New potatoes should be scrubbed, rubbed with a coarse cloth, and boiled or steamed according to taste : you cannot expect them to be very mealy, of course, and with some people their waxiness constitutes their chief charm.

Having boiled or steamed our potato satisfactorily, let us see in how many ways we may serve it, presuming that we have turned it out as flourily as we could desire.

First, of course, it may be sent up plainly, either in its skin, or crumbled in to the dish made hot to receive it. Secondly, it may be turned out upon a wire sieve, be rubbed through it with a wooden spoon, and dished plainly in that form as "potato-snow" pommes de terre rapees. Lastly, it may be mashed, and I maintain that true mashed potato can only be produced from a mealy tuber. A good way to mash potatoes is to break them up first in the dry hot sauce-pan in which they were boiled, working them well with a wooden spoon, and adding as much butter you can spare, a little milk, and some salt. When fairly well mashed, to pass them through the sieve so as to catch the knots, and then to form them as you like, - browning the mould in front of the fire, or in the oven before serving.

If you want to get that foreign taste, which many people fancy in mashed potatoes, try the following method:- when your potatoes are nicely boiled, and drained, turn them back into their sauce-pan, which, during the draining, you must rub lightly with garlic : go on as previously described, be liberal with your butter, and instead of the milk, add a little stock from the soup kettle. A dust of pepper, and a little nutmeg, will complete the puree, for remember that mashed potato abroad goes by the name of puree de pommes de terre, and is sent to table not nearly as stiffly moulded as ours.

Mashed potato brings us to more elaborate forms of potato cookery, viz. :- a la Duchesse, croquettes, etc.

Potatoes a la Duchesse should be well worked through the sieve, enriched with the yolks of two or three eggs, and a gill of cream, and given a delicate flavouring of salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chopped parsley: then rolled into balls, and either fried gently in butter, or browned in the oven on a buttered tin, having been previously brushed over with egg, and bread crumbed with very fine stale crumbs.

'A la "G. C." - A Bombay onion, boiled very soft, should be beaten, hot, with four times its bulk of potato; butter, cream, pepper, the yolks of two eggs, and salt should be added, and the whole passed through the sieve : roll this mixture into balls, and treat them as laid down for the Duchesse.

Boulettes de pommes de terre are very tasty :- Mash eight fairly-sized potatoes, pass the puree through the sieve, work into it the yolks of five eggs; season it with a little finely-minced parsley and marjoram; moisten it with enough cream to bring it to the consistency of thin paste; add salt, pepper, and a dust of nutmeg; lastly, add the whites of three of the eggs whipped to a stiff froth. Prepare a bath of boiling fat, and then fry the boulettes by passing tea-spoonfuls of the paste one after the other into the fat. As each little spoonful reaches the fat, it will swell up, and as soon as it turns a rich golden yellow, it is done. These can only be successful when the potato is dry, and floury.

Croquettes can be made of cold mashed potatoes left from a previous meal. You must work them very much as previously described, flavouring them with a little chopped parsley, a very little shallot, a little chopped thyme or marjoram, or spices if you like : form them into rolls or tablets, and fry them a golden brown. The art of the cook will be made manifest by his presenting you with a tasty-looking morsel, of the right colour, and delicately flavoured. Change can, of course, be obtained by selecting herbs, etc., according to your pleasure.

In frying croquettes, duchesses, etc., it is a sine qua non to use plenty of fat. and to see that it is boiling. If the frying medium be not hot enough, and insufficient in quantity, you will never get the golden colour which perfection demands.

Waxy potatoes, with the exception previously mentioned of new ones, should never be served plainly boiled : you should direct them to be cooked in one of the following ways :- a la maitre d'hotel, a la Lyonnaise, sautees, a l'Americaine, etc.

Potatoes sautees (not to be confounded please with potatoes frites) should be treated in this manner :- Boil your potatoes, then slice them moderately thickly, and toss them in plenty of butter in your frying-pan till they colour nicely, pour the brown butter over them, and give them a dust of salt.

For maitre d'hotel proceed as above, adding a few drops of lime juice, a heaped up table-spoonful of very finely chopped curled parsley, and half a cupful of broth.*

Potatoes a la Lyonnaise are achieved by first frying a Bombay onion (chopped small) in butter till it begins to brown, then adding a wine-glass of broth with your pieces of potato, tossing them till coloured, and finally giving them a dust of pepper and salt.

For a la Provencale, proceed as above, adding a little finely pared lime-peel, some chopped parsley, an atom of garlic, salt, pepper, and a dust of grated nutmeg. When serving, sprinkle a little lime juice over the potatoes.

Potatoes a l' Americaine

Cut up your boiled potatoes into thick slices : flavour a little milk with onion, spice, pepper, and salt; strain and thicken it, as laid down for melted butter, with butter and flour, till you have a nice sauce blanche; place your slices of potato in this, and heat them up to boiling point: take the sauce-pan off the fire, stir in the yolk of an egg, add a large spoonful of chopped parsley, with a pat of butter the size of a rupee, and serve.

* Or the slices may be tossed in maitre d'hotel butter, with a few spoonfuls of broth. - W.

Potatoes a la Parisienne are slices of potato gently heated up in sauce soubise.