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TJic Country Gcntlczvovian 



crispness; put into a dish, and some salt 

 sprinkled over them. As soon as they are 

 taken from the boiling butter a handful of 

 parsley may be thrown into it, and, after it 

 has had a boil or two, laid upon the potatoes 

 as a garnish. They must be eaten imme- 

 diately. This is a beautiful dish to serve up 

 with fish, or it may be eaten alone. The 

 butter in wliich the potatoes were dressed 

 may be poured into a jar, and serve again for 

 the same purpose. Old potatoes may be 

 cut into round pieces about the size of a 

 large walnut, and dressed in the same way. 



Every Englishman who goes to the Con- 

 tinent eats potatoes a la maitrc d'/iotd. On 

 his return, he is desirous of having them at 

 his own table, a thing that can seldom be 

 accomplished, though the process of prepar- 

 ing them is very simple. It is as follows : — 



Boil the potatoes and let them become 

 cold. Then cut them into rather thick slices. 

 Put a lump of fresh butter into a stewpan, 

 and add a little flour — about a teaspoonful 

 for a middling-sized dish. When the flour 

 has boiled a little while in the butter, add, by 

 degrees, a cupful of broth or water. When 

 this has boiled up put in the potatoes, with 

 chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Let the 

 potatoes stew a few minutes, then take them 

 from the fire, and when quite off" the boil, add 

 the yoke of an egg beat up with a little lemon 

 juice and a teaspoonful of cold water. As 

 soon as the sauce has set, the potatoes may 

 be dished up, and sent to table. 



There are several ways of frying potatoes. 

 The best is to half boil them first, then cut 

 them np into slices, and fry them in butter, 

 or in goose dripping, which is preferable. 

 When the potatoes are brown, drain off" the 

 fat, strew a litde salt over them, and let them 

 be eaten while they are hot and crisp. 



Potatoes may be fried without being par- 

 boiled, and even when boiled and become 



cold. In both cases the process followed 

 must be the same we have just described. 



Mashed potatoes form a very common dish 

 at English tables. This dish is generally, 

 however, a kind of substitute, for the vege- 

 table is seldom mashed unless it be so bad, 

 when boiled, as to be uneatable, as is often 

 the case. The ordinary mode of mashing 

 potatoes is very unwholesome. It forms a 

 greasy and often rancid compound in the 

 stomach, so tenacious of the adhesive prin- 

 ciple that the most robust powers of digestion 

 can scarcely act upon it ; and yet it is eaten 

 by the most delicate females, who find them- 

 selves indisposed after it, but never impute 

 their ailment to the potatoes, " which," as 

 they say " never can do any harm." 



Potatoes for mashing should be as nicely 

 boiled as if they were intended to be eaten 

 without further preparation ; only they should 

 be dressed a little more, though care should 

 be taken not to let the water get into them. 

 The farinaceous part only should be 

 used, and with it a small quantity of the 

 freshest butter. It is customary in some 

 families to brown with a salamander the top 

 of a dish of mashed potatoes. This is by no 

 means objectionable, though we are of opinion 

 that, by adding a little cream, and putting the 

 mashed potatoes into the oven to brown them 

 a great improvement would be made. 

 Mashed potatoes are also very nice, if made 

 up into round balls, covered with yolk of egg, 

 and fried a light brown. They might with 

 great advantage be mixed with some cold 

 fish finely shred, and a little chopped parsley, 

 then dipped in yolk of egg, and fried. In 

 many families the cold remains of fish are 

 often thrown away, which would answer this 

 purpose extremely well, and form a verj- 

 savoury dish for the next day's dinner. 

 These two latter preparations should be 

 garnished with fried parsley. 



