The Secret Step Chefs Add For Fluffy, Crispy Potato Wedges
But, like my DIY scrambled and poached eggs and even my air fryer chips, I always feel they're missing a little... something.
They're always a little too rubbery, their skins tough and almost chewy rather than delicate and crisp.
So I was glad to read that Jessica Segal, a chef-turned-blogger, had the crispy, fluffy secrets I've been looking for over on her site, Once Upon A Chef.
And it turns out other experts – like ex-chef and former deputy food editor for Good Food, Esther Clark – agree with her technique.
Cooking legends like Gordon Ramsay and Mary Berry recommend parboiling your potatoes before roasting them.
The logic, Raymond Blanc explains, is that 'by boiling the potatoes prior to roasting, you ensure that you only cook the outside surface, allowing them to be fluffed up'.
This also ensures a crispier skin, as does 'chuffing' the potatoes (shaking them in a colander until the outer layer forms 'hundreds of little ridges that will crisp up when placed in the hot fat').
Segal does both when making her potato wedges. She boils the cut, skin-on potatoes in salted water for about six to seven minutes before shaking them in a colander or sieve as they drain.
This 'helps the wedges crisp up beautifully in the oven,' she wrote – the results should be fluffy, 'golden' perfection.
BBC Good Food recommends waiting for at least five minutes for the potatoes to cool after boiling, draining, and 'chuffing' them.
Per Marc Williams, cookery school director at The Grand in York, failing to wait for the steam to evaporate can result in soggy, soft potato skins.
That's because after you parboil your roast potatoes, the steam puffs out from the exterior of your potatoes for a while after removing them from the water.
This can interfere with the potatoes' interaction with the hot oil, which provides the crispy skin. And if they're seriously steamy, or even wet, you can get some dangerous splash-back.
You should 'strain them and wait until the steam stops,' William said. 'You'll never get a crisp result if they are full of water.'
The more you know...
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