REALIZING THE DREAM

Finally, a crisp roast potato you can believe in

Roast potatoes eluded me. I don’t recall eating them much as a kid, just occasionally with roast beef. I sort of ignored a certain class of potato dishes for years, as I went from being vegetarian (because potatoes go with meat), into a snooty young cook. French fries were fine with grilled cheese or a burger, but a side of mashed or roasted potatoes belonged to the uncultured eating masses. I dabbled in gratins, latkes, and pursued the mysterious pommes soufflé.

In the mid-1980s, roasted potatoes had an audience at the takeout food counter at the David Wood Food Shop in Toronto and I had to figure out how to make them look and taste good. Big russet potatoes were carefully cut into six wedges, tossed with oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs, then placed precisely cut side down on baking sheets.

In what I thought was a breakthrough, the pan was placed directly on the bottom of the gas oven, which browned them beautifully. They were well received but I was not that happy with them. They didn’t stay crisp for long and the crust would change from smooth, to leathery and wrinkled.

Parallel to this, the potatoes I enjoyed with roast lamb at Greek restaurants also eluded me. What made them so golden and delicious?

I didn’t give up, but I didn’t exactly pursue the elusive roast potato. Part of my failure was my arrogance; it was a waste of time to cook the potatoes by boiling first, then roasting. I mean, why can’t a wedge of raw potato just cook perfectly?

The Greek secret was revealed in the early 1990s when I worked with a cook who had worked in a Greek restaurant. The secret was: POWDERED CHICKEN STOCK. That’s what made them golden and delicious: Yellow food colouring and MSG, not some secret Greek way of cooking potatoes. It was not my first culinary heartbreak.

The answer to the roast potato quest emerged from the Serious Eats website.

Cook large chunks of potatoes with a small amount of baking soda which breaks the surface down, rough them up to create a paste on the outside that transforms into a glorious crust, and roast them with high heat.

This completely floored me. Even without the baking soda, it made total sense.

There are lessons to be found everywhere, even in the pursuit of a great roast potato.

PHOTOS: KaREN BARNABY The ultimate roast potatoes — the elusive crusty and crispy side dish — from start, to skin off, to cut up, and finally roasted.