Russet Potatoes

Russet is the chip shop's workhorse, and not by accident. The rough russeted skin sits over dry, floury flesh with a high starch content, and that combination is exactly what delivers the crispest chip you can pull off at home, a shattering shell over a fluffy centre. It is the potato built for the fryer and the oven, not the salad bowl.

The same thick skin that makes it a chip champion also makes it the classic baked jacket. Rub it with oil and sea salt and it crisps up beautifully while the inside turns to steam and fluff. The sisters stock it for the cooks who want a true bake and fry specialist rather than a do everything all rounder, because when chips or a proper jacket are the mission, nothing else quite matches it.

Russet is the most widely fried potato in the world and the famous fast food chip variety, including the golden arches you are picturing right now.

Russet is naturally gluten free and vegan friendly, it is what you fry it in rather than the potato itself that changes the picture. It offers good vitamin C for immune function, potassium to help support healthy blood pressure, and vitamin B6 to support energy metabolism. The thick skin is a good source of dietary fibre, so bake it and eat the lot, and cooked and cooled, it develops resistant starch that feeds beneficial gut bacteria.

Russet is in season from December to August, one of the longer windows in the range, running from summer through to late winter.

This is what Russet was born for. Cut to size, soak in cold water to rinse off surface starch, then twice cook, a first lower fry to cook through, a rest, then a hotter second fry to crisp and colour. The high starch gives you that fluffy inside under a genuinely crunchy shell.

Prick all over, rub the thick russet skin with oil and sea salt, and bake at 220C for around 70 minutes. The skin crisps to a crackle while the floury inside steams to fluff. Split, season, and load it up.

Boil whole in their skins, peel once cool enough to handle, and mash. The dry, floury flesh makes a light, fluffy mash, ideal under a shepherd's pie. Use a ricer and keep it gentle, never a food processor.

Parboil first, then roast at 220C until crisp and golden. The high starch roughs up on the edges and crisps hard, much like its chips.

No need to peel for chips, jackets or roasts, the thick russet skin crisps superbly and is well worth eating. Peel after boiling for the smoothest mash. Green tinge hides more easily on the russet skin, so check carefully and cut it away before cooking. This is a fryer and baker, not a salad potato, so for dishes that need the flesh to stay intact reach for a waxy like Kipfler.

Stash your Russet somewhere cool and dark, a pantry or cupboard away from the light. Sunlight causes greening and warmth brings on sprouting, so keep it out of both. Do not refrigerate, since cold turns the starch to sugar, which is especially bad news here, as it makes chips brown too fast and lose their crunch. Keep it out of sealed plastic, since potatoes need to breathe, and the paper bag they arrive in is fine. Store it away from onions, which speed up spoiling for both. Shelf life runs to up to four weeks in good conditions, one of the better keepers, which suits a pantry staple you reach for on chip night. If a green tinge appears, it can be a little harder to spot against the russet skin, so look closely and cut away anything greenish before cooking. When your order arrives, open the box and move the potatoes to a cool dark spot, the odd transit mark is normal for fresh produce.