Heston's ultimate Christmas roast potatoes

Name: Heston's ultimate Christmas roast potatoes
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 2½ kg large maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (roughly the same size); 10 sprig/s rosemary; 14 sprig/s thyme; 18 clove/s garlic, bashed with a knife; 500 g beef dripping; 500 g olive oil

'A great roast potato should be crisp and crunchy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside, with hints of garlic, rosemary and thyme – exactly what this recipe delivers.' Heston

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Serves6
CourseSide
Prepare25 mins
Cook2 hrs
Total time2 hrs 25 mins

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Ingredients

2½kg large maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (roughly the same size)
10 sprig/s rosemary
14 sprig/s thyme
18 clove/s garlic, bashed with a knife
500g beef dripping
500g olive oil

For the herb salt

20g salt
5 leaves sage
½ sprig/s rosemary, leaved picked
1 sprig/s thyme
2 juniper berries

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C, gas mark 4. Put the potatoes in a colander and hold under running water for 5 minutes to wash off the starch. Drain, place in a large pan, then cover with cold water. Add 2 rosemary sprigs, 6 thyme sprigs and 2 bashed garlic cloves. Bring to the boil, then simmer until very soft and starting to crumble (about 25–30 minutes). Drain carefully; leave to cool in the colander.
Put the beef dripping and olive oil in a roasting tray large enough to hold all the potatoes in a single layer. Put in the oven for 15 minutes (once melted, the fat should come about 0.5cm up the sides). Add the potatoes to the tray with the remaining garlic cloves. Stir to coat in the oil and place back in the oven for 1 hour, gently turning every 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the herb salt, grind the salt, sage leaves, rosemary leaves, thyme and juniper in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to a fine powder.
After 1 hour, add the remaining rosemary and thyme to the potatoes; return to the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper; season with 4 tsp herb salt before serving.