Pommes de Terre à la (II)

A short, straightforward garnish potato that depends almost entirely on getting the balls dry before they meet the fat. The original gives no oven temperature, so the numbers below are inferred from the method.

• The vegetable cutterThis is the tool now sold as a Parisienne scoop or melon baller, commonly around 20-25 mm across. Much smaller and they are apt to dry out in the oven; much larger and they may not cook through in the times given.
• Choose a waxy potatoFirm, waxy varieties hold a clean sphere through blanching and tossing. Floury baking potatoes crumble at the edges and give you rough, greasy balls.
• Blanch means barelyTwo to three minutes in salted water at a simmer, until the outside is just yielding and the centre still resists. Longer and they collapse in the sauté-pan.
• Dry them thoroughlyThis is the hinge of the recipe. After draining, spread the balls on a cloth or in the empty hot pan off the heat until the surfaces look matte; wet potatoes steam in the butter instead of colouring.
• Clarified butterTwo ounces is about four tablespoons. Clarified butter is specified because the milk solids in whole butter scorch at the temperature needed for colour; ghee behaves much the same, and adding a spoonful of neutral oil to whole butter is a common compromise.
• Oven temperatureThe book leaves it blank. Ten minutes to finish small blanched potatoes implies a hot oven, around 425F (220C), in the same pan they were tossed in.
• Toss, do not stirMove the pan rather than the potatoes. A spoon breaks the thin crust that has just formed and the balls lose their shape.
• Yield and servingAbout 1 lb of peeled potatoes yields enough for four as a garnish, and rather less once trimmed to spheres. Salt as they come from the oven and send them out at once; they lose their crispness within a few minutes. The trimmings belong in soup or mash.