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Roast Potatoes in Quarters
Peel and cut four medium, sound, raw potatoes into six square pieces each; wash and drain well, place in a frying pan with two tablespoons melted lard and fry on the range for ten minutes, or until a good golden colour, occasionally turning with a skimmer; then place in a small roasting tin. Season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper. Evenly spread one ounce butter on the surface of the potatoes, then place in a brisk oven for thirty minutes. Remove, lift up with a skimmer, place on a dish and serve.
A two-stage potato: browned in fat on the stovetop, then finished in a hot oven with butter. The method is sound and needs only a few translations.
- Brisk ovenRoughly 425F. "Brisk" and "quick" are generally taken to mean a hot oven in books of this vintage, with period glosses ranging from about 400F to 450F; 30 minutes at that heat will finish potatoes already coloured in the pan.
- Quarters, or sixesThe title says quarters, the text says six pieces each. Six chunks from a medium potato gives pieces of roughly 1 to 1½ inches, a size consistent with the timing given.
- Dry the potatoesThe instruction to wash and drain well is the hinge. Surface starch and water make the pieces steam and stick rather than colour; pat them dry before they go near the lard.
- SkimmerA flat perforated spoon. A slotted spatula or spider does the same job, and turning with a flat tool rather than tossing keeps the browned faces intact.
- LardTwo tablespoons of rendered pork fat, still sold at butchers and in many supermarkets. Beef dripping, duck fat or a neutral high-smoke-point oil all substitute; butter alone will burn at this stage, which is why the recipe holds it back until the roasting tin.
- SeasoningA full teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper for four potatoes is heavy by current taste. Salt to about half that, then correct at the table.
- YieldFour medium potatoes serve three to four as a side dish.
This is restaurant technique written down for the home cook: parcolour in fat on the range, then finish in the oven where the heat is even and the pan is not needed. Lard does the frying and butter the roasting, each fat taking the part of the job it suits.