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General Instructions

The vegetable kingdom affords no food more wholesome, more easily prepared, or less expensive than the potato; yet, although this most useful vegetable is dressed almost every day, in almost every family-for one plate of potatoes that comes to table as it should, ten are spoiled.

Be careful in your choice of potatoes; no vegetable varies so much in color, size, shape, consistence and flavor. Choose those of a large size, free from blemishes, and fresh, and buy them in the mould; they must not be wetted till they are cleaned to be cooked. Protect them from the air and frost by laying them in heaps in a cellar, covering them with mats, or burying them in sand or in earth.

The action of frost is most destructive; if it be considerable, the life of the vegetable is destroyed, and the potato speedily rots. 1. Potatoes boiled. - Wash them, but do not pare or cut them unless they are very large; fill a saucepan half full of potatoes of equal size (or make them so by dividing the larger ones), put to them as much cold water as will cover them about an inch: they are sooner boiled, and more savory than when drowned in water; most boiled things are spoiled by having too little water, but potatoes are often spoiled by too much; they must merely be covered, and a little allowed for waste in boiling, so that they may be just covered at the finish.

Set them on a moderate fire till they boil, then take them off, and set them by the side of the fire to simmer slowly till they are soft enough to admit a fork (place no dependence on the usual test of their skin cracking, which, if they are boiled fast, will happen to some potatoes when they are not half done, and the inside is quite hard); then pour the water off (if you let the potatoes remain in the water a moment after they are done enough they will become waxy and watery), uncover the saucepan, and set it at such a distance from the fire as will secure it from burning; their superfluous moisture will evaporate, and the potatoes will be perfectly dry and mealy.

You may afterwards place a napkin, folded up to the size of the saucepan's diameter, over the potatoes, to keep them hot and mealy till wanted.

This method of managing potatoes is in every respect equal to steaming them; and they are dressed in half the time.

There is such an infinite variety of sorts and sizes of potatoes, that it is impossible to say how long they will take to cook; the best way is to try them with a fork. Moderate sized potatoes will generally be done in fifteen or twenty minutes. 2. Cold Potatoes Fried. - Put a bit of clean dripping into a fryingpan; when it is melted, slice in your potatoes with a little pepper and salt, put them on the fire, keep stirring them; when they are quite hot they are ready. 3. Potatoes Boiled and Broiled. - Dress your potatoes as before directed, and put them on a gridiron over a very clear and brisk fire; turn them till they are brown all over, and send them up dry, with melted butter in a cup. 4. Potatoes Fried in Slices or Shavings. - Peel large potatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping.

Take care that your fat and fryingpan are quite clean; put the pan on a quick fire, watch it, and as soon as the lard boils, and is still, put in the slices of potatoes, and keep moving them till they are crisp; take them up and lay them to drain on a sieve: send them up with a very little salt sprinkled over them. 5. Potatoes Fried Whole. - When nearly boiled enough, as directed in No. 1, put them into a stewpan with a bit of butter, or some nice clean beef drippings; shake them about often (for fear of burning them) till they are brown and crisp; drain them from the fat.

It will be an improvement to the three last receipts, previously to frying or broiling the potatoes, to flour them and dip them in the yolk of an egg, and then roll them in fine sifted breadcrumbs. 6. Potatoes Mashed. - When your potatoes are thoroughly boiled, drain dry, pick out every speck, etc., and while hot rub them through a colander into a clean stewpan; to a pound of potatoes put about half an ounce of butter, and a tablespoonful of milk; do not make them too moist; mix them well together. 7. Potatoes Mashed with Onions. - Prepare some boiled onions, by putting them through a sieve, and mix them with potatoes. In proportioning the onions to the potatoes, you will be guided by your wish to have more or less of their flavor. 8. Potatoes Escaloped. - Mash potatoes as directed in No. 6, then butter some nice clean scallop shells, or patty-pans; put in your potatoes, make them smooth at the top, cross a knife over them, strew a few fine bread-crumbs on them, sprinkle them with a paste brush with a few drops of melted butter, and then set them in a Dutch oven; when they are browned on the top, take them carefully out of the shells, and brown the other side. 9. Colcannon. - Boil potatoes and greens, or spinach, separately; mash the potatoes, squeeze the greens dry, chop them quite fine, and mix them with the potatoes with a little butter, pepper and salt; put it into a mould, greasing it well first; let it stand in a hot oven for ten minutes. 10. Potatoes Roasted. - Wash and dry your potatoes (all of a size), and put them in a tin Dutch oven, or cheese toaster; take care not to put them too near the fire, or they will get burnt on the outside before they are warmed through.

