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Potatoes Fried Whole
Boil small potatoes of uniform size until they are almost done enough. Drain them, and put them into a frying-pan sufficiently large to allow them to lie without touching one another, with plenty of hot fat. Shake them about till they are lightly and equally browned all over, and serve as soon as they are done enough. If liked, they may be dipped in egg and bread-crumb before they are fried. Cold boiled potatoes may be re-dressed in this way. Time to fry, ten or twelve minutes. Probable cost, potatoes 1d. or 1 1/2d. per pound. Allow two or more potatoes for each person.
A straightforward parboil-then-fry method that still produces the best whole roast-fried potatoes. The details that matter are size, dryness and fat depth.
- "Almost done enough"Parboil until a knife meets slight resistance at the centre, roughly 8-10 minutes for potatoes the size of a walnut or small egg. Fully cooked potatoes collapse in the pan; underdone ones brown before the middle softens.
- Dry them before they meet the fatDrain and let them steam dry in the colander for a few minutes. Surface water spits violently in hot fat and prevents the crust from setting.
- Fat and pan"Plenty of hot fat" here means shallow frying, perhaps a third of the way up the potatoes, not deep-frying. Dripping, lard or a neutral oil at around 350-375F; the potatoes should sizzle steadily on contact.
- Room between themThe instruction not to let them touch is the hinge of the recipe. Crowded potatoes steam in their own moisture and go pale and soft, so fry in two batches rather than one full pan.
- The egg-and-crumb versionDry the parboiled potatoes thoroughly before dipping them in egg and fine dry crumbs. The coating browns faster than bare potato, so watch them and keep the fat slightly cooler.
- Cold boiled potatoesLeftovers work well, and the firmer chilled potato holds its shape in the pan. Go straight to the frying stage and allow a little longer for them to heat through.
- Prices and quantityThe costs are pre-decimal pence per pound and are of historical interest only. The recipe allows two or more small potatoes a head as a side dish.
- SeasoningThe original says nothing about salt. Salt after frying, while the surfaces are still glistening, so the crust stays crisp.
This is exactly the kind of dish that belonged in a Victorian kitchen: a use for small or leftover potatoes, dressed with nothing more expensive than hot dripping. The two-stage method, boil then fry, was standard practice long before it was explained in terms of starch gelatinisation, and something like it is still often said to lie behind the modern roast potato. The quoted price of a penny or three-halfpence a pound is a reminder of how cheap potatoes were in late nineteenth-century Britain. The optional egg-and-breadcrumb coating shows the same dish being nudged up the table: crumbed and fried, plain boiled potatoes become fit to send up with a dinner course.