There are only seven distinct methods of cooking potatoes, namely:
roasting, baking, boiling, steaming, stewing, frying, and broiling. But
the culinary possibilities of this simple esculent are so illimitable it
can be served in about as many different ways as there are days in the
year, and be acceptable in all of them, if properly done; for no member
of the vegetable kingdom returns a richer reward for the care bestowed
upon it than the potato.
ROASTED POTATOES.—The primitive method of roasting potatoes under, or
among the ashes of a wood fire, is an excellent one. Bury the potatoes
in hot ashes to the depth of two or three inches, cover with live coals,
and leave undisturbed for half an hour, or until thoroughly roasted. As
soon as done, which can be ascertained by taking one of them from its bed
and testing it, remove, brush clean, break tenderly, place in a dish, and
serve. The starch in a potato will absorb moisture when the starch cells
are broken by heat, and unless roasted or baked potatoes are cracked as
soon as cooked, and the steam allowed to escape, they will become sodden,
dark colored, and rank in flavor. After being broken they can be kept for
a considerable length of time, without much deterioration.
BAKED POTATOES.—Potatoes can be baked by placing them in the oven of a
stove or range, either in a pan or on the grate. To bake a potato just
right, it should be washed clean, wiped dry, put in an oven at a moderate
temperature, and subjected to a gradually increasing heat until the skin
assumes a light brown color, and becomes firm. The white flesh inside
will then be well cooked and mealy, and will possess the exquisite aroma
and delicious flavor of a perfectly roasted potato. If the oven is at the
proper temperature, potatoes will bake in from forty to sixty minutes,
according to size, and like those roasted under the ashes, should, as
soon as done, be removed and broken.
If the flesh is scooped out of partly baked potatoes, mashed, mixed with
sausage meat, seasoned, replaced in the scooped-out shells, and re-baked,
they are called German potatoes; if it is mixed with grated cheese,
bread crumbs and other ingredients, and similarly treated, they are
called stuffed potatoes.
Potatoes are nice when pared and baked with fowl or meat of any kind.
Wash, pare, parboil, and place them in the pan containing the fowl, or
meat. Turn over when partly cooked, that they may brown evenly. They can
be baked in drippings, without meat, and also without being parboiled.
Kentucky potatoes are potatoes pared, sliced, put in layers in a baking
dish, moistened with milk, seasoned with salt, pepper, etc., and baked
in a quick oven. If they are moistened with broth or other liquid, and
the seasoning varied somewhat, each variation will produce a slightly
different dish, and each can, without impropriety, be named after one of
the different States of the Union.
BOILED POTATOES.—Very few people know how to boil a potato so it will be
dry, mealy and fine flavored. To prepare potatoes for boiling unpared,
or in their jackets, wash well in lukewarm water with a brush, and rinse
in cold water. To prepare for boiling without their jackets, wash, pare,
remove all the eyes and dark spots, and soak well in cold water. To boil
either pared or unpared, put the potatoes, when prepared, in a liberal
allowance of slightly salted boiling water, let them boil gently until
tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork, then drain, cover with
a folded towel, and set back on the range, or near the fire, to dry
off. If treated in this manner, they will, when served, be tender and
mealy—perfect powdery snow balls in appearance—and will be apt to tempt
even the most fastidious.
Scooped potatoes are made by scooping balls of the required size from
pared potatoes, with a vegetable scoop, boiling them, and serving with
a sauce or gravy of some kind. Old potatoes treated in this manner are
quite frequently mistaken for new ones, even by professed epicures.
STEAMED POTATOES.—Prepare as for boiling, and cook in a steamer over a
pot or kettle of boiling water. When only a few potatoes are wanted, a
small sized steamer should be used, but by placing a folded towel or
cloth over the potatoes to prevent the escape of steam, even two or
three can be nicely cooked, without inconvenience, in almost any sized
steamer. This is an excellent mode of cooking potatoes, and should be
more generally adopted.
STEWED POTATOES.—Cut pared potatoes in slices about an eighth of an inch
in thickness, put in salted boiling water, cook gently until moderately
tender, then drain off the water, add milk, and season with salt and
pepper.
