The Perfect Roast Potato

The Method

Peel your potatoes and cut them so you have a pleasing mix of sizes. Nothing too small. Anything smaller than a golf ball tends to break up in the pan. Boil them in a pan of water until the surface softens and the edges turn a little hazy when tipped into the colander to drain. Flipping them a few times in the colander will beat the edges for extra crunch, but go easy to avoid making mash.

Set a tin in the oven with your chosen fat or oil. I use a heavy cast iron pan and typically use a light coloured olive oil cooking blend, but of course on special occasions there’s beef or duck dripping. Whichever you choose, let it reach a proper sizzle. The potatoes need to meet the heat with a confident sound.

Once the oil is hot, tumble the potatoes in and let the edges soak up the oil. Then comes the small twist that changes everything. Drizzle a few teaspoons of Marmite over the potatoes while they sit in the hot fat. The Marmite melts almost instantly, slipping into the crevices and adding a brown glossy coat. It bakes into a deep savoury crunch that gives the potatoes their dark, moreish character.

Give them a gentle rotation in the darkened oil and return the pan to the oven to roast until they take on the colour you love most. For me this means letting them go a little further than pictured, until the sticky bits cling to the sides and the crunch is as satisfying as the first fire of the season.

Serve with whatever the weekend brings. These potatoes carry enough flavour to stand alone like the joy of a jacket potato dinner, but they sit happily beside any slow cooked ragu or simple roast. A small pleasure for the colder months, and a seasonal simple pleasure I look forward to every year. The result is not an obvious Marmite flavour, more a gentle salty hint that settles into an unctuous, deeply satisfying crunch.