Roast Potatoes Question.

[indianwells]

No, not how to cook them but why are they not popular in the US? I have visited the US on more than 30 occasions but in all the restaurants I have been to I have yet to find them on any menu. Just wonder if it's the places I have been to or are they not really liked?

 

[TastyReuben]

No, not how to cook them but why are they not popular in the US? I have visited the US on more than 30 occasions but in all the restaurants I have been to I have yet to find them on any menu. Just wonder if it's the places I have been to or are they not really liked?

I've never really thought about it, but it my area, potatoes on the side are either mashed or fried. I made roasted potatoes at home a lot, and I think many people do, judging by the number of recipes I see for them in magazines, but you're right, I don't see them in restaurants much.

 

[CraigC]

I love pan roasted, fingerling potatoes. I also love new potatoes done in a drip pan underneath a duck, chicken or roast on the spit of my rotisserie on my charcoal grill. When we go out, roasted potatoes aren't really on my mind. I also like russets done "caveman style" directly in the coals of a hardwood charcoal fire (I also like steaks done this way, but my wife doesn't so I don't make them that way).

 

[medtran49]

I think it's due to the fact that roast potatoes are best fresh out of the oven. Mashed potatoes can stand for a few hours and be rewarmed without much, if any, degradation. Fried potatoes can be prepped, then stand until the short time it takes to fry them. You could partially roast the potatoes, then finish them, but it takes time in the oven to get that lovely crispness and I don't think a restaurant kitchen would find that viable.

 

[Mountain Cat]

I've occasionally seen them at restaurants, but more typically when I visit friends and eat at their homes. And I've occasionally made them myself. I'm probably not the best person to answer about roast potatoes at restaurants, as if I have a choice, I want to eat at Asian venues. Where roast potatoes are very unlikely to turn up, anyway.

 

[Morning Glory]

No, not how to cook them but why are they not popular in the US? I have visited the US on more than 30 occasions but in all the restaurants I have been to I have yet to find them on any menu. Just wonder if it's the places I have been to or are they not really liked?

To be honest they don't really appear on restaurant menus here very much either unless its a Sunday Roast menu in a Pub or similar. But I do get the impression they are much more popular in the UK than in America. We have frozen part cooked roast potatoes in all supermarkets. Just pop them in the oven!

 

[TastyReuben]

I think it's due to the fact that roast potatoes are best fresh out of the oven. Mashed potatoes can stand for a few hours and be rewarmed without much, if any, degradation. Fried potatoes can be prepped, then stand until the short time it takes to fry them. You could partially roast the potatoes, then finish them, but it takes time in the oven to get that lovely crispness and I don't think a restaurant kitchen would find that viable.

You're probably right on that. My experience with roast potatoes is they start going leathery after just a very little time out of the oven.

 

[caseydog]

I don't see them at restaurants but I make them at home, and so do a lot of people I know. I like roasted red potatoes best.

I tend to agree with medtran49. They take a while to cook, and need to be fresh out of the oven to be really good, so it is difficult to time them to be fresh at the right time. Restaurants look for a little more flexibility.

CD