Use cream and butter, instead of milk, in its preparation, and plain
stewed potato is converted into potato _à la crème_. A little minced
parsley, if liked, can be added in either case.
FRIED POTATOES.—Slice raw pared potatoes very thin, soak well in cold
water, drain the slices in a colander or sieve, dry them on towels by
rolling and tumbling from one towel to another, separate them, and drop
into a kettle of boiling grease. As soon as they assume a light brown
color, lift with a skimmer, drain on a sieve, sprinkle with salt, and
serve. The browning will be facilitated if the slices, when partly
cooked, are taken from the kettle, exposed to the air a few seconds,
and then returned to the boiling grease. These are the famous Saratoga
potatoes, or Saratoga chips.
If a crimped knife, instead of a plain one, is used for slicing the
potatoes, they will, when fried, be Julienne potatoes. If, instead of
being sliced, the potatoes are cut in balls with a vegetable spoon or
scoop, they will, when fried, be _Parisienne_ potatoes, etc., etc.
Potatoes cut in thin slices in long strips, in globular, angular,
rhomboidal, and other irregular shapes, and fried in a kettle with a
quantity of grease, are served as Saratoga, Julienne, Parisienne, and so
on, while those fried in a spider or skillet in a smaller quantity of
grease are served as potato _à la Français_, potato _à la Provençale_,
potato _à la Barigoule_, etc., etc. But however varied the styles and
however fanciful the names under which potatoes cooked in grease are
made to do duty, they are all simply _fried potatoes_; and the important
feature of their preparation is to have the grease in which they are to
be fried—whether lard, butter, oil, or drippings—boiling hot when they
are put into it, and to keep it so during the entire process of cooking.
It is generally supposed that fried potatoes to be at all eatable must be
served the moment they are taken from the fire; but if kept moderately
warm, and at an even temperature, any of the above varieties—although not
so delicious as when freshly cooked and hot—will remain in quite nice
condition a considerable length of time.
BROILED POTATOES.—Parboil potatoes, cut in slices about half an inch in
thickness, place in a wire gridiron, and broil over a slow fire until
well browned on both sides, then season with salt and pepper, and serve
hot, with a little melted butter poured over them. Cold boiled potatoes
are very nice broiled in the same manner.
MASHED POTATO.—Special attention should be given to the preparation of
such a universally favorite dish as mashed potato. Boil or steam pared
potatoes till well cooked, drain, dry off, mash till fine and free from
lumps, in a warm kettle or pan, stir in a little warm milk—unless the
potato is preferred dry—add a small lump of butter, season with salt and
pepper, and beat until light, with a wooden spoon or potato masher. The
secret of making nice mashed potato consists in mashing the potato until
very smooth before, and beating it until very light after, it has been
seasoned.
Cream potato is made by stirring cream into nicely mashed potato until
of the desired consistency—snow potato by rubbing the potato through a
colander or sieve, and allowing it to pile up in the dish in a snowy
mass, and curly potato by rubbing it through a colander, letting it fall
in long, white curls, in a pyramidal form, on the dish in which it is to
be served, and then putting it in a hot oven till the surface is crisped.
Potato croquettes are made by enriching mashed potato with beaten egg
yolk, seasoning with salt, pepper, nutmeg or other condiments, forming
into little balls or rolls, dipping in egg and bread crumbs, and frying
in boiling grease.
Duchesse potato is made by adding beaten egg to mashed potato, squeezing
it through a pastry bag, or cutting in narrow strips two or three inches
in length, and browning in the oven.
REWARMED POTATOES.—Cold potato should never be thrown away. It should
all be saved and utilized. There are numerous ways in which cold potato
can be rewarmed, and in many of them it is almost as good as when first
cooked. Much of the potato served up at leading hotels in fanciful styles
and with foreign names, is merely rewarmed potato, and can be prepared
readily and inexpensively in any private kitchen.
_To stew cold potato._—Slice cold boiled potatoes, put in a stew pan with
cold gravy of any kind, season with salt and pepper, stew gently for ten
minutes, or until thoroughly heated, and then serve.
