, so it may be a whole different ballgame!)

- Boil them first. How long depends on how soft you want the centres. I do mine for ten to twelve minutes, which gives you cloud-soft middles.

- Then roast them. I think roasting potatoes is just a hard way of deep frying. Try frying them in 1/4 inch of oil on the top of the stove. Keep turning. You'll need some (roast) meat dripping to fry them in to give some flavour, but this does give the advantage you can leave the meat in the oven to cook at a reasonable temperature while the potatoes are roasting.

- Try everybody else's ideas too, so that you can choose which you like!
From: Jane O'Brien (jayohbee at iol.ie)
Date: 30 Jul 1997 01:07:06 GMT
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Another way of roasting potatoes is to just peel them, wipe dry, dip in olive oil, and then put them in the oven with whatever type of roast you are cooking. Generally take about 3/4-1hr to crisp and brown up nicely. Be sure to turn them every so often and baste with the fat from whatever you are cooking.....kids love them. But, if you leave them sit in the oven when they are cooked they just go soft and soggy.
From: cogman at cyberenet.net (Friend)
Date: 30 Jul 1997 12:53:45 GMT
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Jane O'Brien wrote:
> and then put them in the oven with whatever type of roast you
> are cooking.

Right, but when I am making roast beef or a whole chicken in the oven, I just cut up those small potatoes which have the shiny tan or red skins and put them in with the meat or chicken during the entire length of the cooking process. I usually cut the spuds in half or quarters, depending on how large they are. I than sprinkle them with the same spices I use on the meat that I am roasting and than I pour in some marinade into the roasting pan and cover lightly with a piece of aluminum I don't even bother to peel the potatoes because I like potato skins. I also throw in some hunks of celary and carrots in with the potatoes and meat.

The results are absolutely delicious.