Potato Puff
Stir two cupfuls of mashed potatoes, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, and a little salt, to a fine light and creamy condition; then add two eggs well beaten separately, and six tablespoonfuls of cream; beat it all well and lightly together; pile it in a dish in which it may be served; bake it in a quick oven until nicely colored. It will become quite light.
A straightforward potato souffle from the era before packaged mixes, and one that rewards attention to two things: the potatoes must be dry and the whites must be folded, not stirred.
- Quick ovenThe book gives no temperature. The term is generally glossed at somewhere around 400-450F; the high heat sets the outside quickly so the interior can rise.
- Beaten separately"two eggs well beaten separately" most likely means the yolks and whites were beaten apart before going in, the whites last. Note that the recipe then says to "beat it all well and lightly together" rather than to fold, so the light hand is in the beating.
- The potatoesUse hot, dry mashed russets, riced or passed through a food mill rather than whipped in a machine. Overworked potato turns gluey and will not lift, and wet potato from a waxy variety will slump.
- CreamSix tablespoonfuls is three-eighths of a cup. The recipe does not say what kind of cream; the mixture should be soft enough to mound but not to pour.
- The dish"pile it in a dish in which it may be served" means an ovenproof dish that can go straight to the table; the recipe says nothing about its shape or depth. Pile it high and rough so the peaks brown.
- TimingNone is given. Expect 20-25 minutes in a 1 1/2-quart dish, until well puffed and browned. Serve immediately, as it deflates within a few minutes of leaving the oven.
- YieldTwo cups of mashed potato serves four as a side dish.
- SaltThe recipe leaves the amount to you. Taste the potato base before the eggs go in, since you cannot correct the seasoning afterward.
Egg-lightened potato dishes crowd American cookbooks of the 1890s and 1900s under names like potato puff, potato souffle and potato snow, all of them domesticated descendants of the French souffle that professional cooks are often said to have made fashionable earlier. The appeal for a household cook was economy: it turns yesterday's mashed potatoes into something that looks like a company dish, using only butter, cream and two eggs. A light, bland, buttery starch was the standard foil for strongly flavored game, in the same role that potato puree still plays today.