Dust potato, heated in this style, with bread crumbs, grated cheese,
etc., and brown in the oven, and it becomes potato _au gratin_.
Stir together in a sauce pan over the fire, a little butter and flour,
add some milk, stew cold sliced potato in it, and the product, when
seasoned with salt, pepper, lemon juice and chopped parsley, will be
_maitre d’hotel_ potato. Omit the seasoning from potato thus warmed,
and pour caper sauce over it, and it will be transformed into potato
_polonaise_.
_To fry cold potato._—Cut cold boiled potatoes in slices, dredge lightly
with flour, and fry brown in butter, lard or drippings—or, fry without
dredging—or, hash fine, season with salt and pepper and fry.
Cut cold boiled potatoes in little balls, fry, with an onion, in oil,
butter, lard or drippings, and it will be potato _à la Provençale_. Cut
them in the shape of olives, fry in olive oil, with a spoonful of chopped
herbs, and it will be potato _à la Barigoule_.
_Potato Hash._—Melt some butter or drippings in a spider or skillet,
pour in a little sweet milk, season with salt and pepper, add cold boiled
potato hashed, cover closely, and set where it will simmer slowly until
the potato is thoroughly heated.
_Potato and Meat Hash._—Mix well, in about equal proportions, finely
minced cold meat of any kind, and cold potato, moisten with milk, gravy,
or soup stock, season with salt and pepper, make into a roll, or shape
into cakes, put in a greased pan and bake in the oven.
_Potato Fish Balls._—Mix two parts of mashed potato with one part of
finely picked up fish of any kind, season to taste, form into balls or
cakes, and fry brown. The grease in which fish balls are to be fried
should be boiling hot before they are put into it. Freshly cooked potato
is considered best for making fish balls, but cold answers very nicely.
_Potato Soup._—Mix together over the fire an ounce each of butter and
flour until the mixture begins to bubble, then add gradually a quart
of boiling milk, season with salt and pepper, and stir in half a pint
of mashed potato that has been rubbed through a sieve. The quantity of
potato can be varied to suit the taste, and, if liked, a little minced
may be added. This is sometimes called potato _purée_, and sometimes
_potage Parmentier_—after the man who introduced the potato into France.
_Potato Cakes._—Mash cold potato to a smooth paste with a little milk,
season to taste, form into cakes half an inch in thickness, and either
fry or bake.
_Potato Biscuit._—Add a cup of milk to a quart of mashed potato, stir in
sufficient flour to make it the proper consistency, mold into biscuit
half an inch thick, and bake on a griddle or floured pan.
_Potato Soufflé._—Put a quart of mashed potato in a saucepan over the
fire, add an ounce of butter, season to taste, pour in gradually half a
pint of milk, stir till the mixture begins to thicken, then turn into a
baking dish, smooth the surface with a knife, put in a quick oven and
brown lightly.
_Potato Pie._—Cover the bottom of a baking dish with cold roast meat of
any kind cut in small pieces, add a layer of cold sliced potatoes, then
meat and potatoes in alternate layers till the dish is full. Add a little
gravy or soup stock, or a lump of butter, season with salt and pepper,
cover with a crust and bake.
_Potato Fritters._—To a pint of milk add the yolks of three eggs, half
a dozen medium sized cold, boiled potatoes grated, or finely mashed,
and flour enough to make a batter the proper consistency for ordinary
fritters—add the beaten whites of the eggs, and a little salt, and fry in
boiling lard.
_Potato Puffs._—To two cups cold mashed potatoes add two tablespoonfuls
of butter, two beaten eggs, a cup of milk, and a little salt. Stir well
together, pour into a baking dish, and bake in a quick oven.
With a lively imagination, a liberal supply of potatoes, and a few other
ingredients, one can go on and multiply almost indefinitely the different
styles in which potatoes can be prepared for the table; but through
all the variations the seven cardinal methods of cooking them remain
unchanged, and cover and include all the styles of serving, whether
designated by plain unassuming names or dignified with pretentious,
aristocratic titles.