Foods and Household Management: A Textbook of the Household ArtsKinne, Helen
General
Foods and Household Management: A Textbook of the Household Arts
Kinne, Helen
Cooking; Food; Home economics
If you choose to have a snow-white potato, it must be pared before
boiling, and thus you deliberately waste the valuable mineral
matter provided by nature. If your income permits this æsthetic
pleasure, the mineral matter can of course be supplied in other
vegetables. The woman who can spend but twenty to thirty cents per
capita for food per day should boil the potatoes with the skins on
and gratify her artistic sense in some other way.
The method of boiling is the same in either case, whether the
potato is pared or not.
Have enough boiling water to cover the potatoes. Put the potatoes
of uniform size one at a time into the kettle that the boiling may
not stop. Allow a gentle boiling to continue until the potatoes
are done. Why avoid rapid boiling? Test with a fork at the end of
half an hour. When the potatoes are mellow, drain off the water,
and set the kettle where the remaining moisture will steam off.
Shake gently to hasten this process, and sprinkle the potatoes
with salt. If they must stand before serving will you place a tin
cover or a cloth over the kettle? Old potatoes, with a strong
flavor, should be pared before boiling, or even soaked in cold
water.
=3. Mashed potatoes.=——Some one devised this convenient method of
serving, to save trouble at the table. Mashed potato can be very poor
and unappetizing when wet and lumpy. Do not attempt it with new,
poor, or old potatoes. See that the boiled potatoes are as dry as can
be——every particle of water steamed away. Mash thoroughly with the
wire masher, add butter or butterine, salt and milk in about the
proportions given for potato in the half shell. Use a tablespoonful
or so of cream if it is available. _Beat vigorously._ The mealiness
of the potato and the vigorous beating are the secrets of success.
The finished product should be light and somewhat moist,——_not wet_.
Reheat in the kettle. Pile lightly in a hot dish and serve; or brown
the top before serving.
_Potato puff._ (Soufflé.)——With your knowledge of mashed potato,
can you not invent a potato puff?
=4. Escalloped potato.=——The name _escalloped_ is applied to any
baked dish that is arranged in layers. Escalloped potato is a
palatable dish and this is one of the most economical of methods.
Wash, pare, and slice the potatoes in 1/4-inch pieces. Slightly
grease an earthen or enameled baking dish. Cover the bottom of
the dish with a layer of the slices, sprinkle the slices lightly
with flour, and put on two teaspoonfuls of butter, or butterine,
in small bits. Continue until the dish is nearly full. Pour in
milk to barely cover the potatoes, put a cover on the dish and
set the dish in an oven of 380° F. Remove the cover in time to
allow the top to brown. Allow rather more than half an hour for
the baking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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