To achieve the crispiest roast potatoes, there’s one ingredient everyone should be adding to the saucepan before parboiling

Everyone loves a crispy roast potato, but ensuring the results are golden and crunchy can be difficult. There are myriad methods and techniques home cooks can use to achieve crispy edges and fluffy insides on a roastie, but you don’t have to wait until they’re in the oven.

Food content creator Emma, better known as Ems Foodie Fix on TikTok, recently shared some top-secret tips for creating the crispiest roast potatoes. Emma explained that she learned all she needed to know about making the best roast potatoes from a pub chef.

In a TikTok video from earlier this month, she said: “A pub chef taught me four secrets to make extra crispy roast potatoes. Listen to that crunch.”

You can give the potatoes a helping hand right from the start. When parboiling the potatoes, add bicarbonate of soda to the saucepan.

The same method is used by American chef and food writer J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. Kenji’s recipe calls for adding half a teaspoon of baking soda to approximately two litres of water, enough to cook about three pounds (450g) of cubed potatoes. The potatoes are then par-boiled in the baking soda water.

So how does it work? As baking soda is alkaline, adding it to the water for the potatoes creates an alkaline environment that breaks down the potato’s outer edges, releasing starches and forming a starchy slurry that crisps beautifully when roasted.

Once the potatoes are parboiled, drain away the water and give them a good shake in the colander. The baking soda will help the edges of the potatoes break down more easily, making them craggy.

These craggy edges will crisp up beautifully when roasted. When roasting the potatoes in the oven, Emma recommended turning them at least four times.

Turning will allow the potatoes to be coated in the chosen fat and help the skin turn golden brown. Emma’s last tip is all in the seasoning.

All you need is a simple mix of salt and fresh rosemary to give the spuds some flavour. However, the seasoning should be added after the potatoes are roasted.

Emma said: “We want flavour, not tiny burnt twigs.”

Emma’s video has been viewed over a massive 80,200 times, receiving 5,617 likes and 14 comments. Emily simply replied: “So good.”

JP-ZoSo suggested: “They look fab! I usually add semolina powder to the parboiled spuds, then oven fry them in a shallow tray of Olive oil.”

Zargaloz commented, “These look absolutely amazing,” while another agreed, “Cor, you’ve made me hungry now they look perfect.”

Nicole said: “The most perfect potatoes.”

Chef’s tips for the crispiest roast potatoes

• Add bicarbonate of soda to the water before boiling.
• Give the potatoes a good shake (or chuff) after parboiling.
• Turn the potatoes at least four times in the oven.
• Season with salt and rosemary.

Though he’s “not praying for hat-tricks”, many would have been asking the man above for a favour or two as Scotland eyed up their first World Cup win in 36 years.

It was evident early doors against Haiti that if anything was going to happen, Gannon-Doak would be at the heart of it.

Keeping it simple, when he received the ball down the right, he looked to attack. A sight that makes Scotland supporters rejoice, such has been its rarity in recent times.

When McTominay skelped a post, it was on the end of another dazzling Gannon-Doak burst. He set up Che Adams shortly after for a shot that would be parried right in the path of McGinn, who was wheeling away in ecstasy seconds later as Scotland scored their first World Cup goal since 1998.

For 83 minutes, Gannon-Doak was the youngest man to appear at a World Cup for Scotland. That’s until his 19-year-old pal Findlay Curtis came on.

The pair play in a care-free manner. They don’t carry the years of missed qualifications or even the recent disappointments at the Euros. And it shows.

Gannon-Doak departed with 15 minutes to go against the Haitians. A collective gulp was inhaled.

“He had a cracker tonight,” former Scotland winger Pat Nevin said on BBC Sportsound.

“He’s what you want a Scotland player to be,” added ex-captain Scott Brown on BBC One.

Like few others, Gannon-Doak gets the faithful going. Believing. Hoping.

