Crispy Air-Fryer Roast Potatoes

The British roast potato — "roastie" — is the dish you don't realise is the centrepiece of Sunday dinner until you don't get any. The chicken, the gravy, the carrots: all replaceable. The roastie is non-negotiable. The British way is specific: par-boil potatoes until the outsides go fluffy, then bash them around in the colander to rough up the exterior (more surface area = more crisp), dump them into screaming-hot fat, and roast until they look like geological formations.

The traditional version uses goose fat or beef dripping in a roasting tray at 220°C for 50 minutes, turned once. The air-fryer version is faster, uses less fat, and — controversially — produces a crispier result. The hot circulating air hits every angle simultaneously, whereas an oven roasting tray has to be turned by hand.

The two non-negotiable steps: the par-boil and the roughing up. Skip either and you get smooth, slightly waxy potatoes that don't go crisp. With both: glass-shattering crust, fluffy interior, the kind of roast potato that disappears off the plate before anyone notices they got seconds.

The photo shows them in the natural habitat: a black ceramic bowl piled with golden roasties, edges visibly craggy and crisp, with a small jug of gravy alongside on a dark blue lace tablecloth. There's a piece of parsnip just visible at the edge — the supporting cast. This is Sunday dinner, executed.