How to make Poppy O’Toole’s salt and vinegar crispy cubes

“If you’re the sort of person who delves to the depths of the chip cone for those crispy scraps bobbing about in a sea of vinegar, this is the recipe for you,” says chef and food writer Poppy O’Toole. “These cubes are perfect served alongside battered cod and some fluorescent curry sauce.”

Salt and vinegar crispy cubes

Ingredients

1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
100ml malt vinegar, plus extra to serve
4tbsp neutral oil
Flaky salt, to serve

Method

1. Get your potatoes into a saucepan of heavily salted, cold water. Add the vinegar, place the pan over a high heat and bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat and leave on a gentle boil for 5–7 minutes, until the potatoes fall off the tip of a knife.

2. Drain in a colander. Place the colander over the pan on the turned-off hob, cover with a clean tea towel and leave the potatoes to steam-dry for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6 and get the oil into a baking tray. Pop the tray into the oven to get the oil hot. This is important for getting that crispy crunchiness.

4. Once the potatoes have steam-dried, get the hot tray out of the oven, carefully tip in the potatoes and turn to coat.

5. Roast the potatoes for 30 minutes, then give them a mix and put them back in the oven for a further 15 minutes, until super-golden and crunchy. Keep an eye on them in case they need less or more time. (Alternatively, you can fry them in a fryer).

6. Serve sprinkled with flaky salt and an extra dousing of vinegar.

The Potato Book by Poppy Cooks is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £22. Photography by Ellis Parrinder. Available now.