Round the Table

Ingredients

• one gill of cream
• a piece of blotting paper before the fire
• three eggs
• one side is coloured
• pepper
• salt
• nutmeg
• parsley
• lemon juice

Directions

1. of garlic, put into it a goodly piece of butter, and when it is melted throw in your potatoes (raw) ; add a very little water, pepper, salt, and a small quantity of grated nutmeg; let the whole simmer till done, and, before serving, add some minced parsley and a little lemon juice.

2. What are called baked potatoes — produced by putting them under a joint that is roasting — are simply an abomination, and the only greater one of which I know is when both meat and potatoes are put into the oven. It is not a bad way, however, to cook a potato to put it into an oven, or under hot ashes, in its skin or jacket, as it is called ; but this method is hardly advisable for a dinner party, although to my mind, it is the only way to get the true flavour of the potato if you wish to have it

3. au naturel.

4. When mashed potatoes are to be made it does not much matter how they are boiled, and indeed mashed potatoes can be made with potatoes left over from the dinner of the previous day ; but, to be properly made, they should be passed through a hair sieve, and then worked in a saucepan with milk, butter, and salt ; by this process you avoid coming upon pieces of hard potato, like flints in a chalk-pit.

5. Another form of serving them akin to the above, is Potato Snow: to make which, after being boiled, the potatoes should be passed through a hair sieve, and before they have time to cool, they should be put into a vegetable dish, with a lump of butter under them, and kept hot till the time of serving.

6. In their Gallic form mashed potatoes should be less stiff than in the English preparation of the same name : A slight flavour of garlic is added to them, they are diluted to the proper consistency by the addition of gravy

7. VEGETABLES.

8. or stock, as well as milk : some grated nutmeg, besides pepper, is usually added.

9. Another form which mashed potatoes take at the hands of French cooks, is that of Duchesses. The following is the recipe :

10. Pass half-a-dozen boiled potatoes through a sieve ; work into them, in a bowl, one gill of cream, and the yolks of three eggs ; add pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste, and some parsley chopped fine. When they are well mixed and smooth, take them up by tablespoonfuls, roll each into a ball, flatten it and flour it slightly ; lay them all in a saute - pan with plenty of butter melted. Cook them slowly. Turn them over when one side is coloured and serve hot when both sides are done. I also have the following recipe from an English friend :

11. Potatoes a la Paidit : Take a large and rather over- boiled Spanish onion and beat it, hot, with from three to four times its bulk of boiled potato, also hot, a little salt, a little butter, and a good quantity of black pepper — through a fine sieve. Roll into balls, and brown them quickly in butter.

12. With some dishes fried potatoes are de rigueur. To fry them well you must attend to the following points : Use plenty of fat : Wait till the fat is very hot before you throw them in : Let them be thoroughly dry, for, if at all damp, they will never be properly crisp. When they have got a fine golden tinge, take them out and lay them on a piece of blotting paper before the fire, giving them a good sprinkling of salt. Do not attempt to fry boiled potatoes ; they must be raw, and you can cut them either in slices the thickness of a shilling, or in pieces about the size of a French bean and the length of the potato.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.