Crackly Fermented and Roasted Potatoes

The best part about these potatoes is the texture. You know the texture of a really great, thick potato chip? Like when they have visible bubbles under the skin and the exact right bite? Think of that transformed into roasted potatoes, with crisp exteriors and smooth, puffy insides. Plus, these potatoes have the added, fermenty advantage of tang and, presumably, somewhat lowered sugar content.

Ingredients

2.5 lbs (1.13 kg) small potatoes, dirt rinsed off in cool water, skins on

2.75 cups filtered water (650 ml)

1.5 – 2 tablespoons kosher salt (27 g – 36 g, or roughly 4.1% – 5.6% in brine by weight)

3 four-inch (100 mm) sprigs rosemary, and more for garnish at roasting time (optional but delicious)

4 peeled cloves garlic, divided (optional)

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

Steps

1. Quarter or halve potatoes into pieces that are roughly 1.5 inches square. Remove any eyes or greens spots, but again, otherwise keep them unpeeled.

2. Mix salt into water until dissolved. Add 2 cloves of garlic into the jar and top with some potatoes. Layer in rosemary sprigs, but end with potatoes on top. Jar should be full to about 1.5 inches below the rim, or to the bottom of the threads.

3. Add brine to the jar to just cover potatoes and add your weight. Once the weight is applied, the brine layer should still be 1 inch below the jar rim and no more than half an inch over the potatoes.

4. Close or cover jar, according to which type of weight you’ve chosen and ferment at room temp, out of direct sunlight for 4 to 10 days. 4 days will be slightly less crisp, but they’ll have more body. 1o days will be quite sour and have a lot of puff.

5. Strain off pickling liquid (feel free to use this for a large pot of soup or anywhere else you’d like salty, sour liquid, but remember it’s VERY salty compared even to normal pickle brine) and pat potatoes dry. Compost the rosemary sprigs and garlic.

6. Heat the oven to 400 F and spread the potatoes in a single layer on a large, lined baking sheet. Add peeled garlic cloves and add finely chopped rosemary from another 3-4 inch sprig of rosemary, if using. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Place it in the oven for 40-50 minutes. They’re ready when they’re deeply browned and have pronounced bubbles under the skin.

7. Serve as close to immediately as possible. They will stay kinda crisp in the fridge for a couple days, but they won’t be company ready again.

Source: Phickle