Oven browned potatoes are a culinary wonder. Something simple and delicious. Ideally they should cook at the bottom of a roasting pan while the hunk of beef radiates in constant even heat. They should sit in the fat and drippings from the roast and gain a brown crust at the point of contact with the bottom of the roasting pan.
How can you make these wonders without putting out mega bucks for a large chunk of beef? Reduce two cans of beef stock until they begin to get syrupy. Peel russet potatoes and cut into two inch thick rounds, par boil them for 20 minutes. Put the beef syrup into the bottom of a cassarole dish then put the hot potato rounds onto the syrup, turn occassionally until the syrup is absorbed into the potatoes.
Cook on a metal baking sheet that has been brushed with clarified butter. Heat the prepared pan at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, place the potato rounds onto the hot pan and bake till a crust forms. Brush the tops of the rounds with more butter then turn the potatoes and cook for another 10 minutes. These beauties should be crusty on the outside and flaky in the middle.