Like the rest of his generation, we’ve grown up believing ‘it’s the hope that kills you’, but with this 20-year-old driving the team, it’s difficult not to.

NEW YORK (AP) — It was bedlam on Broadway as the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years on Saturday night, with exuberant celebrations marred by mayhem and violence, including a shooting in Times Square.

Outside Madison Square Garden, a crowd watching on a big screen roared as the Knicks rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat the Spurs in San Antonio in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Soon after, tens of thousands of people filled the streets and the rowdiest among them were clashing with police, smashing windshields, scaling scaffolding, light poles and a statue, climbing into and atop school buses in Times Square and trying to hitch a ride on a moving fire truck.

Around 2 a.m., a 17-year-old was shot near 42nd Street and Broadway, police said. Bystander video captured the sound of at least seven shots and showed people crouching and running for cover. Police took the victim to the hospital because an ambulance could not get through the crowds, police said. A gun was recovered and three people were taken into custody.

Four people were stabbed or slashed and one of the school buses, which was being used for World Cup transportation, was lit on fire and engulfed in flames, police said. Other buses and five police cars were also damaged, police said.

In all, 63 people were arrested, with charges including assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Knicks owner James Dolan, speaking in San Antonio after the game, urged fans to stay calm.

“We need to tell everybody in New York that we know that they’re celebrating, we want them to have a great time,” said Dolan, interrupting guard Josh Hart’s news conference. “Please be safe. Don’t get hurt, don’t hurt anybody.”

The city will officially celebrate the Knicks on Thursday with a parade and City Hall ceremony.

As the clock ticked to the final buzzer on Saturday night, anxiety that had dominated the game’s first three quarters gave way to euphoria. An orange-and-blue-tinted fever dream that started with the Knicks’ first playoff game two months ago ended in the third title in their 80-year history.

Emergency services warned people to stay away from the area on Sunday morning

A body has been found near a Welsh aqueduct. The emergency services were called to Llangollen on Sunday morning – with police closing off the site and advising people to stay away.

Officers later confirmed they have found the body of a man. His family have been notified. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here

A spokesperson for North Wales Police said: “Shortly before 9.15am today (Sunday, June 14), we received reports that a body had been discovered close to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in Llangollen.

“Officers and paramedics attended the location where, sadly, a man was pronounced dead at the scene. The man’s family has been notified, and the coroner has been informed. Our thoughts are with the man’s loved ones at this difficult time.”

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Temperatures could reach as high as 30C over the coming week, forecasters say

A mixed bag of weather is expected to hit the UK over the coming days, with a risk of thunderstorms and ‘very warm’ weather developing across the country.

It comes as the Met Office said high pressure building across the country will bring warm and humid conditions, with temperatures climbing above the seasonal average and reaching the high-20s or possibly 30C by Friday, June 19.

There may be some thunderstorms in parts of the country on Monday, June 15, although forecasters said that temperatures should remain in the low 20s before cloud and rain spreads from the west on Tuesday, June 16.

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However, forecasters say the heat will increase from the middle of the week as warmer air from Europe moves into the UK. On Wednesday, June 17, temperatures in south-east England could reach around 27C, with another surge of warmth expected on Thursday and Friday and into next weekend.

While cloud cover could affect the highest temperatures, forecasters say there is a chance of 30C being recorded by the end of the week.

Met Office forecaster Kathryn Chalk said: “We’re definitely seeing a warming trend from midweek onwards.”

She added: “Relatively warm and humid nights are also on the cards- not as expected as what we had a few weeks ago, because it won’t be wall-to-wall sunshine like that, we had a stronger signal for that compared to this, but nevertheless it is going to be turning warmer.”

And in a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Met Office said: “Generally warm this week but potentially turning very warm, if not rather hot and humid across parts of England.

“Especially in the southeast from midweek, though it won’t be all sunshine, with the chance of thunderstorms developing.”

