Mary Berry's 'secret' ingredient for making extra crispy roast potatoes
The best part of any roast dinner is the crispy roast potatoes. But there's nothing worse than when they come out of the oven all soft and lumpy. Luckily, Mary Berry has shared her hack for the perfect roasties
by Susan Knox, Katherine McPhillips · ChronicleLiveRoast potatoes are a Sunday lunch staple, often hailed as the highlight of the meal for their crisp exterior, but there's nothing quite so disappointing as a plate full of soggy spuds.
However, there's a trick to ensuring perfect crunch with your roasts every time, and it comes down to just one key ingredient.
Culinary legend Mary Berry has let slip her secret for scrumptious roasties: a good dusting of semolina flour, best known for its role in creating delicious pasta and bread.
In her book, 'Love To Cook', Mary reveals, "Something a bit different to traditional roast potatoes. The added semolina gives the potatoes a crispy, crunchy outside and helps to hold them together."
The result of trialing this recipe?, reports the Mirror.
"I decided to try out this recipe to see if it was better to use semolina flour to enhance the crispiness of roast potatoes - and it turns out that not only does it improve the texture but the taste as well."
"After looking online, I discovered that potatoes have a high moisture content, and using semolina flour absorbs excess moisture on the surface of the potatoes to prevent them from turning soggy while cooking. Semolina flour is also high in protein so it intensifies the browning process so it will result in a crispy exterior but will remain fluffy on the inside."
A deeper dive into the science behind this method shows that potatoes are naturally high in water content, and semolina is excellent at absorbing excess moisture from the potato skin, preventing sogginess during roasting. Moreover, the protein-rich grain aids in the Maillard reaction, ensuring a perfectly crispy shell while keeping the inside fluffy.
In an individual culinary test, the cook shared: "For my own experiment, I decided to try and use one sweet potato as I was just cooking for myself and prefer the taste, but semolina will work on any type of potato. You can even use it on vegetables to make sure you get a satisfying crunch on every side dish in your roast dinner."
How to elevate your roast potatoes to Mary Berry's standard of crispiness:
- Four tablespoons of sunflower oil
- Two tablespoons of semolina
- 700g of potatoes
Method:
Kick off the process by preheating your oven to 200C; however, adjustments should be made depending on your oven type set it at 220C for convection and gas ovens to Mark 7.
Splash two tablespoons of oil onto a baking tray and get it into the oven for a cycle of roughly five minutes. What you're aiming for is super-heated oil that's almost popping with sizzle.
Chop your sweet potatoes carelessly into sizeable pieces, then toss them into a mix of two tablespoons of oil and the same amount of semolina floura thorough stir to evenly glaze each chunk is key before dispatching them to the oven.
Bide your time for about 20 minutes, let the heat work its magic until those chunks turn golden and boast a crispy shell.
Post-tasting, Great British Bake Off icon Mary revealed her verdict: crispy on the outside, while perfectly fluffy within. She also noted how semolina not only cranks up the texture but adds a crunchy nutty savouriness that was downright scrummy.
Join our WhatsApp communities
ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities.
We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you want to be part of and we'll send you the latest news direct to your phone. You could even join them all!
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
Join the ChronicleLive Breaking News and Top Stories community
Join our Court & Crime community
Join the Things to do in Newcastle and the North East community
Join our Northumberland community
Join our County Durham community
Join our Great North Run community