Large potatoes will require two hours to roast them.

11. Potatoes Roasted under Meat. - Half boil large potatoes, drain the water from them, and put them into an earthern dish, or small tin pan, under meat that is roasting, and baste them with some of the dripping; when they are browned on one side, turn them and brown the other; send them up round the meat, or in a small dish.

12. Potato Balls. - Mix mashed potatoes with the yolk of an egg, roll them into balls, flour them, or egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in clean drippings, or brown them in a Dutch oven.

13. Potato Snow. - The potatoes must be free from spots, and the whitest you can pick out; put them on in cold water; when they begin to crack ok strain the water from them, and put them into a clean stewpan by the side of the fire till they are quite dry and fall to pieces; rub them through a wire sieve on the dish they are to be sent up in, and do not disturb them afterwards.

14. Potato Pie. - Peel and slice your potatoes very thin into a pie dish; between each layer of potatoes put a little chopped onion (three-quarters of an ounce of onion is sufficient for a pound of potatoes), between each layer sprinkle a little pepper and salt, put in a little water, and cut about two ounces of fresh butter into little bits, and lay it on the top, cover it close with puff paste. It will take about an hour and a half to bake it.

To Broil Tomatoes.

Wash and wipe the tomatoes, and put them on the gridiron over live coals, with the stem down.

When that side is brown turn them and let them cook through. Put them on a hot dish and send quickly to table, to be there seasoned to taste.

To Bake Tomatoes. on a gridiron. They are sometimes very abun dant in the fall, on ground that has not been ploughed for several years; they appear after a warm rain. They may be peeled, salted, and allowed to stand for some hours before cooking. Chicken Pot-pie.

Take a pair of tender, fat chickens, singe, open, and cut them into pieces, by separating all the joints. Wash them through several waters, with eight or ten pared white potatoes, which put into a pan, and, after seasoning highly with salt and black pepper, dredge in three tablespoonsful of flour. Stir well together; then line the sides (half way up) of a medium-sized stew-kettle with paste made with two pounds of flour and one of butter. Put the chicken and potato into the kettle, with water just sufficient to cover them. Roll out some paste for a cover, the size of the kettle, and join it with that on the sides; cut a small opening in the centre, cover the kettle, and hang it over a clear fire or set it in the oven, as most convenient; turn the kettle round occasionally, that the sides may be equally browned. Two hours over a clear fire, or in a quick oven, will cook it. When done, cut the top crust into moderate-sized pieces, and place it round a large dish; then, with a perforated skimmer, take up the chicken and potatoes and place in the centre; cut the side crust and lay it on the top; put the gravy in a sauce-tureen, and send all to table hot.

Oatmeal Gruel.

Boil a handful of raisins in a pint of water for ten minutes. Mix 2 tablespoonsful of good oatmeal with a little cold water, and pour it into a saucepan, and boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Salt a little, and sweeten to taste.

Arrow-root.

Mix 2 tablespoonsful of arrow-root (Bermuda is the best) in a little water to a paste. Add a little lemon or orange peel to a pint of boiling water, and stir in the arrow-root while boiling. Cook it till clear, and season with nutmeg and sugar to taste, and wine, if desired. Half milk and half water, or all milk, may be used instead of water.

Tapioca.

Cover 3 tablespoonsful of tapioca with water, and soak it two or three hours. Add a little water alone or with cream.

Season them with salt and pepper; flour them to it, and boil till clear. Sweeten to taste, and eat over, put them in a deep plate with a little butter, and bake in a stove.

To Steam Potatoes.

Put them clean-washed, with their skins on, into a steam saucepan, and let the water under them be about half boiling; let them continue to boil rather quickly, until they are done. If the water once relaxes from its heat the potato is sure to be affected, and to become soddened, let the quality be ever so good. A too precipitate boiling is equally disadvantageous, as the higher parts to the surface of the root begin to crack and open, while the centre part continues unheated and undecomposed. Mushrooms.

Be careful in gathering mushrooms that you have the right kind: they are pink underneath and white on the top, and the skin will peel off easily, but it sticks to the poisonous ones; and the smell and taste of the good ones are not rank.

After you have peeled them, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and put them in a stewpan, with a little water and a lump of butter. Let them boil fast ten minutes, and stir in a thickening of flour and cream. They may be fried in butter, or broiled Tapioca Jelly.

Wash thoroughly 2 tablespoonsful of tapioca; pour over it a pint of water, and soak for three hours. Place it then over a slow fire and simmer till quite clear. If too thick, add a little boiling water. Sweeten with white sugar, and flavor with a little wine.

Apple Tapioca.