In the Met Office’s long range forecast, which covers the period between June 19 and 28, forecasters have warned of ‘hot and humid weather’.

The forecast reads: “There is the possibility of some hot and humid weather across parts of south and southeast Britain at the start of this period and with it comes the chance of a few thunderstorms too.

“To the northwest of here, generally more changeable at first, but there is a signal for high pressure to build more widely as we move towards the latter part of June. This could bring more widely drier, settled conditions with temperatures probably remaining above average for most.

“There is chance however that the hot conditions, initially in the south could either linger here or, having waned for a time, return northwards accompanied by a thunderstorm risk; this all dependent on the orientation of the aforementioned high pressure.”

They dumped household waste and a sofa on several occasions

A husband and wife who were caught on camera fly-tipping five times within a week have been hit with hefty fines. Marian and Mirela Vasile, of Gladstone Street in Peterborough were caught on CCTV as they dumped several bags of household waste on one street, and a sofa on another.

The incidents happeend on Russell Street and Springfield Road in November 2024. All five of the incidents, one carried out by the couple, and the other four by Marian Vasile, were caught on CCTV and the couple were prosecuted by the Peterborough City Council’s Safer Comminities team.

The pair appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to fly-tipping offences. Marian Vasile was ordered to pay a total of £1,692, including a fine of £923, costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £369. Mirela Vasile was ordered to pay £960, including a fine of £400, costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £160.

In sentencing, magistrates took their early guilty pleas into account, but emphasised the seriousness of their offences.

Councillor Chris Wiggin, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “This successful prosecution shows that we take fly-tipping extremely seriously and will look to take action against anyone committing it. I also hope that the heavy fines handed out by magistrates act as deterrent to anyone considering dumping waste illegally.

“We also want to remind residents that there are several ways to get rid of waste legally, such as by visiting our Household Recycling Centre in Fengate, using a licensed waste company or our bulky waste collection service.”

Every home has a story and this one, which has just featured on television, is one of depression and drama thwarted by colour, artwork and family spaces to enjoy

Appearing on a television programme where three judges step inside your home and analyse it and compare it to other properties might seem like a daunting proposition but every year people across Wales start on that TV star journey.

The destination is the popular and binge-worthy BBC Cymru Wales series Wales’ Home of the Year. The programme follows the judges, who are not scary at all, are presenter Owain Wyn Evans, architect Glen Thomas and designer Mandy Watkins around some of Wales most enchanting abode in each region to compete in the final to be crowned of Wales’ Home of the Year’

This year’s series began on Thursday, June 11, and the winner of the first episode is Sera and Ian’s colourful and welcoming ex-council house near Aberystwyth – but it’s a house that has become more than a home, through trauma and health issues, it’s become the couple’s sanctuary. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.

READ MORE: Time warp house with incredible interiors is like stepping into the past

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Wales’ Home of the Year 2024 winner went on a stag do and came home to find his home on the TV

Sera says: “My husband had a heart attack in the February of the year we inherited the house, so it was left to me to finish everything. But I did get some help in from a really great guy called Darren, one of my friend’s step-dads who really helped me over the finish line.

“He was amazing, he helped so much because we didn’t have a proper working downstairs toilet for Ian, as he couldn’t, at that time, manage the stairs. So he really pulled out the bag for me, including tiling the floors and plumbing, because it’s those things Ian would have normally had done himself.”

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While Darren got to work, Sera constructed the banquette seating in the sociable dining area as well as tacking the garden, which she says had six layers of patio slabs that she had to attack with a hammer drill and filled up six skips.

Even with all this team working hard on finishing the transformation, the day before the TV crew arrived the house was still not ready – Sera was still painting, her supportive friend was frantically cleaning, and there was still tidying to do including an open-shelving glass kitchen cabinet that the judges were so impressed to find.

The house was known to the couple as it was Ian’s family home where he grew up and bursting with childhood memories. When his mother sadly passed away, it wasn’t far to move as the couple were living in rented accommodation across the street to assist with Ian’s aging parents.

