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POTATOES, BOILED (another way) (Wash pare and boil)
Wash, pare, and boil the potatoes in the usual way. Pour off the water, and instead of drying the potatoes by the side of the fire, turn them into a bowl. Put the tureen in which they are to be served before the fire. Take each potato separately, lay it in a warm soft napkin, and twist the cloth round it to dry it, and at the same time shape it neatly. Put each potato as it is done into the vegetable dish, and keep this covered with a hot cloth. Serve as quickly as possible. Potatoes are certainly very good prepared in this way, but it it necessary to use despatch in drying them, or they will be cool before they can be served. Time to boil the potatoes, half an hour to an hour, according to the quality. Probable cost, 1d. or 1 1/2d. per pound. Sufficient, two or three for each person.
A Victorian method for dry, neatly shaped boiled potatoes, relying on a warm cloth rather than the hearth. The technique still works, but the pacing is everything.
- The hinge: work fast and keep everything hotEach potato loses heat the moment it leaves the pan, so warm the serving dish, have the napkin ready, and dry them one after another without pause. If you are cooking more than about a dozen, do them in batches or the last will be lukewarm.
- Choose a floury varietyThe point of the method is to blot off surface moisture and let the exterior fluff. Russets, King Edwards or Maris Piper respond; waxy salad potatoes will simply smear in the cloth.
- Timing is far too longTiming is generous -- Half an hour to an hour covers large whole potatoes of uneven quality, boiled from cold; the recipe itself says "according to the quality." Since the potatoes must stay whole to be shaped in the cloth, judge them with a skewer rather than by the clock.
- "Turn them into a bowl" — drain and steam-dry firstDrain thoroughly and let them sit uncovered for a minute so the surface water flashes off. The napkin then removes what remains instead of turning to paste.
- The napkinUse a clean, dry linen or cotton tea towel, warmed in a low oven; terry cloth sheds lint and microfibre will not absorb steam fast enough. The cloth will be damp and hot, so handle through a second folded layer.
- "Before the fire"The book gives no temperature. As a modern substitute, warm the tureen and cloth in a very low oven, or fill the dish with boiling water and pour it out just before serving.
- Cost and yieldThe price of 1d. to 1 1/2d. per pound is Victorian and of historical interest only. Two or three medium potatoes per person is generous by modern appetites; one large or two small is closer to the mark alongside a full meal.
Cassell's gives this as an alternative to the more usual treatment, in which drained potatoes were left by the fire to dry out -- the recipe defines itself against exactly that step. The cloth-twisting refinement belongs to a period when a kitchen fire was always alight and a supply of clean linen napkins was assumed, and it does two jobs at once: it drives off the surface water that makes boiled potatoes gluey, and it rounds the potato into a presentable shape for the table. The candid admission that the potatoes may go cold before they reach the diner is worth noting, since the book does not pretend the method is easier than it is.