This section is from the book "The Epicurean", by Charles Ranhofer. Also available from Amazon: The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art.
Select long-shaped potatoes; they must be peeled and cut into the form of a large cork; mince them finely, and soak in water for a few moments; drain and wipe on a cloth. Butter and bread the inside of a thick copper pan, having a well-fitted cover; range on the bottom and sides a thin layer of the potatoes, one overlapping the other, then fill entirely with the remaining ones in separate layers, covering each with butter free from moisture, softened by working in a napkin; mask the upper layer with the same, and close with the lid. Cook the potatoes for three-quarters of an hour in the oven; a quarter of an hour before serving take from the fire, drain off the butter and cut a cross through the potatoes yet in the sautoir, and turn each quarter over with the aid of a palette; put back the drained-off butter and return to the oven until ready, and invert on a dish to serve. These potatoes may be made in a smaller pan; in this case they should not be cut but turned over whole before putting in the oven the second time.
Wash and brush medium-sized potatoes, wipe dry and lay them on a dish, then push into a hot oven for thirty to forty minutes; when done serve on a napkin, or else they may be steamed or boiled, then baked and peeled; cover with butter, color in the oven, and serve in a vegetable dish.
Put a pound of peeled potatoes to boil in salted water; drain as soon as done, and dry in the oven; rub through a sieve, then put this puree into a saucepan to dilute with a little clear gravy (No. 404), and add meat glaze (No. 402), two shallots prevoiusly tried in butter, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, a quarter of a pound of raw ham cut in three-sixteenths inch squares and four egg-yolks. Put aside the eighth part of this preparation, and dress the remainder dome-form on a baking dish; to the eighth reserved part add four egg-yolks and a little cream; beat well, and then stir in two well-whipped egg-whites; cover the dome with this, bestrew it with bread-crumbs, pour melted butter over, and set it in the oven for twenty minutes to heat and bake to a fine color.
Turn some raw potatoes into rounds two and one-eighth inches in diameter; make an opening in them of one and one-eighth inch, leaving a thickness of a quarter of an inch; blanch these hollow balls for a few moments in salted water, then turn them over to drain well. Prepare a forcemeat with a shallot fried colorless in butter, adding some sausage meat (No. 68), and let cook together; put in salt, pepper, bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, and a few egg-yolks, and with this preparation fill the holes in the potatoes; strew bread-crumbs over, then parmesan cheese, sprinkle over melted butter, and range them as fast as they are ready in a sautoir lined with bards of fat pork; pour more butter over, and put on the lid, then set it in an oven to finish cooking the potatoes; when done remove the cover and brown them nicely; range neatly in a vegetable dish on a little half-glaze (No. 400;.
 
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