Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Grate five cold boiled potatoes of medium size. Mix five level table-spoonfuls of flour, a quarter of a teaspoonful of baking-powder, and a teaspoonful of salt; then lightly mix the grated potatoes with these ingredients, and add half a cupful of milk and two well-beaten eggs. Have ready in a Scotch bowl or a deep saucepan boiling lard to the depth of about three inches, and drop the mixture into the lard by small spoonfuls. About half of the entire quantity can be cooked at one time. Fry for eight minutes, and serve on a napkin. The potatoes used should be light and dry ; the eggs should be beaten with vigor; the mixing of the ingredients should be done thoroughly, and the fat should be so hot that blue smoke rises from the centre of the pan. * Potato Omelet This requires nine potatoes of medium size, three tablespoonfuls of butter, one level table-spoonful of salt, onethird of a teaspoonful of pepper, and half a cupful of hot milk. After paring the potatoes, cover them with boiling water, and cook for half an hour ; then drain off all the water, and mash the potatoes until fine and light. Add the salt and pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of the butter, and after mixing well, gradually add the hot milk, beating all the while. The mixture should be very light. Put the remaining table-spoonful of butter on the stove in a large frying-pan ; and when it gets hot, and before it has become browned, turn the potato into the pan, spreading it smoothly. Cover the omelet, and set it where it will brown slowly and evenly. It should be done in ten minutes. Fold it, and turn out on a hot dish. Serve at once. * Escaloped Potatoes. Cut a quart of cold boiled potatoes into very thin slices, and season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a level table-spoonful of pepper. Next butter an escalop dish. Put two table-spoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan, and when the butter has become hot, and before it has become browned, add a table-spoonful of flour. Stir until a white froth has formed, and then draw the frying-pan to a cooler part of the stove, and add very gradually a pint of cold milk. After about a third of this quantity has been thus used, move the frying-pan to the hottest part of the range, and stir the mixture constantly until it bubbles ; then add the remainder of the milk, and let it all boil up. Season with a little pepper, and a third of a teaspoonful of salt. Spread a layer of this sauce on the bottom of the escalop dish, then a layer of potato, another of sauce, and another of potato, and finish with one of sauce. Cover with fine dry bread crumbs, and cook in the oven for twenty minutes. The potatoes can be sliced and seasoned the night before, and the crumbs and dish placed in readiness on the table, so that the work in the morning may be quickly done. A dish of creamed potatoes may be made by putting the seasoned potatoes into the sauce, and heating them for five minutes. * Hashed Potatoes in Cream.