Today I have had an inquiry from Linda who asked “Could you please advise the best brand of potato that will cook as chips or roasting to a nice crispy texture?” She has found many potatoes do not crisp up if deep fried or roasted. The answer to the best ‘brand’ will vary depending where you are in NZ and the time of year. For mashing, wedges, roasting, chips and baking you need a floury textured potatoes – these potatoes are low in water content and high in starch. They have a dry and delicate texture, break up easily when cooked and absorb a lot of liquid and flavour. Ilam Hardy, Red Rascal, Fianna or Agria will be your best bet. Agria has some very similar related varieties Bolesta and Markies. There is also limited or localised supplies of Victoria, Laura, Marabel which fall into this category.

I recommend you buy a potato that is labelled as suitable for roasting – the grower will have cook tested it to see if the texture is floury – and you will more than likely find that the variety is one of those I have listed above. Incidentally if the texture is suited to roasting it is also suited to mashing as well.

I hope this is helpful – there is nothing better than a crunchy-on-the-outside fluffy-in-the-inside roast potato!