The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

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TO BOIL NEW POTATOES.

Do not have the potatoes dug long before they are dressed, as they are
never good when they have been out of the ground for some time. Well
wash them, rub off the skins with a coarse cloth, and put them in
_boiling_ water salted. Let them boil until tender; try them with a
fork, and when done pour the water away from them; let them stand by
the side of the fire with the lid of the saucepan partly removed, and
when the potatoes are thoroughly dry, put them in a hot vegetable
dish, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut; pile the potatoes
over this and serve. If the potatoes are too old to have the skins
rubbed off; boil them in their jackets; drain, peel and serve them as
above, with a piece of butter placed in the midst of them. They
require twenty to thirty minutes to cook. Serve them hot and plain, or
with melted butter over them.

MASHED POTATOES.

Take the quantity needed, pare off the skins and lay them in cold
water half an hour; then put them into a saucepan with a little salt;
cover with water and boil them until done. Drain off the water and
mash them fine with a potato masher. Have ready a piece of butter the
size of an egg, melted in half a cup of boiling hot milk and a good
pinch of salt; mix it well with the mashed potatoes until they are a
smooth paste, taking care that they are not too wet. Put them into a
vegetable dish, heaping them up and smooth over the top, put a small
piece of butter on the top in the centre, and have dots of pepper here
and there on the surface as large as a half dime.

Some prefer using a heavy fork or wire beater, instead of a potato
masher, beating the potatoes quite light and heaping them up in the
dish without smoothing over the top.

BROWNED POTATOES.

Mash them the same as the above, put them into a dish that they are to
be served in, smooth over the top and brush over with the yolk of an
egg, or spread on a bountiful supply of butter and dust well with
flour. Set in the oven to brown; it will brown in fifteen minutes with
a quick fire.

MASHED POTATOES. (Warmed Over.)

To two cupfuls of cold mashed potatoes add a half cupful of milk, a
pinch of salt, a tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour
and two eggs beaten to a froth. Mix the whole until thoroughly light;
then put into a pudding or vegetable dish, spread a little butter over
the top and bake a golden brown. The quality depends upon very
thoroughly beating the eggs before adding them, so that the potato
will remain light and porous after baking, similar to sponge cake.

POTATO PUFFS.

Prepare the potatoes as directed for mashed potato. While _hot_, shape
in balls about the size of an egg. Have a tin sheet well buttered, and
place the balls on it. As soon as all are done, brush over with beaten
egg. Brown in the oven. When done, slip a knife under them and slide
them upon a hot platter. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

POTATOES A LA CREME.

Heat a cupful of milk; stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter cut
up in as much flour. Stir until smooth and thick; pepper and salt, and
add two cupfuls of cold boiled potatoes, sliced, and a little very
finely chopped parsley. Shake over the fire until the potatoes are hot
all through, and pour into a deep dish.

NEW POTATOES AND CREAM.

Wash and rub new potatoes with a coarse cloth or scrubbing-brush; drop
into boiling water and boil briskly until done, and no more; press a
potato against the side of the kettle with a fork; if done, it will
yield to a gentle pressure; in a saucepan have ready some butter and
cream, hot, but not boiling, a little green parsley, pepper and salt;
drain the potatoes, add the mixture, put over hot water for a minute
or two, and serve.

SARATOGA CHIPS.

Peel good-sized potatoes, and slice them as evenly as possible. Drop
them into ice-water; have a kettle of very hot lard, as for cakes; put
a few at a time into a towel and shake, to dry the moisture out of
them, and then drop them into the boiling lard. Stir them
occasionally, and when of a light brown take them out with a skimmer,
and they will be crisp and not greasy. Sprinkle salt over them while
hot.

FRIED RAW POTATOES.

Peel half a dozen medium-sized potatoes very evenly, cut them in
slices as thin as an egg-shell, and be sure to cut them from the
_breadth_, not the length, of the potato. Put a tablespoonful each of
butter and sweet lard into the frying pan, and as soon as it boils add
the sliced potatoes, sprinkling over them salt and pepper to season
them. Cover them with a tight-fitting lid, and let the steam partly
cook them; then remove it, and let them fry a bright gold color,
shaking and turning them carefully, so as to brown equally. Serve very
hot.

Fried, cold cooked potatoes may be fried by the same recipe, only
slice them a little thicker.

_Remark_.--Boiled or steamed potatoes chopped up or sliced while they
are yet warm never fry so successfully as when cold.

SCALLOPED POTATOES. (Kentucky Style.)

