Originally Posted by
corky
See, my thinking is that the longer they are in the oven, the more brown and yummy and roasty they get. I can see if they were large potatoes but baby potatoes or fingerlings I would not parboil. I also like to smash each potato about halfway through so there is more surface area to get brown....do you ever smash to flatten each one and then finish roasting? It's good and fun to do.
LOL I do not smash them, but I guess after a bad day of work I could!
Parboiling actually gives you a crunchier better finish than just whacking them straight in for a roast, at least IMO. I always toss them into boiling water when I want to parboil them for roasting. Basically my theory is that I want the outside to cook but the inside not to but putting them in boiling water not starting from cold the outside will start to "decay" (can't think of a better word right now!) but the inside wont have cooked.
I learnt that from my mum, and Mum's roast potatoes are pretty damn good.