[0 - 1] - Hi, I'm Frank Proto.
[1 - 3] I'm a professional chef and culinary instructor,
[3 - 4] and today I'm gonna show you the best way
[4 - 6] to make roasted potatoes at home.
[6 - 8] We're talking everything you need to know
[8 - 11] about making roasted potatoes crispy on the outside
[11 - 12] and soft and fluffy in the middle.
[12 - 15] This is Roasted Potatoes 101.
[15 - 17] This recipe is not hard.
[17 - 18] It doesn't take a lot of ingredients.
[18 - 20] It doesn't take a lot of special items.
[20 - 25] Let's go prep our potatoes. [bright music]
[25 - 27] The potatoes we're using today are russets.
[27 - 31] Russets are a starchy potato that roasts up really well.
[31 - 33] A lot of times when you have french fries,
[33 - 34] they're using russets.
[34 - 36] So these are the ones that get crisp on the outside
[36 - 37] and soft and fluffy in the middle.
[37 - 39] For the most part, I'm peeling these potatoes
[39 - 41] 'cause I wanna parcook them.
[41 - 43] Basically, the starch is gonna gelatinize,
[43 - 44] and we're gonna have a nice
[44 - 47] kind of crust on the outside from that.
[47 - 49] You can do these with the jackets on, that's fine,
[49 - 50] but I feel like you get a better crunch
[50 - 52] if you take the skin off.
[52 - 54] You can see the potato's long and skinny.
[54 - 57] I usually take the top and the bottom off,
[57 - 58] and then we peel in between.
[58 - 61] So we kinda just do a clean sweep of the potato.
[61 - 65] It shouldn't take more than 10 seconds per potato.
[65 - 66] So I'm gonna put this potato in the water,
[66 - 69] not only to kind of wash off the outside,
[69 - 71] but to also keep them from oxidizing.
[71 - 74] You'll see the oxidation pretty much starts fairly quickly.
[74 - 76] It'll start to turn kind of grayish or grayish brown.
[76 - 78] Is it bad at that point?
[78 - 79] No, you can peel it again
[79 - 81] and get all that gray off and then put it in some water.
[81 - 83] You don't wanna do it for too long.
[83 - 85] I usually do it for maybe three or four hours if I have to,
[85 - 87] but I wouldn't put these in the fridge overnight.
[87 - 89] So at this point, our potatoes are in the water.
[89 - 91] They are rinsed off really nice.
[91 - 92] But all that stuff that was on the outside
[92 - 94] is kind of floating right in my water.
[94 - 96] What I want to do is dump this water out,
[96 - 98] put some fresh water on top to cook the potatoes.
[100 - 102] Our potatoes are in clean water,
[102 - 104] and now we're gonna cut them into the perfect size.
[104 - 108] So I'm gonna take my potato and I'm gonna cut it in half.
[108 - 110] Now, I think that this might be a little too large
[110 - 113] for one bite, but I think this is a great size.
[113 - 116] Not only do they cook fairly quickly,
[116 - 119] you have a nice ratio of crunchy outside and soft inside.
[119 - 121] What I found with this method
[121 - 127] is that I get a good, consistent result that's delicious. [bright music]
[127 - 130] By starting the potatoes out in cold salted water,
[130 - 131] we're gonna start the process
[131 - 133] of cooking the potatoes through.
[133 - 134] So if we don't do this step,
[134 - 136] the outside of the potato's gonna be crispy
[136 - 137] and the inside will be hard.
[137 - 138] And I'm not shy about the salt
[138 - 141] 'cause it seasons that outside of the potato.
[141 - 144] So give that a quick stare with your spider.
[144 - 147] Once it comes to a boil, we're gonna lower down to a simmer.
[147 - 149] We don't want this to boil the whole time
[149 - 151] 'cause what happens is the water's really rough.
[151 - 153] The potatoes kind of hit into each other,
[153 - 154] and they start to break up
[154 - 156] and fall apart and give off too much starch.
[156 - 158] Boiling potatoes can take anywhere
[158 - 160] between 5 and 15 minutes, but for the most part,
[160 - 163] they're in the simmering water for a short amount of time.
[163 - 164] A lot of people will be tempted to get in there
[164 - 166] and start stirring things up.
[166 - 167] Don't, just leave it alone.
