— Duchesse.—Boil or bake half a dozen good potatoes, then rub them through a fine wire sieve, and mix this purée with an ounce of butter, the yolks of two eggs, a little salt and white pepper, and some finely-minced parsley. Shape this paste into little balls in your well-floured hands, flatten these with a floured rolling pin till an inch thick and slightly oval in shape, and fry them in plenty of hot fat, turning them over and over, and serve directly both sides are well coloured. These duchesses are variously flavoured by different cooks, some adding grated Parmesan, others grated ham or tongue, to the mixture, and most consider a dash of nutmeg or mace a great improvement, but these of course are matters of taste. Other cooks keep them ball-shaped, making them originally about the size of a chestnut, and then egg and breadcrumb them, and fry them in plenty of hot fat; but these are strictly either potato balls or potato croquettes. Another way is to divide up the paste into strips, powdering these well with grated Parmesan and coralline pepper, then with your well-floured hands roll each strip into sticks three or four inches long, and rather thicker than a pencil, egg and breadcrumb these, fry, drain, and serve dusted with freshly-grated Parmesan and coralline pepper; these are sometimes called Batons au Parmesan.