How to Make Crispy Roast Potatoes with Duck Fat, French Chef Style
Duck fat is the secret behind golden, crispy fried potatoes in French cooking. The culinary outlet “Ofeminin” explains how to prepare and cook them so the outside is crisp and the inside soft.
Golden, crispy-outside and soft-inside fried potatoes need more than a good pan and the right temperature. According to the French culinary outlet “Ofeminin”, the secret of French cuisine is duck fat, which gives a rich flavour and helps form a crisp crust.
Why use duck fat
Heated in a pan, duck fat coats the potato pieces evenly and helps them brown. The outside turns crisp while the inside stays soft. Garlic, thyme, rosemary or parsley, along with salt and pepper, can strengthen the flavour.
What you need
- 1 kg of potatoes;
- 40–50 g of duck fat;
- 2–3 garlic cloves;
- a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary;
- salt and black pepper to taste;
- water for boiling the potatoes.
Method
Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces of equal size. Briefly boil them in salted water until they begin to soften but have not yet fallen apart. Drain the water and dry the potatoes thoroughly, because excess moisture prevents a crisp crust from forming.
Melt the duck fat in a large pan, preferably cast iron, and add the potatoes. Do not overcrowd the pan: with too many pieces, the potatoes will stew rather than fry. Cook them over medium-high heat for about 30–35 minutes. Let them brown on one side first and only then turn them, since stirring too often can damage the forming crust. Near the end, add minced garlic and herbs so they flavour the dish without burning, then season with salt and pepper.
Keeping the fat in check
Duck fat is high in calories. For a meal for four, one or two tablespoons are often enough if the potatoes are well dried and cooked in a sufficiently large pan.
If the potatoes turn out soft, the cause may be an overfilled pan, fat that was not hot enough, or moisture left on the pieces. The key is to partly boil the potatoes before frying, dry them thoroughly and spread them in a single layer in the pan.
