Here's How To Perfectly Cook Potatoes

Waxy potatoes — like Dutch baby, red potatoes, or fingerling potatoes — are best for roasting. They're low in starch and high in moisture, which means they can hold their shape better and are ideal as roasted potatoes, potato salads, and scalloped potatoes.

These potatoes are high in starch and low in moisture which gives them the fluffy quality you want in French fries or baked potatoes.

Yukon gold are both waxy and starchy — so they're super versatile. They also have an amazing creamy texture which makes them ideal for mashed potatoes.

To parboil your potatoes, just place them in boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes before roasting them. It'll make sure the potatoes cook more evenly, and will allow them to get even crispier.

All you really need is olive oil, salt, and pepper. But you can also get creative and add other spices (I'm a fan of paprika) or herbs (rosemary is always a hit). But the most important thing is to make sure you season your potatoes thoroughly.

If the potatoes are too close together, the moisture will end up steaming them and the potatoes will turn out soft and mushy. And that's definitely not what you want.

Don't put your potatoes in the pot when the water is already boiling. Instead, add them when it's still cold so everything can heat up together. This will ensure your potatoes cook evenly and don't get mushy on the outside.

If you push the cooked potato through the sieve you'll get super smooth mashed potatoes. It might be a bit of a hassle, but it's also definitely worth it if you're a fan of super creamy mashed potatoes.

If you add cold milk to hot potatoes, it'll bring the temperature down and prevent the potatoes from really absorbing the liquid and becoming their creamiest self.

Otherwise, they could explode in your oven. (It's not super likely that that would happen, but you don't want to take that chance.) The holes also allow some of the moisture to escape, which means you'll get even fluffier potatoes.

That'll clean up a lot of the starch in the potato which will give you crispier fries.

Excess moisture = limp fries.

This way, they'll cook evenly and you won't end up with any random burnt fries in the middle.

First, fry your potatoes at a lower heat (325°F/160°C) for a few minutes until they're soft and almost cooked through but still very pale. Dump them onto your drying rack and immediately season them with salt. Then, crank up the heat of the oil to 375°F/190°C. Once the oil is at that temperature, put the fries back in and fry them for a few minutes until they're dark and crunchy. Dump them on the drying rack and season them again. And voilà! Perfect fries.