HISTORY AND COOKERY 91 



into the delicious dish which boiled potatoes may afford. 

 In dealing with new potatoes freshly dug from the soil, 

 first wash and vigorously rub them in cold water, and 

 then place them in a pan of boiling salted water (a 

 teaspoonful to a quart), and boil for about a quarter 

 of an hour or twenty minutes. Then pour off the 

 water, again place the saucepan on the fire, having 

 removed the lid of the pan, and keep the potatoes 

 on the shake for about five minutes. They should 

 be served on a napkin placed in a hot vegetable 

 dish, and should be covered only with a warm napkin, 

 or adequate evaporation will be impossible. 



Old potatoes also are best cooked in their skins, but 

 they should be placed in a pan of cold salted water and 

 boiled for about twenty minutes, testing their condition 

 with a fork. They should be dried and served in the 

 same way as new potatoes, though, if preferred, the 

 skins may be removed after cooking and before serving. 

 The ordinary method of peeling potatoes before cooking 

 them is destructive of all flavour and diminutive of food 

 value. Instead of being boiled, potatoes may be steamed, 

 the other steps in the preparation being similar. In 

 order that all the tubers may be cooked equally, those 

 only of approximately the same size should be cooked 

 together. 



To fry Potatoes 



which have been previously boiled, they should (if 

 old) be peeled, and then cut into slices about a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness. The slices are 

 then to be placed in the boiling oil (several inches 

 deep) of the saute-pan over a good fire, and kept 

 moving till they assume a rich golden brown colour. 

 They should then be drained on blotting paper or 

 a wire sieve, and slightly salted, a little pepper and 

 finely-minced parsley being also sprinkled over them 



