Is there a materials chemist on here who can explain to my why chips/fries and roast potatoes are both made by the application of heat to potatoes and oil but have such different tastes and textures (and why chips are nice, but roast potatoes are amazing?)
@OtherRyn what's the non-UK way of roasting potatoes?
@afewbugs Sad. It's sad.
@afewbugs To be less flippant, if you went to someone's house in the US and were getting roasted potatoes, you'd get new potatoes, halved or quartered, tossed in oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
@afewbugs I will try the various options. Here in NL we also have Flemish fries, chips with more volume compared to French fries, which are too thin. More volume means more moisture remains in the product and I guess that is good for the taste. Could be the same for roast potatoes. 🥔
If I think long enough on it, I will ask one of the chefs at work what they have to say about it. Benefit of working in a foods science lab.
@afewbugs If you are referring to roast potatoes the way the UK does it (boiling, roughing up the potato, and then quick in hot oil and then oven), I think it's because the boiling process releases more starch from the potato while double frying keeps more starch in is part of it.