ON COOKING POTATOES* 181 



Baked Potatoes are a delicious and nourishing vege- 

 table when properly cooked. Select large tubers of such 

 sorts as are known to be floury, wash their skins quite 

 clean, and then place them in a moderately heated oven. 

 Turn the tubers occasionally. They will take from one and 

 a-half to two hours to cook properly. Baked potatoes 

 should be served in napkins. A capital way of baking 

 potatoes is in a heap of smouldering ashes, the result of 

 a bonfire of weeds and rubbish. Potatoes also bake splen- 

 didly in fresh lime during the process of slaking. We have 

 often found otherwise bad cookers turn out well thus. 



A French Method The eminent chef, Soyer, who, 

 in his day, was considered the leading expert in culinary 

 matters, says: "If boiled, the tubers may be put into 

 hoiling water, or into cold, and either boiled quickly or 

 slowly, as the variety determines. Choose them all about 

 the same size, with a smooth skin, and when they are 

 boiled and begin to crack, throw off the water imme- 

 diately, as it only damages the root. When dressed, let 

 them stand near the fire, with a cloth over them, and 

 serve them in the skins. Salt may be put in the water at 

 the beginning. A watery potato will require quick boil- 

 ing, and sometimes to be put into boiling water." 



An Irish Method. The same authority describes the 

 Irish method of cooking the potato: " Put a gallon of water 

 with two ounces of salt in a large iron pot, boil for about 

 ten minutes till the skin is loose, then pour off the water, 

 put a dry cloth over the tubers, and place the pot by the 

 side of the fire for twenty minutes, then serve with their 

 skins on. The boiling is of a gradual nature." 



