New Potatoes.—(No. 116.)
The best way to clean new potatoes is to rub them with a coarse cloth or flannel, a or scrubbing-brush, and proceed as in No. 102.
N.B. New potatoes are poor, watery, and insipid, till they are full two inches in diameter: they are not worth the trouble of boiling before midsummer day.
Obs.—Some cooks prepare sauces to pour over potatoes, made with butter, salt, and pepper, or gravy, or melted butter and catchup; or stew the potatoes in ale, or water seasoned with pepper and salt; or bake them with herrings or sprats, mixed with layers of potatoes, seasoned with pepper, salt, sweet herbs, vinegar, and water; or cut mutton or beef into slices, and lay them in a stew-pan, and on them potatoes and spices, then another layer of the meat alternately, pouring in a little water, covering it up very close, and slewing slowly.
Potato mucilage (a good substitute for arrow-root), No. 448.159-*[160]