Roast potatoes are the star side dish at Christmas dinner, but simply placing them in the oven will not make them as crispy and mouthwatering as they should be.

Chef James Martin has recently shared the best way to prepare roast potatoes for Christmas Day with the Telegraph, that comes from his latest recipe cookbook Cheese.

According to James, the best way to ensure roast potatoes have a good crispy crust is to pour butter, olive oil and beef drippings on a tray and place it to become hot in the oven before roasting your potatoes.

It may seem bizarre, but making sure the tray you cook on is incredibly hot will instantly sear the potatoes to ensure they start to crisp up immediately.

This stops the potatoes from soaking up too much oil or butter which stops them from becoming soggy, greasy or lumpy while cooking.

How to make the ultimate parmesan roast potatoes 

Ingredients (serves eight) 

• 2kg King Edward potatoes (peeled)
• 100g of beef dripping
• 100g of parmesan cheese
• 50ml of olive oil
• 50g of butter
• Sea salt (for boiling)

It is important to use King Edwar potatoes for making roast potatoes as they have a high scratch content, which makes them crisp up perfectly in the oven while the inside will remain light and fluffy.

Method 

To begin, preheat the oven to 180C (or Gas Mark 6).

Cut the larger potatoes into half until all the potatoes are roughly the same size, and add salt to a pan of water.

Place the potatoes in the pan of water and bring it to a boil. Cook the potatoes for three to four minutes. Once done, drain the potatoes and shake them around in a colander.

It is important to shake the potatoes before cooking them to create a better texture as it will create more ridges so the potatoes will become even crispier in the oven.

Pour the beef dripping, oil and butter onto an empty roasting tray and place in the oven for a few minutes to heat up

Once the tray is sizzling hot, add the potatoes to the tray and spread them out as much as possible so they are not piled on top of each other.

Roast the potatoes for 40 to 45 minutes. Once fully cooked, sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top and crush the surface of the potatoes with the back of a spoon.

Place in the oven for 10 more minutes and you roasted potatoes will be crispy, golden and incredibly flavourful.