Pare, core, and quarter 8 apples; take tablespoonful tapioca which has been all night soaking in water; add teacupful white sugar, and a little nutmeg or cinnamon. Put the tapioca into a stewpan to simmer 10 minutes; then add the apples, and simmer ten minutes more. When cold it will form a jelly around the apples.

To make Dr. Kitchener's Pudding.

Beat up the yolks and whites of 3 eggs; strain them through a sieve, and gradually add to them about a quarter of a pint of milk. Stir these well together. Mix in a mortar 2 ounces of moist sugar and as much grated nutmeg as will lie on a sixpence; stir these into the eggs and milk; then put in 4 ounces of flour, and beat it into a smooth batter; stir in, gradually, 8 ounces of very finechopped suet and 3 ounces of bread-crumbs. Mix | half a pound of sugar, the same of butter, and all thoroughly together, at least half an hour before putting the pudding into the pot. Put it into an earthenware mould that is well buttered, and tie a pudding-cloth over it.

Nottingham Pudding.

Peel 6 good apples; take out the cores with the point of a small knife, but be sure to leave the apples whole; fill up where the core was taken from with sugar, place them in a pie-dish, and pour over them a nice light batter, prepared as for batter pudding, and bake them an hour in a moderate oven.

To make Yorkshire Pudding.

This nice dish is usually baked under meat, and is thus made. Beat 4 large spoonsful of flour, 2 eggs, and a little salt for fifteen minutes; put to them 3 pints of milk, and mix them well to gether; then butter a dripping-pan, and set it under beef, mutton, or veal, while roasting. When it is brown, cut it into square pieces, and turn it over, and, when the under side is browned also, send it to the table on a dish.

Dutch Pudding. some grated nutmeg, and set it on the fire, stirring it till it thickens; then pour it into a basin to cool. Set a rich paste round the edge of your dish, pour in your pudding, and bake it in a moderate oven. A delicious and elegant article. A Potato Rice Pudding.

Wash a quarter of a pound of whole rice; dry it in a cloth and beat it to a powder. Set it upon the fire, with a pint and a half of new milk, till it thickens, but do not let it boil. Pour it out, and let it stand to cool. Add to it some cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace, pounded; sugar to the taste; half a pound of suet shred very small, and 8 eggs well beaten with some salt. Put to it either half a pound of currants, clean washed and dried by the fire, or some candied lemon, citron, or orange peel. Bake it half an hour with a puff crust under it.

Swiss Pudding.

Butter your dish; lay in it a layer of breadcrumbs, grated very fine; then boil 4 or 5 apples very tender; add a little butter, nutmeg, and finesifted sugar. Mix all up together, and lay on the Cut a round piece out of the bottom of a Dutch bread-crumbs, then another layer of the crumbs; loaf, and put that and the piece that was cut out into a quart of cold new milk, in the evening, and let it stand all night. If the milk is all soaked up by the morning, add some more. Put the piece in the bottom again, tie the loaf up in a cloth, and boil it an hour. Eat it with sugar, or with melted butter, white wine, and sugar sauce.

To make a Dish of Frumenty.

Boil an approved quantity of wheat; when soft, pour off the water, and keep it for use as it is wanted. The method of using it is to put milk to make it of an agreeable thickness; then, warming it, adding some sugar and nutmeg. To make a Windsor Pudding.

Shred half a pound of suet very fine, grate into it half a pound of French roll, a little nutmeg, and the rind of a lemon. Add to these half a pound of chopped apples, half a pound of currants, clean washed and dried, half a pound of jar raisins, stoned and chopped, a glass of rich sweet wine, and 5 eggs, beaten with a little salt. Mix all thoroughly together, and boil it in a basin or mould for three hours. Sift fine sugar over it when sent to table, and pour white-wine sauce into the dish.

A Cheshire Pudding.

Make a crust as for a fruit pudding, roll it out to fourteen or fifteen inches in length and eight or nine in width; spread with raspberry jam or any other preserve of a similar kind, and roll it up in the manner of a collared eel. Wrap a cloth round it two or three times, and tie it tight at each end. Two hours and a quarter will boil it.

To make a Plain Pudding.

Weigh three-quarters of a pound of any odd scraps of bread, whether crust or crumb, cut them small, and pour on them a pint and a half of boiling water to soak them well. Let it stand till the water is cool, then press it out, and mash the bread smooth with the back of a spoon. Add to it a teaspoonful of beaten ginger, some moist sugar, and three-quarters of a pound of currants. Mix all well together, and lay it in a pan well buttered.

Flatten it down with a spoon, and lay some pieces of batter on the top. Bake it in a moderate oven, and serve it hot. When cold it will turn out of the pan, and eat like good plain cheesecakes.

