Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes
When my husband announced that he wanted duck for his birthday dinner I rejoiced. Not just because duck is fabulous, both roasted whole and as the main star in leftover creations. The real reason I rejoiced is that I knew duck fat potatoes were in my future!
A note about duck before I delve into the greatness of these potatoes. Duck is highly underrated in our cuisine. It is as easy to prepare and cook as whole chicken but tastes significantly better. Duck has the intensity of flavour and the elegant stature as great beef roasts but is much cheaper than prime rib or tenderloin. As if that wasn’t enough to convert you, duck is the bird that keeps on giving. In addition to its delicious meat, it will also provide you with rendered duck fat that you can use to enhance the flavour of pretty much anything you would use butter for (in cooking that is- I don’t recommend it on toast).
Case in point: these potatoes.
Being of Irish background, it is rare that I turn my nose up at a potato. Mashed- yes; French fries- of course; shredded and fried in a latke- why thank you. But the roast potato is usually a lack-luster affair borne out of sheer laziness. How many dinners have you been served where pieces of potato have been merely thrown in a roasting pan next to whatever meat has been cooking, a mere after-thought that was really not given much thought at all? They always emerge flavourless and either barely cooked or shriveled up. They have given roasted potatoes a bad name.
Let me tell you- this recipe will redeem your belief in the roasted potato. Am I building this up too much? Not possible!
The only downside to this recipe is that the potatoes have to cook for a long time at a very high temperature, much higher than you would generally be cooking your main course. If you do not have two ovens (if only!), you will have to let your meat sit for the hour it takes to cook the potatoes. If you are cooking a large bird, such as duck or a turkey this shouldn’t be a problem as they retain their heat.
Note: If you ever have the opportunity to read one of Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks, take it, if only for her humourous commentary. In this recipe in particular she embarked on a diatribe surrounding the pride involved in preparing the perfect potato. I now understand her vantage point and have to agree with her wholeheartedly.
Additional Note: Nigella recommends using goose fat in this recipe, which is significantly harder to find in North America. You can in fact use most fats: goose, duck, lard, even oil with a high smoking point such as peanut oil. If you don’t want to cook a goose or duck and render its fat (although after my comments above, how could you not?), some butchers carry the fat for sale separately.
Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes
Adapted only slightly from Nigella Lawson
2 cups duck fat (see Note above)
6 lbs potatoes (I used yukon gold, but any baking potato will work)
2 generous tbsp Semolina
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Pour your fat into a large roasting pan and place the pan in the oven while the oven is heating. You will want to use a roasting pan that is large enough to contain all of the potatoes in a single layer, without overlap. Leave the pan in the oven after it has come to temperature for approximately 20 minutes to ensure that the oil is piping hot.
Peel the potatoes and cut each potato into three even sized pieces. The goal is to ensure that all of the potato pieces are approximately the same size.
Put the potatoes in salted cold water on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiled, continue cooking the potatoes for 4 minutes.
Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return them to the empty dry saucepan. Sprinkle the semolina over the potatoes. Shake the saucepan repeatedly with the lid clamped on, bashing the potatoes on the side of the pan.
When the fat is hot, CAREFULLY pour the coated potatoes into the roasting pan. They will sizzle and may splatter. Return the pan to the oven.
After 25-30 minutes, when the bottoms of the potatoes are crisp and golden brown, flip the potatoes and return them to the oven for another 25-30 minutes, until they are darkly golden and crispy. Serve.