London - There’s nothing like Christmas dinner to spark a good squabble.
And it looks like the celebrity chefs have already cooked up the first one of the season – with a debate over how to roast potatoes.
You may have always done it the way Granny told you, but according to Heston Blumenthal you need beef dripping to get the perfect result.
His forthright comments put him at loggerheads with other celebrity chefs, notably Nigella Lawson, who has long championed goose fat as the secret ingredient for rich and crisp roast potatoes.
Blumenthal, better known for his bizarre creations than traditional tastes, said: “Goose fat might make them crispy, but using beef dripping to cook them will give your roasties an unbeatable flavour that will make sure your festive feast is talked about well into the new year.
“I use beef dripping every time – it beats goose fat hands down.”
Nigella, however, has been hailing goose fat as the must-have Christmas ingredient for years.
Supermarket sales of the product more than doubled after she sang its praises in 2006.
She favours it over other fats because its high smoking point – the point at which the oil burns – produces rich potatoes that stay crisp long after roasting. The heat of the fat is “crucial”, she has said, because “if it’s not searingly hot, you don’t stand a chance, and since goose fat has a very high smoking point and tastes good, it is my annual choice”.
Mary Berry is another to have publicly backed goose fat. “It makes all the difference to the flavour of roast potatoes.
“Don’t use too much, though, as this will simply make the potatoes go soggy,” the Great British Bake Off star has said.
Gordon Ramsay also swears by goose fat, having included it in his roast potato recipe on his Channel 4 show Gordon’s Christmas Cookalong Live.
Three Michelin-starred Fat Duck chef Blumenthal’s ardent backing of beef dripping may come as something of a surprise to those who follow his pronouncements closely.
In the past he has taken a far more relaxed view to his choice of cooking fats and oils.
Last year he said: “Personally, I’d use beef dripping if I was serving the potatoes with roast beef, and duck fat if I was serving them with duck, but as an all-round one, go for olive oil.”
That view put him in tune with Delia Smith, who also advocates using the fat from whatever meat is being roasted, or lard if there is nothing else.
The 72-year-old was the face of Waitrose for three years along with Blumenthal until she was dropped “by mutual agreement” from the store’s adverts earlier this year. Waitrose’s executive chef Jonathan Moore recently backed Heston’s support for dripping.
He said: “Christmas is the time of year to showcase culinary skills... and beef dripping is a vital ingredient in creating something extraordinary.” – Daily Mail