POTATOES
Next to wheat flour, potatoes are our most common form of starch food. The potato is a tuber, a native of America, and may be said to have been discovered to the civilized world by the Spaniards, who found it growing in Chili and Peru. Thence it was carried to Spain, and from there to other parts of Europe, some time in the sixteenth century. Potatoes were at first used as luxuries, but are now almost ranked among the necessities of life.
The composition of potatoes (Letherby) is as follows:
| Water | 75.00% | |
| Starch | 18.80% | |
| Nitrogenous matter | 2.00% | |
| Sugar | 3.00% | |
| Fat | .20% | |
| Salts | 1.00% | [36] |
From this we see that starch is the principal nutrient, therefore potatoes in use for food should be associated with nitrogenous substances, such as eggs, meat, fish, and milk. The potash salts which potatoes contain are very valuable. According to Letherby, an average of thirty-one analyses of the ash of potatoes gave 59.8 per cent. of potash, 19.1 per cent. of phosphoric acid, the other ingredients being in exceedingly small proportions. These salts are necessary to a healthy condition of the blood. Potatoes are a valuable antiscorbutic.
According to Mattieu Williams, scurvy prevailed in Norway to a very serious extent until the introduction of the potato; and Lang, with other good authorities, testifies that its disappearance is due to the use of potatoes by a people who formerly were insufficiently supplied with salts-giving vegetable food.
The salts of the potato are most abundant in or near the skin, and the decision of the question as to whether potatoes shall be pared or not before cooking is somewhat aided by this fact. For persons who eat but few other fresh vegetables by all means leave the skins on, but for those who have access to a good kitchen garden and have plenty of other vegetables and fruits from which to get their salts, it makes no important difference whether the skins are removed.
The potato is eminently a starch food, and this knowledge indicates the method of treatment in cooking. Since starch is its principal ingredient (the amount of nitrogenous matter being very small), if it is cooked with reference to that alone, it will be done in the best possible manner.
Starch, in order to be rendered most digestible and acceptable to the human system, must be subjected to a high temperature in the presence of some liquid. At 401° Fahr. (see [pages 33] and [34]) it is converted into dextrine. This change, if not performed outside the body, will be done in the ordinary processes of digestion after the starch is eaten; therefore the nearer we approach to it in cooking, the more perfectly is the food prepared which contains it.
Usually the first vegetable prescribed by the physician for a sick person who is beginning to use solids, is a baked potato. A baked potato, however, may be no better than a boiled potato unless it is cooked in so high a temperature that the starch is affected. Boiled potatoes cannot be subjected to a higher temperature than 212° Fahr. Baked potatoes may be done in such a way that they are but little better than boiled—for instance, done in a slow oven. On the other hand, if they are put into a temperature of 380° or 400° Fahr., or a hot oven, they will be done in such a manner that the conversion of starch will in a degree take place, and they will be consequently both palatable and easily digested.
Potatoes roasted in hot ashes or embers are delicious, and for the same reason. But it must not be understood that by cooking potatoes in a high temperature the starch which they contain is all changed into dextrine. This does not usually take place except in slight degree, but by the high temperature it is better prepared for this change in the processes of digestion. Probably what does take place is a sort of hydration of the starch, resulting in the complete swelling and final bursting of the granules, with possibly an intermediate change between this and dextrine. Just at the moment when potatoes are done they should be immediately taken from the fire and served at once. The potato is capable of being made into a variety of dishes, and when properly prepared has a delicate flavor which is very acceptable to most people. It is one of the most easily digested forms of starch-containing food.
BOILED POTATOES
For boiled potatoes, if they are to be served whole, select those of the same shape and size. Wash them under a stream of water with a vegetable brush. Pare carefully so as not to waste the potato, and evenly, that they may look smooth and shapely. Cook them in a granite-ware kettle or covered saucepan, in enough salted boiling water to just cover them. If cold water is used, there is a greater loss of potash salts by solution, because of the longer time of exposure to the action of the liquid. The proportion of salt should be one teaspoon to a quart of water.
Potatoes being already hydrated, it makes no great difference whether they are put into hot or cold water, except in the time which will be required to boil them and the slight loss of salts. For medium-sized potatoes from thirty to forty minutes will be necessary after they begin to boil. The moment they feel soft when pierced with a fork they are done. Take them at once from the fire, drain off all the water, and dry them by gently moving the pan back and forth over the top of the stove for a minute. Serve as quickly as possible. Unless they are to be eaten at once, it is better to mash them, and keep them in the oven until needed.
MASHED POTATOES
For mashed potatoes the uneven sizes may be used; the large ones should be cut into small pieces. Prepare according to the foregoing rule, and when they are cooked and dried, add salt, butter, pepper, and cream, in the following proportions:
1 Pint of potatoes.
1 Teaspoon of butter.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
½ Saltspoon of pepper (white).
2 Tablespoons of sweet cream or of milk.
Put into the potatoes the butter, salt, and pepper, and mash them on the stove, in the dish in which they were boiled, to keep them hot. Use an open wire potato-masher, and mash quickly so that they may be light and dry, not "gummy." Last put in the cream, mix for a moment, and serve immediately in a covered vegetable-dish. If it is necessary to keep them for a time, arrange them like a cake in the dish in which they are to be served, smooth over the top, dot it with little bits of butter, or brush it over with milk or the beaten white of egg, and brown them a delicate golden color by placing the dish on the grate in the oven.
BAKED POTATOES
For baked potatoes, select those which are of uniform size and not very large. Scrub them thoroughly in a stream of water from the faucet, to wash off every particle of sand, for many like to eat the outside. Bake them in a hot oven for from forty-five to fifty minutes. If the potatoes are of medium size, and do not cook in that time, it indicates that the oven is not of the proper temperature.
Baked potatoes, not being exposed to the solvent action of a liquid, lose none of their potash salts in cooking, as boiled potatoes do. The same is true of those roasted, and of those fried raw in deep fat.
ROASTED POTATOES
Bury medium-sized potatoes in the embers or ashes of an open fire for a half hour or more, according to their size. At the end of that time dust off the ashes with a brush. Burst the shells by squeezing them in the hand, and serve at once with salt, and butter or cream. Either baked or roasted potatoes are delicious eaten with sweet cream, salt, and pepper.
CREAMED POTATOES
Left-over potatoes may be used for this dish, or potatoes may be boiled on purpose for it. Whichever is used, cut them into half-inch dice, put them in an omelet-pan, season them with salt and pepper, and pour in milk until it is even with the surface of the potato; then simmer gently until all the milk is absorbed, or for about half an hour. For every pint of potatoes make a pint of white sauce, season it with a saltspoon of salt and a teaspoon of chopped parsley, and pour it over. Potatoes are very nice done in this way, if care is taken in simmering them in the milk. Unless this is done according to the rule, they will have the cold-potato taste, which is not at all palatable.
A little chopped onion may replace the parsley with good effect.
DUCHESS POTATOES
1 Pint of potatoes.
1 Teaspoon of butter.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
1 Egg.
¼ Teaspoon of white pepper.
Wash, pare, and boil the potatoes. Drain out every drop of water, and dry them in the usual way. When dry and mealy, put in the butter, salt, and pepper, and mash them thoroughly and quickly. If potatoes are mashed for a long time slowly, they become waxy, so endeavor to do it quickly and as lightly as possible. Then add the egg, well beaten, and the cream; mix, and form it into a flat cake (on a board) about half an inch thick. Cut it into oblongs or squares, or shape it into rounds or balls, brush over with the beaten white of egg, or milk, and bake in a hot oven until a delicate brown. Serve the cakes on a platter as soon as they are done.