The only way to prevent the loss of nutrients in using this process is to boil the potatoes with the “jackets” on. This is the best way with new potatoes. This method with ripe and old potatoes gives a yellowish color to the surface and
indeed throughout. It is a labor-saving method for the busy housewife, as the skin cracks and loosens at the end of the boiling process, and is easily removed.
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.