The Catering Trick for the Best Roasted Potatoes of Your Life
In order to graduate from culinary school, I had to complete a six-month internship. My instructor at the time encouraged me to find something challenging — to go where I could learn beyond what was taught at school. After much deliberation, staging, and interviewing, I landed at a catering and gourmet grocery run by a well-known chef. It was absolutely challenging and often gross (cleaning boxes of squid is a task I still have nightmares about), but I learned some things I knew my instructors would never be able to show me. One of those things was how to roast the most delicious potatoes. The fascinating part was that it didn’t require fancy equipment or knife cuts — what mattered was how I roasted the potatoes. Here’s what I learned.
What Makes My Most Flavorful Roasted Potatoes So Good
On the day I learned to make roasted potatoes, the head chef pulled me aside and walked me through the steps. Instead of starting the potatoes on a cold baking sheet he said I should add the sheet pan to the oven while it preheated. “It jump-starts the cooking process,” he told me, slashing the total cooking time by at least 10 minutes. Next he showed me how to scrub those tiny potatoes, getting into all of the nooks and crannies so that no one could detect even one tiny particle of dirt (“you want customers to come back,” he said bluntly). He told me to pat the potatoes dry because extra moisture would leave the skins soft and loose instead of firm and crispy. Instead of using a spoon to stir the potatoes with the olive oil and seasonings, he encouraged me to use my hands (they were the only tool capable of coating each piece of potato evenly).
After pulling the hot baking sheet out of the oven he covered it with parchment and added the potatoes, leaving ample space between them for the heads of garlic and sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary. He covered the entire pan with foil, sealing all of the sides, and placed it in the oven. The foil cover was crucial, he told me, for locking in the flavor of the herbs and garlic, but also cooking the interior of the potatoes so that they were perfectly soft and fork-tender. He’d remove the foil after 30 minutes and give everything a stir before roasting for another 10 minutes to even out the color and finish the cooking. When the potatoes were done, he removed the sprigs (which only had a few hearty souls still attached) then squeezed out a few cloves of garlic and gave everything a big stir.
We sold out of those roasted potatoes almost every day at the store and they were the most requested item on our catering menu. After making the potatoes that day, I finally knew why. They were perfect — tender on the inside, and just crispy enough on the outside. Thanks to the foil, they were also perfectly seasoned by the oils and fragrance of the herbs. The garlic, so soft and buttery, was the perfect finishing touch. Now you can make them too!
How to Make the Most Flavorful Roasted Potatoes
Preheat the oven and baking sheet. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and add a large rimmed baking sheet to it; heat to 425°F.
Prepare potatoes. Toss 1 1/2 pounds halved baby yellow or red potatoes with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil,1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl.
Add the herbs and garlic. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and line with parchment paper. Spread the potatoes out on the baking sheet and nestle a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme (or a combination) and 2 heads of garlic (with the tops sliced off to expose the cloves) between them. Drizzle both heads of garlic with 1 tablespoon olive oil then cover the top with foil, crimping down sides, and roast for 30 minutes.
Stir and serve. Uncover the baking sheet, stir the potatoes, and return them to the oven and continue to roast until the potatoes are golden-brown and fork-tender, about 10 minutes.
Further Reading
The One Cookware Brand That Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stop Talking About
Reese’s Just Launched a Limited-Edition Peanut Butter Cup, and It Tastes 4x Better than the Original