Peel and slice raw potatoes thin, the same as for frying. Butter an
earthen dish, put in a layer of potatoes, and season with salt,
pepper, butter, a bit of onion chopped fine, if liked; sprinkle a
little flour. Now put another layer of potatoes and the seasoning.
Continue in this way till the dish is filled. Just before putting into
the oven, pour a quart of hot milk over. Bake three-quarters of an
hour.

Cold boiled potatoes may be cooked the same. It requires less time to
bake them; they are delicious either way. If the onion is disliked it
can be omitted.

STEAMED POTATOES.

This mode of cooking potatoes is now much in vogue, particularly where
they are wanted on a large scale, it being so very convenient. Pare
the potatoes, throw them into cold water as they are peeled, then put
them in a steamer. Place the steamer over a saucepan of boiling water,
and steam the potatoes from twenty to forty minutes, according to the
size and sort. When the fork goes easily through them, they are done;
then take them up, dish and serve very quickly.

POTATO SNOW.

Choose some mealy potatoes that will boil exceedingly white; pare them
and cook them well, but not so as to be watery; drain them, and mash
and season them well. Put in the saucepan in which they were dressed,
so as to keep them as hot as possible; then press them through a wire
sieve into the dish in which they are to be served; strew a little
fine salt upon them previous to sending them to table. French cooks
also add a small quantity of pounded loaf sugar while they are being
mashed.

HASTY COOKED POTATOES.

Wash and peel some potatoes; cut them into slices of about a quarter
of an inch in thickness; throw them into _boiling_ salted water, and,
if of good quality, they will be done in about ten minutes.

Strain off the water, put the potatoes into a hot dish, chop them
slightly, add pepper, salt, and a few small pieces of fresh butter,
and serve without loss of time.

FAVORITE WARMED POTATOES.

The potatoes should be boiled _whole with the skins on_ in plenty of
water, well _salted_, and are much better for being boiled the day
before needed. Care should be taken that they are not over cooked.
Strip off the skins (not pare them with a knife) and slice them nearly
a quarter of an inch thick. Place them in a chopping-bowl and sprinkle
over them sufficient salt and pepper to season them well; chop them
all one way, then turn the chopping-bowl half way around and chop
across them, cutting them into little square pieces the shape of dice.
About twenty-five minutes before serving time, place on the stove a
saucepan (or any suitable dish) containing a piece of butter the size
of an egg; when it begins to melt and run over the bottom of the dish,
put in a cup of rich sweet milk. When this boils up put in the chopped
potatoes; there should be about a quart of them; stir them a little so
that they become moistened through with the milk; then cover and place
them on the back of the stove, or in a moderate oven, where they will
heat through gradually. When heated through, stir carefully from the
bottom with a spoon and cover tightly again. Keep hot until ready to
serve. Baked potatoes are very good warmed in this manner.

CRISP POTATOES.

Cut cold raw potatoes into shavings, cubes, or any small shape; throw
them, a few at a time, into boiling fat and toss them about with a
knife until they are a uniform light brown; drain and season with salt
and pepper. Fat is never hot enough while bubbling--when it is ready
it is still and smoking, but should never burn.

LYONNAISE POTATOES.

Take eight or ten good-sized cold boiled potatoes, slice them
end-wise, then crosswise, making them like dice in small squares. When
you are ready to cook them, heat some butter or good drippings in a
frying pan; fry in it one small onion (chopped fine) until it begins
to change color and look yellow. Now put in your potatoes, sprinkle
well with salt and pepper, stir well and cook about five minutes,
taking care that you do not break them. _They must not brown._ Just
before taking up stir in a tablespoonful of minced parsley. Drain dry
by shaking in a heated colander. Serve _very hot_.

_Delmonico_

POTATO FILLETS.

Pare and slice the potatoes thin; cut them if you like in small
fillets about a quarter of an inch square, and as long as the potato
will admit; keep them in cold water until wanted, then drop them into
boiling lard; when nearly done, take them out with a skimmer and drain
them, boil up the lard again, drop the potatoes back and fry till
done; this operation causes the fillets to swell up and puff.

POTATO CROQUETTES. No. 1.

Wash, peel and put four large potatoes in cold water, with a pinch of
salt, and set them over a brisk fire; when they are done pour off all
the water and mash them. Take another saucepan, and put in it ten
tablespoonfuls of milk and a lump of butter half the size of an egg;
put it over a brisk fire; as soon as the milk comes to a boil, pour
the potatoes into it, and stir them very fast with a wooden spoon;
when thoroughly mixed, take them from the fire and put them on a dish.
Take a tablespoonful and roll it in a clean towel, making it oval in
shape; dip it in a well-beaten egg, and then in bread crumbs, and drop
it in hot drippings or lard. Proceed in this manner till all the
potato is used, four potatoes making six croquettes. Fry them a light
brown all over, turning them gently as may be necessary. When they are
done, lay them on brown paper or a hair sieve, to drain off all fat;
then serve on a napkin.

