The following is an exceedingly nice way of serving baked potatoes. Bake potatoes of equal size, and when done, and still hot, cut off a small piece from each potato; scoop out carefully the inside, leaving the skin unbroken; mash the potato well, seasoning it with plenty of butter, pepper, and salt; return it with a spoon to the potato skin, allowing it to protrude about an inch above the skin. When enough skins are filled, use a fork or knife to make rough the potato which projects above the skin; put all into the oven a minute to color the tops. It is better, perhaps, to color them with a salamander. They will have the appearance of baked potatoes burst open.
Potatoes Baked with Beef.
Pare potatoes of equal size, and put them into the oven in the same pan in which the beef is baked. Every time the beef is basted, the potatoes should be basted also. Serve them around the beef.
Potatoes à la Parisienne.
Peel the potatoes, and with a vegetable-cutter (three-fourths of an inch in diameter) cut as many little balls as you can from each potato; throw these balls into boiling-hot lard, and fry (about five minutes) until done, when they must be skimmed out immediately. It is more convenient to fry them in a wire-basket ([see page 53]). Sprinkle salt over them as soon as done. It is a very good way of cooking potatoes as a garnish for beefsteak or game. The cuttings of the potatoes left after taking out the balls can be boiled and mashed. These potatoes must be served when done, or the crusts will lose their crispness.
Saratoga Potatoes.
It requires a little plane, or potato or cabbage cutter, to cut these potatoes. Two or three fine, large potatoes (ripe new ones are preferable) are selected and pared. They are cut, by rubbing them over the plane, into slices as thin or thinner than a wafer. These are placed for a few moments in ice, or very cold water, to become chilled. Boiling lard is now tested, to see if it is of the proper temperature. The slices must color quickly; but the fat must not be so hot as to give them a dark color.
Place a salt-box on the hearth; also a dish to receive the cooked potatoes at the side; a tin plate and perforated ladle should be at hand also. Now throw, separately, five or six slices of the cold potato into the hot lard; keep them separated by means of the ladle until they are of a delicate yellow color; skim them out into the tin plate; sprinkle over some salt, and push them on the dish. Now pour back any grease that is on the tin plate into the kettle, and fry five or six slices at a time until enough are cooked. Two potatoes fried will make a large dishful.
It is a convenient dish for a company dinner, as it may be made early in the day; and by being kept in a dry, warm place (for instance, a kitchen-closet), the potato-slices will be crisp and nice five or six hours afterward. They are eaten cold, and are a pretty garnish around game, or, in fact, any other kind of meat.