[167 - 169] Let them come to a boil gently,
[169 - 171] lower 'em down, and then we can get in there
[171 - 173] and see if they're ready to go or not.
[173 - 175] Now the potatoes are boiling.
[175 - 176] I'm gonna lower it till it's just a light simmer.
[176 - 178] We see little bubbles here and there.
[178 - 179] We wanna get these at the right stage
[179 - 181] so that they're slightly cooked.
[181 - 183] I'm gonna stick my knife in here,
[183 - 184] and you can see that it holds onto the potato.
[184 - 186] It's sliding just slightly.
[186 - 187] The outside is soft.
[187 - 190] You can see when I stick my finger in there,
[190 - 191] I get an indentation,
[191 - 192] and that's what I want.
[192 - 196] Also, if I get my nail, put my nail in it,
[196 - 198] the top layer kinda squeezes off.
[198 - 201] So it's time to take these potatoes out of the water.
[201 - 203] Let's shut our water off.
[203 - 204] You could use a colander,
[204 - 207] but I find using one of these spiders
[207 - 208] is a lot more efficient.
[208 - 211] We want the potatoes to be dry at this point.
[211 - 214] The drier the potato, the quicker it browns.
[214 - 216] You can see that there's steam coming off them,
[216 - 218] which is drying them out as well.
[218 - 219] Before we put these into the pan,
[219 - 222] we need them to cool all the way.
[222 - 223] What that does is it allows the starch
[223 - 225] on the outside to firm up.
[225 - 230] That's gonna ensure a nice, crispy crust. [bright music]
[230 - 231] I want that brown crust.
[231 - 234] So I start my potatoes in a cast iron skillet on the stove.
[234 - 235] The reason I choose cast iron
[235 - 237] is because it holds the heat really well.
[237 - 238] I can tell my pan is ready
[238 - 241] because I do see a little wisp of smoke coming off of it.
[241 - 243] Today's potatoes, we're using ghee,
[243 - 245] which is basically just a clarified butter.
[245 - 248] It has good flavor and it has a high smoke point.
[248 - 249] We wanna have a high smoke point
[249 - 253] so our oil does not degrade and give us weird off-flavors.
[253 - 256] So Chef Frank, why don't you just use whole butter?
[256 - 257] If I use whole butter,
[257 - 259] the solids in the whole butter are gonna burn
[259 - 261] before the potatoes are actually cooked.
[261 - 264] With the ghee, I'm not shy, right?
[264 - 265] I'm gonna plop it in there.
[265 - 267] Ghee is butter without any solids in it.
[267 - 269] So you shouldn't hear a lot of snap,
[269 - 270] crackle, and pop going on.
[270 - 273] It should be just kind of a light little crackle.
[273 - 274] You can see my fat is hot.
[274 - 277] I have a light haze of smoke. That's good.
[277 - 278] I have it on low heat right now.
[278 - 281] I'm gonna turn it up just a little before I add my potatoes
[281 - 283] because when I add the potatoes to the pan,
[283 - 285] it's gonna cool the pan off slightly and I don't want that.
[285 - 287] I wanna try and maintain temperature.
[287 - 290] I'm gonna start with the flat sides.
[290 - 293] You can see, as I put them in the pan, what's happening?
[293 - 294] I see bubbles.
[294 - 294] Bubbles are good.
[294 - 297] Bubbles usually mean that the moisture is cooking off
[297 - 300] and the fat is doing its job by browning the outside.
[300 - 302] I try not to overcrowd the pan.
[302 - 304] If I put too many potatoes in there,
[304 - 305] we're not gonna get a nice, even brown.
[305 - 308] We're gonna get kind of a more spotty brown,
[308 - 309] and they might give off some moisture
[309 - 311] and stop the browning process from happening.
[311 - 315] Moisture is the enemy of brown, crispy goodness.
[315 - 318] At this point, my potatoes are bubbling away happily.
[318 - 320] I'm gonna turn my heat up just a little bit,
[320 - 322] and I'm gonna give 'em a check, right?
[322 - 323] They shouldn't be sticking,
[323 - 325] but they should also be starting to brown.
[325 - 326] I think it's a good opportunity
[326 - 328] to put a little seasoning on these right now.
[328 - 330] We'll go with a little bit of salt
[330 - 332] a little bit of black pepper.
