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Sect. 2.-Special Directions for Dressing Vegetables
POTATOES. 637. To BOIL. -An excellent Receipt.-Pare or merely wash them, as preferred, and put them in a covered saucepan of cold water, with a tea-spoonful of salt; boil them till they are done (which can be ascertained by running a fork into them) and begin to break a little; then pour the water from them, and hold the saucepan, with the lid off, over the fire for two or three minutes, shaking well at the end of the time; put the lid loosely on so as to allow the steam to escape, and sprinkle a very little salt over them; let them stand till wanted (the sooner the better), but they may remain in this way, if necessary, half an hour or more. Time, twenty to thirty minutes, or longer if very large. Another way. Set them on a fire, without paring them, in cold water; let them half boil, then throw some salt in and a pint of cold water, and let them boil again till almost done. Pour off the water, and put a clean cloth over them, and then the saucepan cover, and set them by the fire to steam till ready. Many persons prefer steamers, Potatoes look best when the skin is peeled, not cut. Do new potatoes the same; but be careful they are taken off in time, or they will be watery. Before dressing, rub off the skin with a cloth and salt, and then wash. 638. TO BROIL. -Parboil, then slice and broil them. Or, parboil, and then set them whole on the gridiron over a very slow fire, and when thoroughly done send them up with their skins on. This last way is practised in many Irish families. 639. TO ROAST. -Half boil, take off the thin peel, and roast them of a beautiful brown. Or, put them with the peel on in the ashes of a wood fire. 640. TO FRY.- Take the skin off raw potatoes, slice them, soak in cold water, and fry them, either in butter or thin batter. Or, as, 641. POTATOE CHIPS.-Wash and peel some potatoes, then pare them, ribbon-like, into long lengths; put them into cold water to remove the strong potatoe flavour; drain them, and throw them into a pan with a little butter, and fry them a light brown. Take them out of the pan, and place them close to the fire on a sieve lined with clean writing paper to dry, before they are served up. A little salt may be sprinkled over them. 642. To BAKE.-Wash and put them whole and unpeeled into a slow oven, and let them remain from an hour and a half to two hours. 643. TO MASH. - Boil the potatoes, peel them, and break them to paste; then to two pounds of them add a quarter of a pint of hot milk, a little salt, and two ounces of butter, and stir it all well over the fire. Either serve them in this manner, or place them on the dish in a form, and then brown the top with a salamander, or in scallops before the fire. 644. NEW POTATOES. - TO BOIL. - Procure them of equal size, and if very young, wash them only; if older, rub off the skins with a scrubbing-brush or coarse cloth. Put them into boiling water till tender, and sprinkle a little salt over them, and put a lump of butter in; shake up and serve. Time, fifteen to twenty minutes. If very early potatoes are half boiled the day before, and finished when wanted, they will not be watery-if served in cream sauce they are very nice, especially for supper. 645. COOKED POTATOES. - TO FRY.-Heat some dripping or lard in a fryingpan, then drop in some slices of boiled potatoes, or broken fragments will do quite as well, stir them with a spoon, and in about ten minutes they will be browned enough, then drain off any superfluous fat, add a little pepper and salt, and serve. 646. OLD POTATOES IN A NEW DRESS.-Wash and pare some large old potatoes, then, with an iron scoop, make them into small balls the size of young ones; steam them, and serve with white sauce poured over them. 647. POTATO BALLS. - Mash very smooth some well-boiled potatoes with a little cream (or butter and milk) and salt, then form them into balls the size of a peach, and indented like one, or into the shape of a pear; warm through, and brown slightly on one side in a Dutch oven. The pears should be served on a napkin with the broad end downwards, and a bit of stalk stuck in the other end. They may also, as a variety, be placed in a well-thickened brown gravy, poured round but not over them. 648. RISSOLES DE POMMES DE TERRE. -Mix with potatoes mashed with milk some fine chopped herbs; roll into long rissoles, fry them a light brown, and send them as hot as possible to table. Or, brush them over with yolk of egg, and dip them in bread-crumbs; then having melted a little butter in a saucepan, put in the rissoles, and shake them gently over the fire till they are a light brown. DEET-ROOT.
A run of numbered potato methods from a mid-Victorian household book, covering boiling, frying, baking and several table presentations. Most translate directly; a few assume an open fire and equipment that has gone.
- The hinge: dry the potatoSeveral of these methods end by driving off moisture — the pan held uncovered over the heat, the cloth under the lid, the sieve by the fire. Boiled potatoes that go straight from water to dish are watery, and mash made from them will be loose.
- Cold water start, and whyOld potatoes go into cold water so the outside does not disintegrate before the centre cooks; new potatoes (No. 644) go into water already boiling, which sets the surface. That distinction is still correct.
- Oven temperaturesA "slow oven" is conventionally reckoned at about 300-325F. At that heat, 1.5 to 2 hours for a large baking potato is plausible; at 400F, nearer an hour.
- Salamander and Dutch ovenA salamander was an iron plate heated red and held over food to brown it; the "Dutch oven" here is a reflector screen set before the fire, not a lidded pot. Use an overhead grill for both.
- Chips fried in butterNo. 641 fries potato ribbons in a little butter, which browns and burns well below the temperature that crisps a potato. Modern practice uses a neutral oil at 325F to cook through, then 375F to crisp.
- Writing paperClean writing paper was used to absorb grease from fried food. Paper towel or a rack over a tray does the same job.
- Mashed potato proportionsNo. 643 gives 2 lb potatoes to a quarter pint (5 fl oz / about 150 ml) hot milk and 2 oz butter — restrained by current standards but perfectly workable. Warm the milk; cold milk cools and stiffens the mash.
- Soaking sliced potatoesThe cold-water soak the book credits with removing "the strong potatoe flavour" is in fact removing surface starch, which is what stops slices sticking together and helps them crisp.
- YieldReckon 6-8 oz of potato per person as a side dish; the potato-ball and rissole preparations (Nos. 647, 648) are richer and go further, roughly 4-5 oz.