Boil some potatoes (new ones are best), and, when done, cut them into slices, and serve them in a little white sauce, some chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and a little lemon-juice. Proportions: one dozen small new kidney potatoes, three tablespoonfuls of white sauce, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, the juice of a quarter of lemon, about a saltspoonful of mixed pepper and salt. (See Maitre d'Hotel).

Baked Potatoes

When potatoes are baked in their jackets, they should be first well washed with a brush. Time to bake large ones, about two hours. Serve in their skins, with a little butter. When potatoes are baked, after being peeled and cut up, they require fat. Potatoes are thus often baked under a joint of meat. If baked in a tin, cut up with some dripping. They require turning occasionally.

Boiled And Steamed Potatoes

(See No. 9.) Recollect, old potatoes must be put into cold water, new potatoes into hot water. The potatoes should be as nearly the same size as possible. Large potatoes must boil rather longer and more slowly than small; consequently, if the potatoes be very large, as soon as the water boils, throw in a little cold to take it off the boil again. If potatoes are over-boiled, they get pappy. Consequently, there is a fear, in the case of large potatoes, of getting the outsides boiled too much before the centre is tender. The great art of boiling potatoes is to know directly they are done. Novices should try them with a fork. Directly they are tender, strain off the water, and put a dry cloth under the saucepan lid, leaving the lid half off. Give the saucepan a shake occasionally. Let them steam for about five minutes after being strained off.

New potatoes don't require more than drying after boiling, when they should be placed in a vegetable-dish, with a little piece of butter, a few mint-leaves (which should be boiled with them), and a little chopped parsley. Sometimes new potatoes have some white sauce poured over them.

Fried Potatoes

Potatoes, raw and cooked, fry very easily if the fat is properly hot. (See No. 6.) Cut raw potatoes thin - not much thicker than a penny-piece. Potatoes that have been cooked before may be cut half an inch thick. As soon as the potatoes begin to turn colour, take them out of the fat, as they get darker afterwards by themselves. Drain them on a hot cloth or blotting-paper to get rid of the grease.

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are generally made from the remains of boiled potatoes, or from potatoes that have boiled badly and got broken. Mash the potatoes with a fork, in a saucepan, with a little butter, till they are hot. Boil about a couple of tablespoonfuls of milk separately, and add, mixing them thoroughly with a fork, and mould into some shape.

A mould of mashed potatoes will brown in the oven.

Borders Of Potatoes

Make some mashed potatoes; shape it into a border, leaving a hole in the middle for some hash or stew. A very simple round shape can be made by placing a jam-pot in a cake-tin, and filling in the ring. A very little ingenuity with a scooped carrot or turnip will give the mould a fluted appearance round the outside. Beat up the yolk of an egg and brush the outside of the border, and bake it in the oven till it is of a nice colour; then fill the inside with some good hash or mince. The yolk of egg is not essential.