[333 - 334] I go light on the seasoning right now
[334 - 336] because I like to season throughout the process.
[336 - 338] Seasoning throughout the process
[338 - 340] ensures that we season evenly.
[340 - 342] Things aren't salty.
[342 - 343] They just have really good flavor.
[343 - 345] All right, let's look at our potatoes.
[345 - 348] I'm starting off some nice browning on the outside.
[348 - 351] What we're gonna do is we're gonna turn them now.
[351 - 352] Look at how beautiful that is.
[352 - 354] It's started getting nice and brown, right?
[354 - 355] And that's what we want.
[355 - 357] We want the brown to be started,
[357 - 361] and then we can throw these puppies in the oven. [bright music]
[361 - 363] So now I'm gonna take these
[363 - 365] and put them into a preheated 400-degree oven
[365 - 367] to continue that beautiful browning.
[367 - 368] The potatoes are gonna be in the oven
[368 - 370] for about 20 to 25 minutes.
[370 - 372] At about the halfway mark,
[372 - 374] we're gonna turn them over so that we ensure
[374 - 377] we get that nice, golden crust all the way around.
[377 - 379] So these potatoes are about halfway through,
[379 - 380] and they're ready to flip or turn.
[380 - 382] So you can see what's happening over here.
[382 - 383] We're getting more brown,
[383 - 385] so I'm gonna give 'em another turn.
[385 - 391] Try to get 'em as brown as we can on all sides. Smells delicious. Looks delicious.
[391 - 394] Now we can put them back in the oven just to finish cooking.
[396 - 398] Potatoes are out of the oven.
[398 - 401] They're crispy and delicious looking.
[401 - 403] What I'd like to do at this point
[403 - 404] is take them out of the pan
[404 - 406] and let them drain on paper towels,
[406 - 408] just to get any excess fat off of them.
[408 - 410] And back in the day when I worked at McDonald's,
[410 - 413] this is what they would use on the fries. Fine salt.
[413 - 416] Basically a popcorn salt, and it's called popcorn salt
[416 - 418] because it's super fine and it sticks to the popcorn.
[418 - 421] If you don't have popcorn salt, just get a blender out,
[421 - 422] blitz up a little regular salt,
[422 - 424] and you'll have a nice, fine salt for this.
[424 - 426] It's been a long time since I worked at McDonald's,
[426 - 428] but this is one of those things that stuck with me
[428 - 430] throughout my culinary career.
[430 - 432] For our final garnish, I'm gonna add some herbs to these.
[432 - 435] I chose chives and parsley.
[435 - 437] First of all, chives have a nice oniony bite,
[437 - 439] and I love that, right?
[439 - 440] We'll take a little bit of a parsley,
[440 - 442] and the parsley gives us a lot of freshness, right?
[442 - 444] We have that rich butter in there.
[444 - 445] We're gonna have a buttery flavor,
[445 - 446] and the parsley and chives
[446 - 449] is just gonna kinda lift it up and slightly cut it.
[449 - 452] So you take your parsley, roll it up,
[452 - 454] and then I'm just gonna chop.
[454 - 455] I always add my herbs at the end.
[455 - 457] If you put them in the pan,
[457 - 458] pretty much all the flavor goes away
[458 - 460] and they burn and they get too dark,
[460 - 463] and they're just little burn bits on your potatoes.
[463 - 466] Buttery, herby, and delicious.
[466 - 467] And there you have it,
[467 - 470] the best way to make roasted potatoes.
[470 - 471] Okay, it's time to taste.
[471 - 473] Look at how beautiful they look, right?
[473 - 477] We can hear that that's crispy on top,
[477 - 478] and that's what we want.
[479 - 482] Right, so crisp on the outside.
[482 - 484] Look at how soft and fluffy that is on the inside.
[484 - 486] So let's give it a taste.
[489 - 492] Actually, it's a little on the creamy side on the inside.
[492 - 495] The outside's got this nice, nutty flavor from that ghee.
[495 - 498] So even though there's a couple of extra steps with these,
[498 - 500] it is worth it 100%.
[500 - 502] Look at that inside, nice and soft.
[502 - 505] If you wanna show your chef skills off to people,
[505 - 506] make them some roasted potatoes.
[506 - 508] Simple, easy, and delicious.