What shade is the perfect roast potato….?

New ‘perfect roast potato’ chart sets the record straight with colour scale and cooking guide.

Pale or golden? Crispy or soft? Fluffy in the middle? The roast potato dispute arises at Christmas and can spark debate in the kitchen about the best way to cook the humble roastie.

To help settle the matter, leading potato brand Albert Bartlett has joined forces with Stevie McLaughlin, Head Chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, to create a handy potato chart in time for Christmas dinner preparations. The nifty scale has twelve shades of perfection – from pale to beautifully golden – with a cooking guide to achieve each one. So, you know exactly how long to leave the oven on to crack your perfect Christmas roastie.

Stevie McLaughlin, Head Chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie and an Albert Bartlett ambassador, said: “Cooking the roast potato is an artform and still ruffles a few feathers when trying to pinpoint the optimum shade. The ‘perfect roast potato’ chart will hopefully settle a few debates this Christmas when the roast spud takes centre stage. While there is no right or wrong answer, the chart caters for everyone, whether you like yours pale or golden with a crunch, we’ve got you covered.”

Stevie McLaughlin, who has worked at Scotland’s only two Michelin star restaurant for 21 years, 16 of those as head chef cooked the roast potatoes for different times scales to create the chart.

The first spud was removed at just 25 minutes, with the Don’t you (forget about me…) taking one hour and 15 minutes.

Michael Jarvis, Head of Marketing at Albert Bartlett, added: “The roast potato is a controversial topic around the dinner table with family and friends butting heads on how they like their spud cooked. It’s really a matter of personal taste and all shades have their place at Christmas dinner. We’ve picked Bartlett’s Stud of Spuds as our front runner at just 50 minutes in the oven, it’s deliciously crunchy and fantastically fluffy inside. But that’s not to say the UK agrees. What’s your perfect potato shade?…”

Albert Bartlett has spoken its truth on the perfect shade of roastie and now wants to know what the nation thinks. Head to our Twitter or Instagram to rate and share your perfect potato shade using the hashtag #PerfectRoastie. Here you can also meet the UK’s biggest roast potato obsessives, the Roastinados.

Stevie’s recipe for how to make the perfect roast potato is here and below.

• Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
• Cover a baking tray with a thin layer of vegetable oil or light olive oil and put into the oven to
heat the oil and tray.
• Select Rooster potatoes that are all similar sized, peel them and then cut them into even
halves.
• Put the halved potatoes into a suitable-sized pan and cover them with cold water (no need to
add salt).
• Put the pan onto a medium-high heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook the potatoes until
tender (20-25mins).
• Carefully tip the potatoes into a colander and allow a few minutes for the steam to cool
down.
• Gently toss the potatoes in the colander to ruffle the edges a little, then very carefully place
the potatoes one by one into the hot oil. The potatoes will sizzle gently.
• Roast the potatoes in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour approx. for our take on the perfect
roastie, turning the potatoes 2 or 3 times throughout.
• Be guided by the colour as to when they are ready – they should be beautifully and evenly
golden.
• Or use the handy chart for a cooking guide as to how you like yours cooked!
• Remove the potatoes from the oven and transfer to a warmed serving dish.
• Sprinkle the roast Roosters with good flaky sea salt and serve.

Cooking times from chart:

1. No shade here – 25 mins
2. You’ve been ghosted – 30 mins
3. Keep warm to transform – 38 mins
4. You glow girl – 41 mins
5. Ray of sunshine – 44 mins
6. Gold rush – 47 mins
7. Bartlett’s Stud of Spuds – 50 mins
8. Bronzed & Boujee – 55 mins
9. Livin’ La Vida Ochre – 1 hour
10. It’s crunch time – 1 hour 4 mins
11. Strictly spray tan – 1 hour 10 mins
12. Don’t you (forget about me…) – 1 hour 15 mins