Transparent Pudding. then add pieces of fresh butter on the top, and bake in a slow oven for a quarter of an hour, until it becomes a delicate brown. It may be eaten hot or cold.

Carrot Pudding.

Take peck of carrots, boil and mash them well; then add pound flour, pound currants, pound raisins, pound suet chopped fine, ½ cup of sugar, 2 tablespoonsful of cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful of allspice. Boil four hours, and serve hot with sauce flavored with Madeira wine.

Flain Rice Pudding.

One quart of milk, a teacupful of rice, 2 teaspoonsful of sugar, of a nutmeg, grated; a small piece of butter, size of hickory-nut. Pick and wash the rice; add all the ingredients. Stir all well together, and put in a slack oven one and a half to two hours. When done pour it in a pudding-dish, and serve when cold. If baked in an oven, take off the brown skin before it is poured in the pudding-dish, and replace it on the top of the pudding as before.

Indian Pone.

Put on one quart of water in a pot; as soon as it boils stir in as much Indian meal as will make a very thin batter. Beat it frequently while it is boiling, which will require ten minutes; then take it off, pour it in a pan, and add one ounce of butter, and salt to taste. When the batter is lukewarm, stir in as much Indian meal as will make it quite thick. Set it away to rise in the evening; in the morning make it out in small cakes, butter your tins, and bake in a moderate oven. Or the more common way is to butter pans, fill them three parts full, and bake them.

This cake requires no yeast.

Blackberry Mush.

Put your fruit in a preserving kettle; mash it to a pulp, with sugar enough to make it quite sweet. Set it over the fire, and, as soon as it begins to simmer, stir in very gradually two teaspoonsful of flour to a quart of fruit. It should be stirred all the time it is boiling. Serve it either warm or cold, with cream.

Raspberries may be cooked in the same way.

Potato Pudding.

Take 5 potatoes, boil, and mash them through a colander, with a little salt and 1 teacupful of Beat up 8 eggs, put them into a stew-pan with milk or cream; 1 pound of butter, pound of sugar, beaten to a cream. Beat 4 eggs, and stir them with the latter; then add the mashed potatoes when cool. Season with 1 tablespoonful of brandy and 1 nutmeg, grated, with a little cinnamon. Bake in a quick oven.

Bread Pudding.

Take a pint measure of bread broken small or crumbed; boil a quart of milk, with a little salt, and pour it over the bread; cover and let the bread swell till it can be mashed smooth. Beat 4 eggs and stir into it, with 4 tablespoonsful of flour. Sprinkle a bag inside with flour, pour in the pudding, tie loosely, and boil one hour.

To make Oldbury Pudding.

Beat 4 eggs well, have ready a pint basin floured and buttered, pour in the eggs, and fill it up with new milk previously boiled, and when cold beat them together; put a white paper over the basin, cover with a cloth, and boil it twenty minutes. Send it up with wine and butter sauce.

Quince Pudding. 1.6 Scald the quinces tender, pare them thin, scrape off the pulp, mix with sugar very sweet, and add a little ginger and cinnamon. To a pint of cream put three or four yolks of eggs, and stir it into the quinces till they are of a good thickness. Butter the dish, pour it in, and bake it.

Boil To make Raspberry Dumplings.

Make a puff paste, and roll it out. Spread raspberry jam, and make it into dumplings. them an hour; pour melted butter into a dish, and strew grated sugar over it.

To make Raspberry and Cream Tarts.

Roll out thin puff paste, lay it in a patty-pan; put ir raspberries, and strew fine sugar over them .

Put on a lid, and when baked, cut it open, and put in a pint of cream, the yolks of 2 eggs well beaten, and a little sugar.

To make Paste for Tarts.

Put an ounce of loaf sugar, beat and sifted, to 1 pound of fine flour. Make it into a stiff paste, with a gill of boiling cream, and 3 ounces of but- 3 ounces of butter. Work it well, and roll it very thin. Pie Crust.

Sift a pound and a half of flour, and take out a quarter for rolling, cut in it a quarter of a pound of lard, mixed with water and roll it out; cut half a pound of butter, and put it in at two rollings with the flour that was left out.

For making the bottom crust of pies, put half a pound of lard into a pound of flour, with a little salt, mix it stiff, and grease the plates before you make pies; always make your paste in a cold place, and bake it soon. Some persons prefer mixing crust with milk instead of water.

To make a good Paste for Large Pies.

Put to a peck of flour 3 eggs, then put in half a pound of suet and a pound and a half of butter.

Work it up well and roll it out.