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Potatoes, Bernoise
Peel and cut into half-inch squares six very sound, medium-sized, dry potatoes, wash thoroughly, and plunge into a pint boiling water with half teaspoon salt and boil for ten minutes. Drain on a sieve, then heat in a frying pan two tablespoons melted lard; add the potatoes and gently brown for ten minutes, frequently tossing meanwhile. Remove all the fat from the bottom of the pan, then dredge half teaspoon salt over them, add one teaspoon chopped parsley and half clove very finely chopped garlic; brown for a minute and a half, tossing gently meanwhile. Dress on a hot dish and serve.
A straightforward parboil-then-fry potato, of the sort that appears under a dozen regional names. The details that matter are the drying and the very late addition of the garlic.
- Potato choice"Sound, dry" means a mature storage potato rather than a new one. A medium Yukon Gold or russet holds its cube through parboiling; waxy new potatoes will not brown as readily.
- Parboil to ten minutes, no moreHalf-inch cubes in boiling salted water are done at the edge of tender in about eight to ten minutes. Past that they slump in the pan and you get hash rather than distinct cubes.
- Dry before fryingAfter draining on the sieve, let the steam come off for a few minutes, or spread them on a towel. Wet potatoes will not brown in two tablespoons of fat, however hot the pan.
- The fatLard is what the book calls for and it gives the cleanest browning; clarified butter, duck fat or a neutral oil all work. Two tablespoons for six potatoes is spare, so use a wide heavy pan and do not crowd it.
- Pour off the fat firstThis is the hinge. The garlic and parsley go in only after the pan is drained and only for about ninety seconds, so the garlic perfumes the potatoes without frying to bitterness.
- "Half clove"Half a clove, finely minced, is a whisper of garlic; scale up if you want it to register.
- Heat and timingTen minutes of browning means medium-high heat with the pan tossed rather than stirred, so the cubes keep their corners. Colour rather than the clock is the guide.
- YieldSix medium potatoes serve four to six as a side dish.
Dishes labelled bernoise in turn-of-the-century cookbooks are usually taken to point to Bern, in the German-speaking Swiss cantons, where fried potatoes with herbs sit alongside the better-known rösti as everyday cooking. The method here — parboil, drain, fry in lard, finish with parsley and a trace of garlic — is a standard European sautéed potato with a regional label attached. Removing the fat before adding the aromatics keeps the garlic from scorching in hot grease and leaves the finished potatoes without a slick.