The Pattern cook-book

This is a favorite way of cooking potatoes when veal, pork or beef is to be roasted. They should not, however, be dry, hard and pale-colored, but soft and well browned. The potatoes should not be small, else they will bake dry and crusty. Pare the potatoes, boil them fifteen minutes, and drain well. Then place them in the baking-pan with the roast, and cook for forty-five minutes, turning them often and basting with the gravy from the roast. Serve them arranged about the meat. Some cooks do not parboil the potatoes before putting them in the pan, but the result is not so successful, especially when beef is roasting, which requires so much less time for cooking than either veal, pork or mutton. STUFFED POTATOES. Bake potatoes of equal size, and when they are done and still hot, cut a small piece from one end of each and carefully scoop out the inside, leaving the skin unbroken. Mash the potato well, seasoning it with plenty of butter, salt and pepper ; then return it with a small spoon to the skins, leaving the potato protruding about an inch beyond the skin. Set the potato on the opposite end, crushing it a little to make it stand firmly. When enough skins are filled roughen the potato that projects above the skin with a knife or a fork, and place the potatoes in a very hot oven to lightly brown the top. They should look when done like baked potatoes burst open. [illustration: VE GE TA BLES. 2 5 I] SARATOGA CHIPS. It requires a little plane or vegetable cutter to slice potatoes intended to be cooked in this way. Ripe, new potatoes are to be preferred if they can be obtained. Pare the potatoes, and shave them with the cutter into slices thinner than a wafer. Place the slices immediately in ice water, cutting them over a bowl of ice water, if it can be done conveniently, so the slices will reach the water without any delay. Let them soak ten minutes, take out a few slices at a time, and dry them well with a soft towel. Have ready a kettle of boiling hot lard, throw in the slices, a few at a time, and stir them with a skimmer or spoon, to keep them separated. The potatoes must color quickly, but the fat must not be so hot as to give them a dark appearance. When of a light-brown, take them out, and place them on a piece of soft brown paper in a colander; dredge with salt and set them in the open oven to keep warm while the rest of the chips are frying. Turn the first lot from the colander into a hot dish, skim out the second frying and place them in the colander ; and so continue until all are fried. Two potatoes fried in this way will make a large dishful, and they may be served cold if desired. Saratoga Chips make a convenient dish for a company dinner, as they may be made early in the day; but they must be kept in a dry place that the slices may remain crisp and nice. They also make a pretty garnish around game or meat of any kind. In the large cities they are sold by the pound, already fried and put up in neat boxes. FRENCH FRIED POTATOES. These potatoes must be served the moment they are