The home cook book

Slice across and not too thin cold boiled potatoes. Spread out, and salt and pepper them. Put in a frying-pan with hot lard enough to heat and brown them. Cover, because they brown better when covered. Set over a moderately hot fire. Turn the potatoes every now and then, or rather, stir them over with a large broad-bladed knife. Brown slowly, carefully, and a light brown. When done, put them in some place for a short time for the grease to dry off. Serve hot. Raw potatoes are cooked in the same way, but are cut differently. Cut them lengthwise in thin pieces. Before frying, soak them in cold water half an hour. Cold sweet potatoes are very nice fried in this same way, but they require more grease and do not dry off as much. Serve very hot. MASHED POTATOES Peel and boil the potatoes tender, tip off the water in which they were cooked and have them dry in the pot or saucepan. Sprinkle salt to taste and mash them thoroughly with a masher. Drop in a lump of butter to your taste and add cream of fresh milk, never water, for a softener and binder. Then beat mashed potatoes, milk, and butter together vigorously till they are white and foamy. Put in a hot vegetable dish and do not mash the potatoes down with a knife, but sprinkle with pepper, drop a small lump of butter in the middle and serve hot and at once. 'MASHED POTATO WITH CHEESE RELISH After you have boiled and mashed the potatoes you wish to use, soften them with a plentiful supply of milk so that additional cooking will not harden, and smooth them lightly in a baking dish. Through the centre of the potatoes make a deep, broad X. Glaze the potato with the white of an egg and set in the oven. Stir four tablespoons of cheese grated or cut in small bits into a saucepan holding four tablespoons of hot butter. Mix well, and pour slowly upon the yolks of two eggs which you have already well beaten. Season with salt and pepper, and pour the mixture in the broad X of the mashed potato. Let it run thoroughly through the channels so that taking a spoonful of the potatoes you will get some of the cheese sauce. After pouring in the sauce, spread breadcrumbs over, brown for a moment in the oven, and serve hot. MASHED POTATO WITH ONION AND BACON Cut bacon into thin slices, not much thicker than a knife blade. Cut the slices across, in small pieces. Slice one medium-sized onion very thin. Cut this in small pieces, like the bacon. Have a frying-pan with a trifle of hot lard to fry the onion and bacon a nice brown. Fry the fat of the bacon all out, so that the meat will be crisp. Have ready a hot vegetable dish of mashed potato. Smooth it over the top. Shape it higher in the centre. With a spoon press down a place in the middle. Pour into it the bacon, onion, and fat. A spoon is used to serve this dish. The mixture will penetrate it and give a savory flavor to the mashed potato. MASHED POTATO AND TURNIP WITH SAUSAGE Peel and cut in small pieces enough potatoes to fill a quart measure and enough turnips to fill a pint measure. Cook the turnips longer than the potatoes, for they are a tougher vegetable. After they have become a little tender, add the potatoes Quart and Pint Measures