5. Potato salads are appetizing and piquant, because they are usually made
up with strong condiments, onions, etc. They are, therefore, not very
digestible in themselves. Nevertheless, they are so palatable that we
cannot easily dispense with them; but, after eating them, if you expect to
have inward peace, either split wood, walk eight and a half miles, or take
some other light exercise.
More palatable, and proportionately digestible, are the following methods
of cooking this useful vegetable:
1, Saratoga potatoes; 2, a la maitre d'hotel; 3, potato croquettes; 4,
potatoes and cream; 5, a la Lyonnaise.
1. For _Saratogas_, pare and slice your potatoes as thin as possible,
dropping them into cold water in which is dissolved a tiny piece of alum
to make them crisp. Let them remain in the water for an hour or longer.
Drain, and wipe perfectly dry with a tea towel. Have ready a quantity of
boiling lard. Drop them in, and fry a delicate brown. Drain all grease
from them, sprinkle with salt, and serve. Here, in the crisp slices, you
will have the much desired dextrine. Or, in other words, your potato is
already half digested. Eat three or four potatoes prepared thus, and you
feel no inconvenience; but how would you feel did you devour three soggy,
water-soaked _boiled_ potatoes?
2. For _a la maitre d'hotel_, pare the potatoes, cut into pieces half an
inch wide, and the length of the potato; drop into cold water until wanted
(an hour or so); then drain, and fry in boiling lard. Just as they begin
to brown take them out with a skimmer; let them slightly cool; then put
back, and fry a rich brown. This makes them puff up, and very attractive.
3. For _croquettes_, take finely mashed potatoes, and mix with salt,
pepper, and butter, and sweet milk or cream enough to moisten thoroughly.
Mix with this one well-beaten egg, and form into small balls, taking care
to have them smooth. Have ready one plate with a beaten egg upon it, and
another with cracker crumbs. Dip each ball into the egg, and then into the
crumbs, and brown nicely. Lay the croquettes on brown paper first, to get
rid of any superfluous grease, then serve on a napkin.
4. _Potatoes and cream_ are prepared by mincing cold boiled potatoes fine,
putting them in a spider with a little melted butter in it, and letting
them fry slightly, keeping them well covered. Add a very small piece of
fresh butter, season with pepper and salt, and pour over them cream or
rich milk. Let them boil up once, and serve. This is a very nice dish, and
may be safely taken into delicate stomachs.
5. _A la Lyonnaise_ is prepared as follows: Take five cold potatoes, one
onion, butter, salt, and pepper. Slice the onion finely, and fry it in
butter until it begins to take color; add the sliced potatoes, salt and
pepper to taste, and keep shaking the saucepan until they are somewhat
browned. Serve hot.
A few random remarks about the preparation of albuminous foods. If the
albumen in food is hardened by prolonged cooking, it is rendered _less_
instead of more digestible. Therefore, the so-called _well-cooked_ meats
are really _badly-cooked_ meats. Meats should be only half done, or rare.
To do this properly, it is necessary to cook with a quick fire. Steaks
should be broiled, not fried. I am in accord with a well-known orator, who
said, recently, that "the person who fries a steak should be arrested for
cruelty to humanity." Some few meats should always be well cooked before
eating.[6]
[Footnote 6: These are the exceptions. Pork, on account of the prevalence
of disease in hogs, should be well done.]
The same law holds good with eggs as with meats. A hard-boiled egg is only
fit for the stomach of an ostrich; it was never intended by nature to
adorn the human stomach. There are very many ways of preparing eggs--by
frying, baking, poaching, shirring, etc. I will only describe briefly a
few simple methods of making omelets.
In making this elegant dish, never use more than three eggs to an
_omelet_. Plain omelet: Separate the whites and yolks; add a teaspoonful
of water to the whites, and beat to a stiff froth; add to the yolks a
teaspoonful of water, and beat until light; then season with salt, and
about two tablespoonfuls of cream or rich milk. Have your spider very hot;
turn your whites and yolks together, and stir lightly to mix them; place a
bit of butter in the spider, and immediately pour in your eggs. When set
(which takes from ten to twenty seconds, and be careful that it does not
brown too much), fold together in a half moon, remove it, sprinkle with
powdered sugar, and serve on a hot plate. It should be eaten immediately.
Fruit omelets are made by placing preserved fruits or jellies between the
folds. Baked omelets are prepared as above, with the addition of placing
in the oven and allowing to brown slightly.
French omelet is prepared in this way: Take a half cup of boiling milk
with a half teaspoonful of butter melted in it; pour this over one-half
cup of bread crumbs (light bread); add salt, pepper, and the yolks of
three eggs beaten very light; mix thoroughly; and lastly, add the whites
whipped to a stiff froth. Stir lightly, and fry in butter. When nearly
done, fold together in a half moon, and serve immediately.
And thus we might continue _ad infinitum_, but, as was stated before, it
is not my object to instruct you in special cooking, but to illustrate in
this manner how much easier it is, to both the cook and your stomachs, to
prepare healthful dishes than to do the reverse.
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