Culinary jottings

Mashed potato brings as to more elaborate forms of potato cookery, viz. : — a la Duchesse, croquettes, ^'c. 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 " Gr. C." — A Bombay onion, boiled yery 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 jpommes 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, <tc., according to your pleasure. In frying croquettes, duchesses, Sf'c, it is a sine qua )ion to nse 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, saufees, a VAviericaine, <5'c. 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 maître d'hôtel 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.