POTATO CROQUETTES. No. 2.

Take two cups of cold mashed potatoes, season with a pinch of salt,
pepper and a tablespoonful of butter. Beat up the whites of two eggs,
and work all together thoroughly; make it into small balls slightly
flattened, dip them in the beaten yolks of the eggs, then roll either
in flour or cracker crumbs; fry the same as fish-balls.

_Delmonico's._

POTATOES A LA DELMONICO.

Cut the potatoes with a vegetable cutter into small balls about the
size of a marble; put them into a stewpan with plenty of butter and a
good sprinkling of salt; keep the saucepan covered, and shake
occasionally until they are quite done, which will be in about an
hour.

FRIED POTATOES WITH EGGS.

Slice cold boiled potatoes and fry in good butter until brown; beat up
one or two eggs, and stir into them just as you dish them for the
table; do not leave them a moment on the fire after the eggs are in,
for if they harden they are not half so nice; one egg is enough for
three or four persons, unless they are very fond of potatoes; if they
are, have plenty and put in two.

BAKED POTATOES.

Potatoes are either baked in their jackets or peeled; in either case
they should not be exposed to a fierce heat, which is wasteful,
inasmuch as thereby a great deal of vegetable is scorched and rendered
uneatable. They should be frequently turned while being baked and kept
from touching each other in the oven or dish. When done in their
skins, be particular to wash and brush them before baking them. If
convenient, they may be baked in wood-ashes, or in a Dutch oven in
front of the fire. When pared they should be baked in a dish and fat
of some kind added to prevent their outsides from becoming burnt; they
are ordinarily baked thus as an accessory to baked meat.

Never serve potatoes, boiled or baked whole, in a closely covered
dish. They become sodden and clammy. Cover with a folded napkin that
allows the steam to escape, or absorbs the moisture. They should be
served promptly when done and require about three-quarters of an hour
to one hour to bake them, if of a good size.

BROWNED POTATOES WITH A ROAST. No. 1.

About three-quarters of an hour before taking up your roasts, peel
middling-sized potatoes, boil them until partly done, then arrange
them in the roasting-pan around the roast, basting them with the
drippings at the same time you do the meat, browning them evenly.
Serve hot with the meat. Many cooks partly boil the potatoes before
putting around the roast. New potatoes are very good cooked around a
roast.

BROWNED POTATOES WITH A ROAST. No. 2.

Peel, cook and mash the required quantity, adding while hot a little
chopped onion, pepper and salt; form it into small oval balls and
dredge them with flour; then place around the meat about twenty
minutes before it is taken from the oven. When nicely browned, drain
dry and serve hot with the meat.

SWEET POTATOES.

Boiled, steamed and baked the same as Irish potatoes; generally cooked
with their jackets on. Cold sweet potatoes may be cut in slices across
or lengthwise, and fried as common potatoes; or may be cut in half and
served cold.

Boiled sweet potatoes are very nice. Boil until partly done, peel them
and bake brown, basting them with butter or beef drippings several
times. Served hot. They should be a nice brown.

BAKED SWEET POTATOES.

Wash and scrape them, split them lengthwise. Steam or boil them until
nearly done. Drain, and put them in a baking dish, placing over them
lumps of butter, pepper and salt; sprinkle thickly with sugar, and
bake in the oven to a nice brown.

Hubbard squash is nice cooked in the same manner.

ONIONS BOILED.

The white silver-skins are the best species. To boil them peel off the
outside, cut off the ends, put them into cold water, and into a
stewpan and let them scald two minutes; then turn off that water, pour
on cold water salted a little, and boil slowly till tender, which will
be in thirty or forty minutes, according to their size; when done
drain them quite dry, pour a little melted butter over them, sprinkle
them with pepper and salt and serve hot.

An excellent way to peel onions so as not to affect the eyes is to
take a pan _full_ of water and hold and peel them under the water.

ONIONS STEWED.

Cook the same as boiled onions, and, when quite done, turn off all the
water; add a teacupful of milk, a piece of butter the size of an egg,
pepper and salt to taste, a tablespoonful of flour stirred to a cream;
let all boil up once and serve in a vegetable dish hot.

ONIONS BAKED.