When they moved in, the house was a vision in 1980s peach – a colour that made Ian’s mum feel happy and although not to Sera’s taste she is very understanding of that scenario because she says diving into colour has substantially helped her battle depression, but it was her best friend that started the colour wheel spinning.

Sera explains: “So everything in the house before we moved was very dark and very eclectic and at that point my depression was really bad. Even everything I wore was black because my whole outlook on life was very dark. She came into the house and said ‘it’s no wonder you feel like this, you’re living in a flipping cave!’.

“I felt very low at the time and it’s very hard to see beyond that until someone says something, I mean, ha, I was a bit offended at the time but now I’m thankful because I thought about it and she was completely right, so that’s when I started researching colour as a therapy, as well as going for therapy too.

The result is a home where Sera feels cocooned, uplifted and happy. She says: “So you can create a home that makes you feel comfortable with colours that have a positive effect on you, make you feel better and mine was down to a lot of reading up on colour therapy.”

The use of colour, pattern and moments of visual delight inside Sera’s house was what really appealed to the judges and resulted in the couple’s house winning the Mid Wales and Valleys regional heat to go through to the grand final at the end of the series, due to aired on

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From the garden gate this standard ex-council house sings its true colours of being inviting, offering a welcoming ambience, and hugging every single visitor, and that starts even in the front garden where the couple have constructed a very inviting pergola seating area where Sera says friends passing usually pop in and join them at the table.

Sera enjoys thinking about and investigating interior design and says you don’t have to even be any good at it, as long as your home makes you happy.

“Even from a young age, I would move my bedroom around as much as possible, and my parents were like, ‘what you up to now?!’ And I advise anyone to jump into it, you don’t have to make a profession out of it, for me it’s a hobby. I like to move things about. I like to change things up a bit. And I think you can be open to change, things will develop and change over time anyway.”

When the couple moved in they white-washed the whole house to get a feel for the space, light and atmosphere and then the transformation began and went at full throttle.

Sera laughs: “I didn’t do it room by room, I’m not sensible like that, I went full-blown in and, you know, trashed the whole house, but yeah, no, I’m an all or nothing person. I definitely knew I needed to change things, like we put the patio doors in because it was always very dark and I knew I wanted glass doors, I didn’t want the internal doors to feel like a block.”

One of the features pointed out by the judges was the glass fronted cupboard in the kitchen. Sera says when they moved in the kitchen was tiny and had a pantry and ‘pram parking space’ where years ago a baby’s large and bulky pram could be stored.

The cramped areas all went to create a larger space and the result is an uplifting galley kitchen featuring fresh white, natural textures, Sera’s favourite patio doors and her favourite colour; green.

Although the palette is varied inside Sera and Ian’s home it centres around core colours with varying tones and shades throughout peppered with ‘pops’ of colour. Many people begin a room’s scheme, or overall style for a house, by being inspired by an item and for Sera it’s artwork, which you see featured in every space.

Another feature highlighted in the programme was the banquette seating which Sera made herself under the watchful eye and guidance of the still recovering Ian, and it is her favourite area of the house, where she can gather with her family, her sister and her sister’s grandchildren.

The bathroom added to the judge’s comments, especially the bath angled across the corner with a massive banana plant creating a bending and cocooning hood over the water, making the occupant feel like they are bathing in a tropical pond.

Although this sounds fantastically creative Sera reveals the secret – it was the only way to fit in a shower, a toilet and a bath and still be able to open the door! But this inspiring yet modest woman with a talent for interiors has made a stand-out feature from a head-scratching space problem.

She says: “People say, ‘oh it’s wonderful, it’s amazing’ but it’s just a small council house, just like the thousands of council houses across the country. But I’ve learned so much doing this, so I hope I can inspire others to see what a council house can be and can show you don’t need a huge budget, you just need things that uplift you and colours that make you feel happy within your little tiny, weeny little home.”

