Receipt 2.—To roast in the ashes, wash them clean, then dry them, then remove the heated embers and ashes quite to the bottom of the fire-place, and place them as closely together as possible, but not on top of each other. Cover as quickly as possible, and fill the crevices with hot embers and small coals. Let them be as nearly of a size as possible, and cover them to the depth of an inch. Then build a hot fire over them. They will be cooked in from half an hour to three quarters of an hour, according to the size and heat of the fire.
Receipt 3.—Baking potatoes in a stove or oven, is a process so generally known, that it hardly needs description.
Receipt 4.—Steaming is better than boiling. Some fry them; others stew them with vegetables for soup, etc.
Section B.—The Sweet Potato.
This was once confined to the Southern States, but it is now raised in tolerable perfection in New Jersey and on Long Island. It is richer than the common potato in saccharine matter, and probably more nutritious; but not, it is believed, quite so wholesome. Still it is a good article of food.
Receipt 1.—Roasting is the best process of cooking these. They may be prepared in the ashes or before a fire. The last process is most common. They cook in far less time than a common potato.
Receipt 2.—Baking and roasting by the fire are nearly or quite the same thing as respects the sweet potato. Steaming is a little different, and boiling greatly so. The boiled sweet potato is, however, a most excellent article.
DIVISION II.—SWEET AND WATERY ROOTS.
These are far less healthy than the mealy ones; and yet are valuable, because, like potatoes, they furnish the system with a good deal of innutritious matter, to be set off against the almost pure nutriment of bread, rice, beans, peas, etc.
Receipt 1.—The beet is best when boiled thoroughly, which requires some care and a good deal of time. It may be roasted, baked, or stewed, however. It is rich in sugar, but is not very easily digested.