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.