Episode one is now available to view on BBC iPlayer, along with the four remaining regional heats, with the final due to be broadcast on BBC Cymru Wales on Thursday, July 16.

For more property, renovation, and interior design stories join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group here.

There’s disruption ahead for drivers travelling on the M4 from Monday as maintenance work is carried out.

It will affect people who use the road in the Rogiet, Llandarcy, Pentyla, Baglan, Taibach, Earlswood, Lon Las, Ynysforgan and Groes areas.

Here, we’ve compiled information published by Traffic Wales detailing all the disruption ahead that you need to be aware of.

Full details here.

The chain has faced possible administration in the tough economic climate

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A plan to restructure discount chain Poundstretcher has been approved in the High Court as owners battled to save the 300-branch retailer from collapse. The plan means the retailer will try to cut rent payments, and 93 per cent of those owed money have agreed the deal.

Poundstretcher CEO Andy Atkinson said: “Our company is in a stronger position to continue investing in our stores, our people and the overall customer experience. Our priority now is exactly what it has always been – ensuring our customers across the UK have access to great products at great value.”

Poundstretcher says no store closures are planned as a result of the restructure. The court was told if the plan were not put into place, the company would have a £9.7million shortfall in its budget by the end of July – placing it at risk of administration and store closures.

Poundstretcher was bought by US investment firm Fortress in 2024. Poundstretcher was established in 1981 and specialises in low-cost everyday essentials.

Unlike pure “pound shops” (like Poundland) where historically everything was a fixed £1 price point, Poundstretcher uses a multi-price model. ^{The company also operates some larger-format stores under the brand name Bargain Buys. After being family-owned for 18 years, Poundstretcher was bought out by the US private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, the same company that owns Majestic Wine.}

They brought in a brand-new leadership team to refresh the product ranges, lower prices, and stabilise the business after tough trading years on the British high street.

Members of the supermarket’s ‘The parent hood’ programme can claim a Big Daddy chocolate bar before Sunday, June 21.

The scheme was launched back in 2024, aiming to provide a network to new parents, from pregnancy to two years old.

Members have access to exclusive treats and helpful advice, as well as weekly parent & baby mornings at M&S Cafes.

In August 2025, the supermarket revealed that 230,000 people and counting had signed up for the loyalty club.

How to M&S ‘The parent hood’ members claim a free Big Daddy bar?

Shoppers who are part of ‘The parent hood‘ will be able to claim a free Big Daddy Bar, usually priced at £8.50.

This is part of a deal to celebrate Father’s Day, and the bar can be claimed up until the day.

Describing the chocolate bar, M&S shares: “Made with smooth milk and rich dark chocolate, with caramel, peanut butter and roasted peanuts, our thick and chunky The Big Daddy bar is a viral sensation for a reason.”

Shoppers can get the regular bar or a pistachio version.

To pick up the bar, simply activate the offer in the Sparks app to be used in-store when scanning your shopping.

Made Without and Plant Kitchen options are also available.

Customers should be aware that the offer is only available to M&S shoppers who were signed up to ‘The parent hood’ before June 6 this year.

Some customers were happy to see the deal, such as in a post shared in the FREEBIES UK + FREE SAMPLES v3′ Facebook page.

A user posted: “For all M&S Sparks members, check your rewards as I just claimed a £8.5 Pistachio Bar FREE for Father’s Day.”

In the replies, one person wrote: “Thank you! Checked mine and just grabbed mine!

“Peanut and pistachio bars and also vegean truffles are included.”

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Another commented: “Going to go grab this tomorrow.

“What a shame my kids dad doesn’t like pistachio.. looks like I’ll have to eat it for him.”

A third said: “Wow thank you so much! I wouldn’t have known.”

Will you be getting a free Big Daddy bar for Father’s Day? Let us know in the comments.