Almost everyone has tried making crispy potatoes in the oven and ended up with something… okay. Golden on the surface, soft underneath, without that crisp bite that separates a side dish you eat from one you devour. This isn’t about talent—it’s about method, and a few precise steps change everything.
Ingredients :
- Firm-fleshed potatoes (baby, Charlotte, Amandine) — 1 kg — Firm flesh holds up to parboiling without falling apart and contains just enough starch to make the surface grainy after shaking. Avoid floury varieties like Bintje at all costs: they collapse during parboiling and give you an accidental mash at the bottom of the pot before they even reach the oven.
- Olive oil — 3 to 4 tablespoons — It coats each piece and conducts the oven’s heat directly against the surface to brown it. No need for premium oil here—the key is quantity: too little and the potatoes dry out and stick, too much and they fry limply in their own fat.
- Fine semolina (or flour) — 1 tablespoon — This is the ingredient that really makes the difference. The semolina clings to the bumps created by shaking and forms a fine powdery layer that turns into a crackling crust when exposed to heat. Regular flour also works, but semolina gives a slightly more rustic and pronounced texture. One tablespoon is enough—if you use too much, it forms a sticky paste and you lose the effect.
- Garlic — 2 cloves — Added whole or roughly crushed, it perfumes the oil and potatoes during cooking without burning if not chopped too fine. At the end of cooking, it becomes confit, melting, almost sweet—you can crush it directly over the potatoes when serving.
