The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 32

VEAL CUTLETS (No. 521 and No. 90). PORK CHOPS (No. 93).

FOOTNOTES:

[151-*] The season for these is from the 29th of _September_ to the 25th of _March_; to ensure their being tender when out of season, STEW THEM as in receipt No. 500.

TO WARM UP COLD RUMP-STEAKS.

Lay them in a stew-pan, with one large onion cut in quarters, six berries of allspice, the same of black pepper, cover the steaks with boiling water, let them stew gently one hour, thicken the liquor with flour and b.u.t.ter rubbed together on a plate; if a pint of gravy, about one ounce of flour, and the like weight of b.u.t.ter, will do; put it into the stew-pan, shake it well over the fire for five minutes, and it is ready; lay the steaks and onions on a dish and pour the gravy through a sieve over them.

[153-*] See "THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE," by the editor of "THE COOK'S ORACLE." Published by G. B. Whittaker, No. 13, Ave-Maria Lane.

VEGETABLES.

_Sixteen Ways of dressing Potatoes._[155-*]--(No. 102.)

The vegetable kingdom affords no food more wholesome, more easily procured, easily prepared, or less expensive, than the potato: yet, although this most useful vegetable is dressed almost every day, in almost every family, for one plate of potatoes that comes to table as it should, ten are spoiled.

Be careful in your choice of potatoes: no vegetable varies so much in colour, size, shape, consistence, and flavour.

The reddish-coloured are better than the white, but the yellowish-looking ones are the best. Choose those of a moderate size, free from blemishes, and fresh, and buy them in the mould. They must not be wetted till they are cleaned to be cooked. Protect them from the air and frost, by laying them in heaps in a cellar, covering them with mats, or burying them in sand or in earth. The action of frost is most destructive: if it be considerable, the life of the vegetable is destroyed, and the potato speedily rots.

Wash them, but do not pare or cut them, unless they are very large. Fill a sauce-pan half full of potatoes of equal size[155-+] (or make them so by dividing the larger ones), put to them as much cold water as will cover them about an inch: they are sooner boiled, and more savoury, than when drowned in water. Most boiled things are spoiled by having too little water, but potatoes are often spoiled by too much: they must merely be covered, and a little allowed for waste in boiling, so that they may be just covered at the finish.

Set them on a moderate fire till they boil; then take them off, and put them by the side of the fire to simmer slowly till they are soft enough to admit a fork (place no dependence on the usual test of their skins'

cracking, which, if they are boiled fast, will happen to some potatoes when they are not half done, and the insides quite hard). Then pour the water off (if you let the potatoes remain in the water a moment after they are done enough, they will become waxy and watery), uncover the sauce-pan, and set it at such a distance from the fire as will secure it from burning; their superfluous moisture will evaporate, and the potatoes will be perfectly dry and mealy.

You may afterward place a napkin, folded up to the size of the sauce-pan's diameter, over the potatoes, to keep them hot and mealy till wanted.

_Obs._--This method of managing potatoes is in every respect equal to steaming them; and they are dressed in half the time.

There is such an infinite variety of sorts and sizes of potatoes, that it is impossible to say how long they will take doing: the best way is to try them with a fork. Moderate-sized potatoes will generally be done enough in fifteen or twenty minutes. See _Obs._ to No. 106.

_Cold Potatoes fried._--(No. 102*.)

Put a bit of clean dripping into a frying-pan: when it is melted, slice in your potatoes with a little pepper and salt; put them on the fire; keep stirring them: when they are quite hot, they are ready.

_Obs._--This is a very good way of re-dressing potatoes, or see No. 106.

_Potatoes boiled and broiled._--(No. 103.)

Dress your potatoes as before directed, and put them on a gridiron over a very clear and brisk fire: turn them till they are brown all over, and send them up dry, with melted b.u.t.ter in a cup.

_Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings._--(No. 104.)

Peel large potatoes; slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping. Take care that your fat and frying-pan are quite clean; put it on a quick fire, watch it, and as soon as the lard boils, and is still, put in the slices of potato, and keep moving them till they are crisp. Take them up, and lay them to drain on a sieve: send them up with a very little salt sprinkled over them.

_Potatoes fried whole._--(No. 105.)

When nearly boiled enough, as directed in No. 102, put them into a stew-pan with a bit of b.u.t.ter, or some nice clean beef-drippings; shake them about often (for fear of burning them), till they are brown and crisp; drain them from the fat.

_Obs._--It will be an elegant improvement to the last three receipts, previous to frying or broiling the potatoes, to flour them and dip them in the yelk of an egg, and then roll them in fine-sifted bread-crumbs; they will then deserve to be called POTATOES FULL DRESSED.

_Potatoes mashed._--(No. 106. See also No. 112.)

When your potatoes are thoroughly boiled, drain them quite dry, pick out every speck, &c., and while hot, rub them through a colander into a clean stew-pan. To a pound of potatoes put about half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, and a table-spoonful of milk: do not make them too moist; mix them well together.

_Obs._--After Lady-day, when the potatoes are getting old and specky, and in frosty weather, this is the best way of dressing them. You may put them into shapes or small tea-cups; egg them with yelk of egg, and brown them very slightly before a slow fire. See No. 108.

_Potatoes mashed with Onions._--(No. 107.)

Prepare some boiled onions by putting them through a sieve, and mix them with potatoes. In proportioning the onions to the potatoes, you will be guided by your wish to have more or less of their flavour.

_Obs._--See note under No. 555.

_Potatoes escalloped._--(No. 108.)

Mash potatoes as directed in No. 106; then b.u.t.ter some nice clean scollop-sh.e.l.ls, patty-pans, or tea-cups or saucers; put in your potatoes; make them smooth at the top; cross a knife over them; strew a few fine bread-crumbs on them; sprinkle them with a paste-brush with a few drops of melted b.u.t.ter, and then set them in a Dutch oven; when they are browned on the top, take them carefully out of the sh.e.l.ls and brown the other side.

_Colcannon._--(No. 108*.)

Boil potatoes and greens, or spinage, separately; mash the potatoes; squeeze the greens dry; chop them quite fine, and mix them with the potatoes, with a little b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt; put it into a mould, b.u.t.tering it well first; let it stand in a hot oven for ten minutes.

_Potatoes roasted._--(No. 109.)

Wash and dry your potatoes (all of a size), and put them in a tin Dutch oven, or cheese-toaster: take care not to put them too near the fire, or they will get burned on the outside before they are warmed through.

Large potatoes will require two hours to roast them.

N.B. To save time and trouble, some cooks half boil them first.

This is one of the best opportunities the BAKER has to rival the cook.

_Potatoes roasted under Meat._--(No. 110.)