Use the large Spanish onion, as best for this purpose; wash them
clean, but do not peel, and put into a saucepan with slightly salted
water; boil an hour, replacing the water with more boiling hot as it
evaporates; turn off the water and lay the onions on a cloth to dry
them well; roll each one in a piece of buttered tissue paper, twisting
it at the top to keep it on, and bake in a slow oven about an hour, or
until tender all through; peel them; place in a deep dish and brown
slightly, basting well with butter for fifteen minutes; season with
salt and pepper and pour some melted butter over them.

FRIED ONIONS.

Peel, slice and fry them brown in equal quantities of butter and lard
or nice drippings; cover until partly soft, remove the cover and brown
them; salt and pepper.

SCALLOPED ONIONS.

Take eight or ten onions of good size, slice them and boil until
tender. Lay them in a baking-dish, put in bread crumbs, butter in
small bits, pepper and salt, between each layer until the dish is
full, putting bread crumbs last; add milk or cream until full. Bake
twenty minutes or half an hour.

A little onion is not an injurious article of food, as many believe. A
judicious use of plants of the onion family is quite as important a
factor in successful cookery as salt and pepper. When carefully
concealed by manipulation in food, it affords zest and enjoyment to
many who could not otherwise taste of it were its presence known. A
great many successful compounds derive their excellence from the
partly concealed flavor of the onion, which imparts a delicate
appetizing aroma highly prized by epicures.

CAULIFLOWER.

When cleaned and washed, drop them into boiling water, into which you
have put salt and a teaspoonful of flour, or a slice of bread; boil
till tender; take off, drain and dish them; serve with a sauce spread
over and made with melted butter, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, chopped
parsley and vinegar.

Another way is to make a white sauce (see SAUCES) and when the
cauliflowers are dished as above, turn the white sauce over, and serve
warm. They may also be served in the same way with a milk, cream, or
tomato sauce, or with brown butter.

It is a very good plan to loosen the leaves of a head of cauliflower
and let lie, the top downward, in a pan of cold salt water, to remove
any insects that might be hidden between them.

FRIED CAULIFLOWER.

Boil the cauliflower till about half done. Mix two tablespoonfuls of
flour with two yolks of eggs, then add water enough to make a rather
thin paste; add salt to taste; the two whites are beaten till stiff,
and then mixed with the yolks, flour and water. Dip each branch of the
cauliflower into the mixture, and fry them in hot fat. When done, take
them off with a skimmer, turn into a colander, dust salt all over and
serve warm. Asparagus, celery, egg-plant, oyster plant are all fine
when fried in this manner.

CABBAGE BOILED.

Great care is requisite in cleaning a cabbage for boiling, as it
frequently harbors numerous insects. The large drumhead cabbage
requires an hour to boil; the green savory cabbage will boil in twenty
minutes. Add considerable salt to the water when boiling. Do not let a
cabbage boil too long--by a long boiling it becomes watery. Remove it
from the water into a colander to drain and serve with drawn butter,
or butter poured over it.

Red cabbage is used for slaw, as is also the white winter cabbage. For
directions to prepare these varieties, see articles SLAW and
SOURCROUT.

CABBAGE WITH CREAM.

Remove the outer leaves from a solid, small-sized head of cabbage, and
cut the remainder as fine as for slaw. Have on the fire a spider or
deep skillet, and when it is hot put in the cut cabbage, pouring over
it right away a pint of boiling water. Cover closely and allow it to
cook rapidly for ten minutes. Drain off the water and add half a pint
of new milk, or part milk and cream; when it boils, stir in a large
teaspoonful of either wheat or rice flour moistened with milk; add
salt and pepper, and as soon as it comes to a boil, serve. Those who
find slaw and other dishes prepared from cabbage indigestible will not
complain of this.

STEAMED CABBAGE.

Take a sound, solid cabbage, and with a large sharp knife shave it
_very fine_. Put it in a saucepan, pour in half a teacupful of water,
or just enough to keep it from burning; cover it very tightly, so as
to confine the steam; watch it closely, add a little water now and
then, until it begins to be tender; then put into it a large
tablespoonful of butter; salt and pepper to taste, dish it hot. If you
prefer to give it a tart taste, just before taking from the fire add a
third of a cup of good vinegar.

LADIES' CABBAGE.

Boil a firm white cabbage fifteen minutes, changing the water then for
more from the boiling tea-kettle. When tender, drain and set aside
until perfectly cold. Chop fine and add two beaten eggs, a
tablespoonful of butter, pepper, salt, three tablespoonfuls of rich
milk or cream. Stir all well together, and bake in a buttered
pudding-dish until brown. Serve very hot. This dish resembles
cauliflower and is very digestible and palatable.

