The Country Gcntlcivouian 



117 



COOKER Y. 



THE ART OF COOKING POTATOES. 



THERE is no vegetable more used and 

 more abused than the potato. Un- 

 happy esculent ! thy virtues were never duly 

 appreciated, except only by a few of the 

 potato-devouring tribes of the Emerald Isle. 

 Thou art invariably spoiled in the cooking ; 

 thy fine savour is lost, and thou art reduced 

 to the indignity of serving as a mere accom- 

 paniment to so many mouthfuls of animal food 

 — perhaps half raw, too, such as some of our 

 cannibal countrymen like to glut upon. Be 

 it now our task to indicate (with due humility, 

 however) some of the various modes of dress- 

 ing this tuberous root, whereby its various 

 excellencies may be preserved. But, first, 

 let us raise our voice against those vitiated 

 palates which prefer the potato in a waxy or 

 a spongy state to that farinaceous condi- 

 tion, the delight of all potato-eaters of re- 

 fined taste. This excellent vegetable, so 

 nutritious and so palatable, when cooked as 

 it ought to be, is rank poison to the human 

 stomach when, in any of the various modes 

 of preparing it for the table, the farinaceous 

 principle is lost sight of In it alone consists 

 the nourishment yielded by the potato; every 

 other form should be carefully avoided. 



To boil a potato seems simple enough ; 

 and yet we scarcely ever find it well done. 

 At the tables of the great a good potato is 

 never seen, because if not eaten the very 

 moment it is boiled, the potato is worth no- 

 thing, and also because the refinement of 

 peeling helps to destroy the savour. Another 

 mistake is, to serve this vegetable in a covered 

 dish, whereby the steam condensed by the 

 cover falls upon the potato, and it becomes 

 soddened and waxy. 



Do not buy washed potatoes from the 

 shops, or at Covent Gardens. Get them with 

 the mould about them, and do not wash it off 

 until just before you use them. If they are 

 steeped in water long before they are boiled 



they become stale and watery. Put them 

 into plenty of cold water, with some salt. 

 When they are about half boiled, throw away 

 the water, and pour fresh boiling water upon 

 the potatoes from a tea-kettle, adding to it 

 some salt. Let it boil up briskly. When 

 you have ascertained with a fork that the 

 potatoes are very nearly done, throw in a cup- 

 ful of cold water to check the boiling. The 

 water mil soon boil up again, and the pota- 

 toes will crack. Let the water then be drained 

 off, and the potatoes served up immediately 

 in an open dish with their skins on. The 

 water upon them will evaporate the instant 

 they are in the dish. They must be eaten at 

 that moment ; in ten minutes their fine flavour 

 would be gone. 



The French calculate about sixty different 

 modes of dressing potatoes, and as many of 

 dressing eggs. But it will answer our pur- 

 pose, and no doubt that of our readers, to 

 give only a few of those modes in the present 

 paper. 



New potatoes, when they first appear, are 

 considered a delicacy, though not half so good 

 and wholesome as the old, unless they are 

 perfectly ripe, and can be cooked without 

 being made waxy. The following is an ex- 

 cellent way of dressing them : — 



Choose the potatoes as nearly of a size as 

 possible ; wash them, and rub off the outer 

 rind ; then wipe them dry with a clean 

 napkin. Put a quarter of a lb. of fresh butter 

 into a stewpan ; set it on the fire, and when 

 it boils throw in the potatoes. Let them 

 boil in the butter till they are done, taking 

 care to toss them every now and then, 

 so that they may all go successively into 

 the boiling butter. They must be care- 

 fully watched, because if done too much 

 they shrivel up and become waxy. "When 

 the fork indicates that they are done, 

 they must be taken out before they lose their 



