The Unexpected Secret To The Crispiest Roast Potatoes

Roast potatoes can be chewy, smooth, firm, or soft, depending on how they're prepared. But to make them not only crispy, but the crispiest they can be, even the starchiest potatoes need a bit of help. Food Republic reached out to Dennis Littley, chef and recipe expert at Ask Dennis, to find out why semolina flour is the unexpected secret to the crispiest roast potatoes.

"'For crispy roast potatoes, adding semolina is an old-school trick that makes a huge difference," Littley told us. "When dusted over parboiled potatoes before roasting, semolina creates an extra crispy, golden crust by absorbing moisture from the outer layer." Much like flour crisping up the skin of fried chicken, a dusting of semolina expels excess moisture and hardens into a delicate matrix after cooking in fat. While potato starch is the key to the crispiest fried chicken ever, this is only true after extracting the starch in large amounts to use later.

"While semolina works wonders, the real secret to perfect roast potatoes is the double-cook method," Littley said. "Parboiling them first, letting them steam dry for a few minutes, and then roasting them in very hot fat (duck fat, beef tallow, or olive oil)." While your semolina expels plenty of moisture, there's no need to let it do all the work. A quick steam dry is a great way to let this amazing flour perform to its full potential and show you why it's the best possible choice for the crispiest roast potatoes. "To get the best results, toss the potatoes in a little oil or melted fat before adding semolina, ensuring the coating sticks evenly," he instructed.

Other coarser flours may produce admirable results, but they won't be as good as semolina. For the same reasons semolina is the best choice for fresh pasta, what it does for roast potatoes far exceeds that of other glutinous ingredients.

Unlike other more common flours, semolina strikes a perfect balance between the fineness of its grind and natural flavor for roasted potatoes. You don't want them to taste bready, so its nuttiness is a perfect accompaniment to whatever seasonings you add from rosemary to cayenne. With a texture finer than even the finest ground cornmeal but coarser than all-purpose flour, it's ideal for roasting in a shallow layer of fat to produce shatteringly crisp results. Additionally, its high protein content creates a firm shell around the potato that stands up well to high temperatures and won't fall apart the second you touch it.

"Roughing up the edges of the potatoes after boiling creates more surface area for crisping, and using a preheated baking tray ensures they start crisping up the second they hit the pan," Dennis Littley instructed. Once they finish steam drying, add them back to the pot, put on the lid, and give it a shake. Increasing the surface area for more semolina to stick is just one of many tricks to make potatoes extra crispy and even though semolina is a magical ingredient, it never hurts to give it a little extra help.