I don’t know why the name of roast potatoes doesn’t have to add “ed” after roast, while, baked potatoes with an ending “ed”.
And I saw grilled cheese, grilled sausages, but roast chestnut, roast turkey.
Do you have any reasons or you just say that?
Thank you!!!
It is just one of the oddities of English. “Roast” is an adjective that describes meat that is roasted. For example, roast chicken, roast turkey, roast pork, roast duck, and most commonly roast beef. I personally have never heard it used to describe vegetables. For example, I have never heard “roast potatoes,” but I have heard roastED potatoes, carrots, etc. Maybe others have.
What I can say for sure is that roasted is the only word I can think of for food where you would make the non-ED version as an adjective. It’s grilled cheese, mashed or mashed potatoes, hard boiled eggs, etc.
I believe that “roast” as an adjective (or past passive participle) is simply a shortening of “roasted”. The final syllable of “roasted” is not stressed, so the “t” and “d” easily combine. I suspect that the change started in fast, casual speech, and it has gradually entered more general use.
I agree…for vegetables I always use or have heard “roasted”. I would say the same is the case of nuts. Like “roasted nuts”.
Roast potatoes sounds funny to me. I’d say roasted potatoes.
So maybe there’s a loose “rule” of – meat dishes - “Roast ”. Vegetable and nuts - “Roasted ”.
I wouldn’t say it’s a rule though, just a tendency? Probably either are fine in either place as a rule, but I think what Lilingquist is saying is the typical way you would hear it. At least in the U.S.
Good point on the “at least in the US” part. I think a lot of this came from the Brits who love roast beef.
My family says roasted potatoes and I think that would be more common on restaurant menus in the parts of American familiar to me. I believe we’d do similarly for other vegetables too–roasted carrots or roasted asparagus.
For meats, a “roast” is a name of a dish. For example, one can serve a pot roast. Perhaps for this reason, “roast” is already in the food vocabulary as a noun used in dish names.
That said, “roast beef” sounds perfect, “roasted potatoes” sounds perfect, “roast potatoes” sounds a bit awkward, and “roasted asparagus” sounds right while “roast asparagus” sounds completely wrong. Potatoes, somehow, are a bit “meatier” than other vegetables and maybe get to borrow meatier phrases.
I believe the word “barbeque” has some similarities. One doesn’t eat “barbequed chicken;” one eats “barbeque chicken.” “Barbeque” is the only other cooking method I can think of where we generally don’t use the “-ed” suffix in names of dishes.
On the “barbeque” side, the verb “barbequed” makes me wonder if it overcooked. I wonder if “roasted” has the same connotations as well. “Roast beef” sounds more appetizing than “roasted beef.” “Barbeque chicken” sounds better than “barbequed chicken.”
If you’re looking for a clear, logical answer, I don’t think there really is one. Some say puh-TAY-toe, others say puh-TAH-toe.
Intriguing thought about BBQ Chicken. I’ve always personally said barbequed chicken. Barbeque chicken looks a bit strange to me, although admittedly when I vocalize “barbequed” chicken it’s a very “soft” “-ed”…perhaps mostly imperceptible to someone listening or even swallowed altogether.
Perhaps it’s regional. Like the various “styles” of BBQ. Of course I may have just been using it wrong this whole time too =D.
I, too, suspect that it may be a regionalism, and I agree that it varies by dish. I say “roasted potatoes”, however “roast potatoes” sounds better to me than “roast carrots”, which does sound odd.
Don’t tell me you put mustard on your BBQ chicken. 
Not quite an “-ed,” there’s “burnt.” Not just burned, but really, really overcooked and carbon crispy. “Burnt.” (Maybe that was just my Grandma’s cooking though…)
Mustard? What kind of demon do you think I am? =D
In England we ALWAYS say ‘roast potatoes’ and never ‘roasted potatoes’.
I would also say barbequed chicken, never barbeque chicken.
Fascinating.