Читать книгу Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book - Mary Ronald - Страница 9

Table of Contents

Potatoes are a universal dish, and there are an infinite variety of ways of cooking them: boiling, baking, frying, all manner of ways to suit all manner of people, and to accompany all kinds of meats. Yet, strange as it may seem, it is the food usually the worst cooked of any that is presented. The potatoes are too often soggy, greasy, blackened, burned. The poor cook seems determined to destroy both the favor and flavor of this useful vegetable. The potato is mostly starch, and it is not as well known as it should be that the principle of cooking starch is to cook it only until the starch grains burst, and then remove it from moisture, for the starch grains, when open, readily absorb moisture and become soggy. Hence we see this vegetable a most delicious dish or one unfit to eat, according to the skill of the cook. Mashed potato is served from the simplest kitchen, but betrays the poor cook as quickly as a greasy soup. Sometimes one sees an attempt made to improve the appearance of this dish by pressing and smoothing it over the top. This makes a hard and compact mass of what ought to be a light and flaky substance. Often it is served in a deep dish, which is another mistake; for the potato, when light and white, is tempting enough to serve on a flat dish where it may be seen. Potatoes that are to be served in this way should be mashed the moment they are cooked, and not set aside for a more convenient time. They may then be moistened with milk or cream and be seasoned with butter, pepper, and salt, in measure to the richness desired, and whipped until, like the whites of eggs, they become white and spongy from the air imprisoned in the cells. Mashed potato may be served in a great variety of ways. It can be run through the menu from soup to salad; can be used for entrées, and can make ornamental fancy dishes out of even minces and stews. It is invaluable as a mask for broken dishes; for instance, a leg of mutton can be made a presentable dish to serve a second time by filling the cut with mashed potato. In this case it must be molded to the shape of the roast and be painted with egg over the top, so it will take color and not betray the patch. Such expedients are at times admissible and should not be scorned. It has been wisely said that “if there is not economy in the kitchen there will soon be no kitchen.”

When potato is made into cakes, timbales, or croquettes, it must have egg mixed through it, else it will lose its form when cooked the second time. When used as borders for minces or creamed dishes, it can be turned into shape with a knife, be lightly pressed into a mold to give it form, or be pressed through a pastry-bag and tube into fancy forms.

Frying is perhaps the method of cooking potatoes which requires the most skill. Fried balls, slices, or straws are always excellent with broiled meats, and at the same time are the best garnish for them. The height of skill is reached in the soufflé. These small balloons are something of a marvel, and are seldom seen except from the hand of a French cook. The amateur seldom succeeds with this dish, yet it is one worthy of the practice which makes perfect. To prepare the delectable soufflé, the potato is cut lengthwise, or with the grain; the slices must be one eighth of an inch in thickness and taken off with one clean, sharp cut, then trimmed to uniform shapes, either elliptical or round. The slices are soaked in cold water and dried with a cloth at the moment of cooking. They are immersed in fat just below the smoking-point, and cooked for five minutes, or until softened; are then drained and allowed to cool for a little time in an open oven, and then immersed a second time in fat which is very hot, when the slices at once puff and brown. They should be served at once.

NO. 10. UTENSILS.

1. Baking sheet.

2. Purée sieve.

3. Fontage or Swedish timbale irons.

4. Pastry brush.

5. Two pastry bags made of rubber cloth, the larger one holding a star tube.

6. Tubes for pastry bags with plain, round, and star openings of different sizes. The last four on the right are small tubes for icing cake in ornamental designs.

NO. 12. CUTTERS AND MOLDS.

1. A nest of long vegetable cutters making pencil-shaped pieces of different sizes.

2, 3, 4. Bread and cake cutters in the forms of a heart, a spade, and a clover leaf.

5. Individual timbale molds.

6. Pastry cutter for vol-au-vents.

7. Form for molding lobster or fish chops.

8, 9. Small plain round, and fluted cutters for tiny biscuits or for garnishes.

10. A group of fancy cutters for sliced vegetables to be used in macedoine, in soup, or as garnishes.

11. A smaller cutter used for truffles and hard boiled eggs.

12. Cake cutter in form of crescent.

13. Three vegetable scoops.

14. Fluted knife for cutting fluted slices of vegetables, turnip cups, etc.

15. A spatula, or dull edged flexible knife.

16. Small molds for aspics or other jellies used for garnishing.

NO. 13. RING MOLDS.

Potato straws are very attractive and seem so light and harmless that those who ordinarily reject fried dishes are tempted by them. They are cut lengthwise of the tuber, first in slices about one eighth of an inch in thickness, and then into straws the length of the slices. They cook very quickly in smoking-hot fat, and must not be left in so long as to become brown and dry. They should be crisp and of a lemon color. The straws can be cut of a larger size if desired, and are especially pretty if cut with a fluted knife.

It seems desirable to suggest to housekeepers the feasibility of making a specialty of cooking potatoes, and with them to give variety, which is so acceptable to those who sit at their board. Perhaps no other one thing is susceptible to so many changes, and is so simple to prepare, is so satisfactory when properly served, and withal so nutritious. It answers both the substantial and the esthetic requirements of the perfect meal; it can be suitably served for breakfast, dinner, supper, and luncheon; it is within the reach of all.