The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-05-01
EXTRA NICE potatoes.

The latter part of the winter, whel
potatoes begin TO seem a little old, it is
good time to try new ways in cooking
them-ways that win be at least a chang
and perhaps decided improvement
Fried potatoes, good at any season, seen
particularly good now, for this mode o
cooking adds crispness, and gives rel
ish when flavor is somewhat lacking
Half the secrets of success of Frencl
cooks in frying potatoes lies in giving
them a pretty and attractive appearance
The other half belongs to the frying ket
tle-the deep fat, deep enough to plunge
the article to be cooked so as to cover il
entirely, half beer suet and half lard, ,and
hot enough to prevent soaking, and cook
as quickly as possible. This is really
she chief difficulty, for discretion is
needed; the degree of heat must be
suited to the thing to be cooked. Thus
a whole potato, which requires at least
fifteen or twenty minutes to cook
through so that it will be entirely soft
at the centre can not be fried in fat as
hot as is desirable for very thinly sliced
Saratoga potatoes. In every case the
heat must be nicely graduated to the
time required, so as to give clear,
golden brown color, neither too deep nor
too pale. This one point carefully con-
sidered, the process is quick and easy,
and the results highly satisfactory.
One may have considerable variety in
fried potatoes, simply by varying the
modes of cutting the tubers. For Sara
tOga potatoes, a slicer is good invest
ment. 1t consists of thin blade, set
plane e-fashion in hardwood board, and
the potato, held between the fingers, is
reduced in few seconds to sheets as
thin as paper, if desired, or by changing
the angle of the knife thicker slices may
be had, as wanted.
Other attractive forms are made by
taking pared potato in the left hand
and cutting it toward one end, precisely
as if cutting to the "single eye" for
planting; or with sharp apple-corer, a
little ingenuity will enable the New Eng
land girl to turn out dish that rivals in
its dainty chic the productions of any fa-
nous cbef. For any of these varieties of
fried potatoe, after slicing or shaping to
suit the fancy, soak in cold water for at
least half an hour, and dry upon coarse
towel. Fold several thicknesses of brown
wrapping paper and lay in colander;
take up the potatoes on this. and set in
the oven five minutes before serving.
Parsley or watercress makes an agreea-
BILE garnish.
Mashed potato forms the basis of an
other class of nice dishes. There must
be special care in every detail. The
water must be used at its first boiling,
and poured off to the last drop the mo
ment the potatoes are thoroughly ten
der. The mashing must be prompt and
effective, and a wire potato masher is a
much better implement than solid pes
tie. Beat and stir rapidly without leav
ing the smallest lump unpulverized, until
you have a soft, creamy mass, almost as
white and light as snow. Pass it as
quickly as you can through hot colan
der into hot dish, and you have very |
pretty and melting potato snow" Add
the well-beaten yolks and whites of a
couple of eggs; round it delicately in a
pudding dish, and bake golden brown,
rubbing bit of butter over the top to
facilitate the coloring You have then a
potato souffle." Put tablespoonful of
butter in frying pan, and when melted |
make layer of the potato, smoothing it |
with spoon. Brown delicately and fold
over to initiate an Omelette. This is a
nice way of warming up cold mashed pO- |
tatoes for breakfast or for supper; many |
of these dishes make nice relish for |
tea or lunch.
You may make croquettes for that
purpose if you choose, simply rolling the
mashed pOtatoe in shape, dipping in
bread crumbs in the usual way, and fry |
ing. Or a very little chopped meat of
any kind mixed with it will be good. |
Still another method is to brown the pO-
tatoes in the oven, either in dice or in
slices, or even whole; cold ones or raw |
may be used for this purpose, making |
due allowance of course, in time. Thin, |
sweet cream, brought to a boil and
slightly thickened with a spoonful of |
brown ROM, makes delicious sauce for
this purpose, but any well-made sauce
may be used. Indeed, varying the |
sauce is one of the most approved meth |
ods of getting extra nice results.-At |
bdny CultiudtOr.