Cookery for every household

Note. — When the potatoes are very large they may be cut in two after baking. The quantity of milk or cream must be somewhat regulated according to the size of the potatoes, the mixture must not be made too moist. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. 560. Pommes de Terre Soufflees This is another form of fried potatoes, but one which is somewhat difficult to prepare, and with which an English cook is not usually successful. Pommes de Terre Soufflees are, however, well worth the care and trouble they entail. The potatoes are fried in such a way that they puff out and look like little golden balls or eggs hollow in the centre. Success depends to a large extent upon the kind of potato used and also upon the cutting. Choose white, waxy potatoes. Dutch potatoes are considered the best for the purpose, and they must be perfectly sound. Wash and peel, trimming them to make them even in form, but do not throw them again into cold water. Then cut them lengthwise or with the grain of the potato into even slices about an eighth of an inch in thickness. This requires a little practice, because unless the slices are cut evenly they will not swell properly. Special cutters can be bought for the purpose. Pommes de Terre Soufflees Lay them as they are ready in the folds of a towel and wipe them dry. To Fry. — Have ready on the fire a saucepan of hot fat, not quite boiling, put about a dozen slices of potato into this and fry them until they rise to the surface and are very slightly coloured. Lift them out as they are done with a skimmer, lay them on draining paper, and keep them warm in a cool oven. When all the potato slices have been fried once in this way, heat the fat until it is smoking hot. Throw the potatoes back into it, but only a few at a time, because they must have room to swell, and stir them very gently for a minute or two until they puff out and are a pretty brown colour. Drain again and sprinkle very lightly with salt. To serve, pile them up in a pyramid on a hot dish. Or, sometimes they are served in a nest of potato straws (see Recipe 539), and are known as Pommes de Terre au Nid. 561. Pommes de Terre Anna 1 to 1J lb. potatoes. 2 to 3 oz. butter. Seasoning. Take a round and shallow cake-tin, or a small frying-pan will do, grease it well with melted butter and let this butter set. One or two of the potatoes should be large ; peel them and cut them through the middle with a column-shaped cutter, rather more than an inch in diameter. Then slice these column-shaped pieces very thinly, thus making little rounds about the size of a halfpenny piece. Now line the greased tin with these thin rounds. Commence by putting a round in the centre at the bottom with a circle of pieces round it, one leaning against the other ; then another circle of pieces beyond that, reversing this time the direction in which the pieces are placed. Continue in this way until the bottom of the tin is covered, then line the sides in the same way, always arranging the pieces the one slightly on the top of the other. It is very important to have these slices of potato very thin, otherwise they will not adhere one to the other, and there is also danger of their not being sufficiently cooked. Now slice thinly the remaining potato, or enough to well fill the tin. This time it is not important