Home › Meat Substitutes › Potatoes in Cream No. 2
Potatoes in Cream No. 2
Peel and boil the potatoes and cool them. Put two tablespoons of butter into a saucepan, rub in 1 tablespoon of flour, add 1 cup of cream, chopped chives and lemon juice. When well cooked, put in the potatoes and let them remain until they are very hot. Then take them out, put them in the center of a dish, and pour the sauce around them.
A cream sauce built in the pan and poured around, not over, the potatoes. The original assumes you know how much potato to use and how much lemon to add; both are left to the cook.
- QuantityThe original gives no quantity of potato. One cup of cream with 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon flour will coat roughly 2 lb, enough for about four. Small waxy potatoes, whole or halved, hold their shape better than a floury baking type, which will start to break down once returned to the hot sauce.
- Boil, cool, reheatThe two-stage cooking is deliberate rather than fussy: fully cooked and cooled potatoes firm up and absorb the sauce without disintegrating. Boil until just tender, drain well, and let them sit uncovered so the surface dries.
- Cook the roux firstRub the flour into the melted butter and let it bubble a minute before the cream goes in, or the sauce tastes of raw flour. "When well cooked" most likely means simmering gently until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon.
- Lemon juice, unmeasuredThe original gives no amount. A teaspoon or two is enough for a cup of cream; more, or added while the sauce is at a hard boil, risks curdling. Adding it off the heat at the end is the safer order, though the recipe as written puts it in early.
- CreamUse heavy or whipping cream. Modern half-and-half and ultra-pasteurised light cream are thinner and more prone to breaking than the farm cream assumed here.
- ChivesChives lose their flavour with cooking. Stir in a tablespoon or two after the sauce has thickened, and reserve a pinch for the finished dish.
- Holding the potatoes"Let them remain until they are very hot" means a few minutes over low heat, turning gently. A hard simmer will thicken the sauce past pouring consistency and roughen the potato surfaces.
- ServingMound the potatoes in the centre of a warmed dish and spoon the sauce around the base so the tops stay dry-looking. The quantity suits four as a substantial dish, or six alongside others.