Our Best Roast Potato Recipe - crispy!

Posted on June 15, 2008 
Filed Under Cooking & Recipes, Video | Leave a Comment

No Sunday Roast dinner - be it beef, pork, lamb or chicken is complete with the perfect crispy roast potato ( or ’spud’ as the British say). So first, choose your potato:

Best potatoes for roasting are floury ones such as a Russet or King Edward or Maris Piper rather than the more waxier varieties.

Parboil for around 5 minutes ( depends how large you cut them up after peeling) make sure all the water is poured away and let them stand for a while so that even more water is release, in the form of steam.

Then the all important ’shake’ to fluff the outsides for a crispy, crunchy skin. I also add some seasoned flour to the potatoes before shaking them and a friend of mine swears by adding ground tapioca at this stage.

Rather than using lard, butter or oil I prefer to use goose or duck fat for a superior tasting roast potato. If cooking to go with an al fresco lunch I’d more likely use olive oil and throw in a handful of chopped fresh rosemary halfway through the roasting process.

As in the video do make sure your oil or fat is nice and hot before adding the fluffed up and seasoned spuds! Turn in the oven as often as required for a nice all over crispiness, avoid cooking in the same dish as the meat as the liquid released from the joint will cause them to boil rather than roast.

How To Tie A Bow Tie

Posted on June 13, 2008 
Filed Under Valeting - Clothes Care, Video | Leave a Comment

Why is it perceived to be SO very hard to tie a bow tie?

Personally I think it is because we’ve all been brainwashed by decades of films where the man tries to his bow tie, makes a hash of it, and it’s his wife/girlfriend/mother, who somehow knows how to turn his knotty nonsense into a perfectly formed result, and saves the day!

My intention here, initially, was to offer one video on ‘How To Tie A Bow Tie’ etc. but then I thought, ” Hey! Show them ALL. Let the visitors vote for their favorite…

Are you up for it? Might be fun…

OK, bow tie training video number #1 - easier to do on a dummy than on oneself methinks so this: ’simply do this and voila ‘ technique, I’m afraid just doesn’t do it for me! Is this aimed at men wanting to tie their own bow tie or at their partners so they can do it for them?

Here’s a far better attempt at showing how to tie a bow tie by our old chum Steven Ferry, Chairman of the International Institute of Modern Butlers…. this man knows where his pivotal hole is…

How to tie a bow tie - video #3. Pretty good and a nice camera angle….

Here’s the poll:

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