Cookery for every household

Choose good sound potatoes of equal size. Large or medium sized ones are the best. Wash and brush them in cold water until the skins are perfectly clean, then dry them. Prick the skins, place the potatoes on a tin in a moderate oven and bake them slowly until tender, which can be ascertained by pressing them gently between the finger and thumb. The oven must not be too hot, or the skins of the potatoes will become so hardened that they prevent evaporation and the insides will, in consequence, be damp and heavy. When the potatoes are ready, serve them on a hot folded serviette. Small pats of salt butter should be handed separately. Time to cook, 1 hour or longer. 536. Potatoes, To Roast Potatoes. Dripping. A little flour. Salt. Wash and peel the required number of potatoes as directed in Recipe 532. Put them into a saucepan with boiling water to cover them and add a little salt. Allow them to boil for 10 minutes, and then drain. Dredge the potatoes with a little fine flour and put them in a baking tin with some good melted dripping. Cook them in a moderate oven until they are nicely browned and cooked through. They should be turned over occasionally during the, cooking. Drain them from the dripping and sprinkle with a little fine salt before serving. Note. — If a joint of meat is being roasted the potatoes may be cooked in the same tin, putting them in the required time before the meat will be ready. Time to cook, 30 to 40 minutes. 537. Mashed Potatoes l lb. cooked potatoes. | 2 or 3 table-sps. milk. 1 oz. butter or dripping. | White pepper and salt. The potatoes should be well cooked, dry and floury. If newly cooked and hot, add the butter or good beef dripping to them and mash them in the saucepan with a fork or potato masher until they are quite smooth and free from lumps. Then season to taste with white pepper and salt, and moisten with a little milk. If cold potatoes are being used up, it will be better to rub them through a sieve or put them through a vegetable presser. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan with a little milk and add the sieved potatoes to them. Season to taste and stir over the fire until thoroughly hot. Put the mashed potatoes into a hot vegetable dish, piling them up in the form of a pyramid Mark prettily with the back of a fork, sprinkle a very little chopped parsley on the top and serve at once. Or, put the mashed potatoes into a greased fireproof dish, smooth over and mark with the point of a knife. Brush over with a little milk or beaten egg and bake in the oven until nicely browned. 538. Potato Snowflakes (Pommes de Terre & la Neige) This dish is made by putting freshly boiled or steamed potatoes through a vegetable presser or wire sieve, and letting them fall on to a hot vege- Vegetable Presser table dish. The potatoes must be very dry, white and mealy in order to look well. This is one of the lightest forms in which to serve potatoes. 539. Potatoes, To Fry (Pommes de Terre Frites)