FRIED CABBAGE.

Place in a frying pan an ounce of butter and heat it boiling hot. Then
take cold boiled cabbage chopped fine, or cabbage hot, cooked the same
as steamed cabbage, put it into the hot butter and fry a light brown,
adding two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Very good.

FRENCH WAY OF COOKING CABBAGE.

Chop cold boiled white cabbage and let it drain till perfectly dry:
stir in some melted butter to taste; pepper, salt and four
tablespoonfuls of cream; after it is heated through add two
well-beaten eggs; then turn the mixture into a buttered frying pan,
stirring until it is very hot and becomes a delicate brown on the
under side. Place a hot dish over the pan, which must be reversed
when turned out to be served.

SOURCROUT.

Barrels having held wine or vinegar are used to prepare sourcrout in.
It is better, however, to have a special barrel for the purpose.
Strasburg, as well as all Alsace, has a well-acquired fame for
preparing the cabbages. They slice very white and firm cabbages in
fine shreds with a machine made for the purpose. At the bottom of a
small barrel they place a layer of coarse salt and alternately layers
of cabbage and salt, being careful to have one of salt on the top. As
each layer of cabbage is added, it must be pressed down by a large and
heavy pestle and fresh layers are added as soon as the juice floats on
the surface. The cabbage must be seasoned with a few grains of
coriander, juniper berries, etc. When the barrel is full it must be
put in a dry cellar, covered with a cloth, under a plank, and on this
heavy weights are placed. At the end of a few days it will begin to
ferment, during which time the pickle must be drawn off and replaced
by fresh, until the liquor becomes clear. This should be done every
day. Renew the cloth and wash the cover, put the weights back and let
stand for a month. By that time the sourcrout will be ready for use.
Care must be taken to let the least possible air enter the sourcrout
and to have the cover perfectly clean. Each time the barrel has to be
opened it must be properly closed again. These precautions must not be
neglected.

This is often fried in the same manner as fried cabbage, excepting it
is first boiled until soft in just water enough to cook it, then fry
and add vinegar.

TO BOIL RICE.

Pick over the rice carefully, wash it in warm water, rubbing it
between the hands, rinsing it in several waters, then let it remain in
cold water until ready to be cooked. Have a saucepan of water slightly
salted; when it is boiling hard, pour off the cold water from the
rice, and sprinkle it in the boiling water by degrees, so as to keep
the particles separated. Boil it steadily for twenty minutes, then
take it off from the fire and drain off all the water. Place the
saucepan with the lid partly off, on the back part of the stove, where
it is only moderately warm, to allow the rice to dry. The moisture
will pass off and each grain of rice will be separated, so that if
shaken the grains will fall apart. This is the true way of serving
rice as a vegetable and is the mode of cooking it in the Southern
States where it is raised.

PARSNIPS, BOILED.

Wash, scrape and split them. Put them into a pot of boiling water; add
a little salt, and boil them till quite tender, which will be in from
two to three hours, according to their size. Dry them in a cloth when
done and pour melted butter or white sauce (see SAUCES) over them in
the dish. Serve them up with any sort of boiled meat or with salt cod.

Parsnips are very good baked or stewed with meat.

FRIED PARSNIPS.

Boil tender in a little hot water salted; scrape, cut into long
slices, dredge with flour; fry in hot lard or dripping, or in butter
and lard mixed; fry quite brown. Drain off fat and serve.

Parsnips may be boiled and mashed the same as potatoes.

STEWED PARSNIPS.

After washing and scraping the parsnips slice them about half of an
inch thick. Put them in a saucepan of boiling water containing just
enough to barely cook them; add a tablespoonful of butter, season with
salt and pepper, then cover closely. Stew them until the water has
cooked away, watching carefully and stirring often to prevent burning,
until they are soft. When they are done they will be of a creamy light
straw color and deliciously sweet, retaining all the goodness of the
vegetable.

PARSNIP FRITTERS.

Boil four or five parsnips; when tender take off the skin and mash
them fine; add to them a teaspoonful of wheat flour and a beaten egg;
put a tablespoonful of lard or beef drippings in a frying pan over the
fire, add to it a saltspoonful of salt; when boiling hot put in the
parsnips; make it in small cakes with a spoon; when one side is a
delicate brown turn the other; when both are done take them on a dish,
put a very little of the fat in which they were fried over and serve
hot. These resemble very nearly the taste of the salsify or oyster
plant, and will generally be preferred.