Roasted Potatoes

A one-line method that assumes you already have a roast in the oven. The only real variable is timing, which the original leaves entirely to the cook.

• Parboil first, peel secondThe original lists the steps in that order, and it works in practice: skins slip off boiled potatoes with a cloth or the back of a knife, and the flesh underneath is already softened. Ten to fifteen minutes at a rolling boil is enough for a medium potato; it should take a knife tip with slight resistance, not fall apart.
• Oven temperatureThese go into whatever oven the meat is already in, so there is no separate setting. A roast at 325-350F will need the potatoes in for roughly the last hour; at 425F, 35 to 45 minutes. Turn them once so they brown evenly.
• They need fat around themThe method works because the potatoes sit in rendered drippings. With a lean joint, veal in particular, add a few spoonfuls of fat to the pan or the potatoes will dry and leather rather than crisp.
• Give them roomCrowded against the meat and each other they steam. A single layer with space between each piece is what produces the crust the method is after; use a second pan with a ladle of drippings if the roasting pan is full.
• Rough the surfacesNot in the original: shaking the drained potatoes in the pot for a few seconds breaks up the outer layer into a starchy fuzz that fries hard in the fat.
• SaltingNo seasoning is mentioned. Salt the parboiling water generously and again as the potatoes go into the pan; a potato salted only at the table tastes flat all the way through.
• QuantityReckon one large or two medium potatoes per person, which for most joints means eight to twelve pieces in the pan.