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Potato Border
9 medium-sized potatoes 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup hot milk 1 tablespoon salt 2 eggs Wash the potatoes, boil, drain, dry off and put through the ricer. Add butter, hot milk, salt and the well-beaten yolks of the eggs. Beat till very light. Pack into a border mold rubbed with butter, and let it stand away from the heat for eight minutes. Beat the whites of the two eggs to a froth and add one-fourth teaspoon of salt, turn the border on a warm platter, cover it with the beaten white, and brown in a moderate oven. Put meat or fish, heated in sauce, in the center.
A ring of stiff riced potato, unmoulded, masked with beaten egg white and browned — the period's way of turning leftover creamed meat or fish into a presentable dinner. The whole thing stands or falls on how dry the potato is.
- Dry the potatoes properly"Drain, dry off" means returning the drained potatoes to the empty hot pan for a minute or two over low heat, shaking, until the surface steam has gone. Wet potato will not hold a moulded shape and will slump the moment it is turned out.
- QuantityNine medium potatoes is roughly 3 lb / 1.4 kg. Use a floury variety — russet or Maris Piper — not a waxy salad potato, which rices into a gluey paste.
- The saltA full tablespoon is high even for 3 lb of potato. Two teaspoons is closer to modern seasoning; add it in stages and taste, since the sauced filling will bring salt of its own.
- Border mouldA shallow ring mould, about 8-9 inches across. A savarin tin or an angel-food pan with a removable base works; so does a 9-inch cake tin with an oiled ramekin stood in the middle. Butter it generously and the turnout is reliable.
- Standing eight minutesThis is not resting for flavour. It lets the packed potato firm and pull very slightly from the buttered mould so it releases in one piece. Away from the heat means off the stove, not chilled.
- Moderate oven350°F / 175°C. Eight to twelve minutes is enough to set the egg white and colour it; the potato underneath is already cooked, so longer only dries the ring out. A brief pass under the grill will speed the browning if the top is stubborn.
- The egg white coatingBeat to soft peaks — "a froth" — not stiff meringue, or it will be difficult to spread over the curve of the ring. Apply it just before baking; it weeps if it stands.
- Yield and fillingServes six to eight as the starch element of a meal. The centre wants about 3 cups of something already hot and thickly sauced — creamed chicken, flaked salmon in white sauce, kidneys, mushrooms. Fill after browning, not before.