Modern cookery for private families

very hot, and sprinkle fine salt over them. This is an admirable way of dressing potatoes, very common on the Continent, but less so in England than it deserves to be. Pared in ribbons or shavings of equal width, as in the receipt above, and served dry and well fried, lightly piled in a dish, they make a handsome appearance, and are excellent eating. If sliced they should be something less than a quarter of an inch thick. MASHED POTATOES. Boil them perfectly tender quite through, pour off the water, and steam them very dry by the directions already given in the receipt of page 310, peel them quickly, take out every speck, and while they are still hot, press the potatoes through an earthen cullender, or bruise them to a smooth mash with a strong wooden fork or spoon, but never pound them in a mortar, as that will reduce them to a close heavy paste. _Let them be entirely free from lumps_, for nothing can be more indicative of carelessness or want of skill on the part of the cook, than mashed potatoes sent to table full of these. Melt in a clean saucepan a slice of good butter with a few spoonsful of milk, or, better still, of cream; put in the potatoes after having sprinkled some fine salt upon them, and stir the whole over a gentle fire with a _wooden_ spoon, until the ingredients are well-mixed, and the whole is very hot. It may then be served directly; or heaped high in a dish, left rough on the surface, and browned before the fire; or it may be pressed into a well buttered mould of handsome form, which has been strewed with the finest bread-crumbs, and shaken free from the loose ones, then turned out, and browned in a Dutch or common oven. More or less liquid will be required to moisten sufficiently potatoes of various kinds. Potatoes mashed, 2 lbs.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 1 to 2 oz.; milk or cream, 1/4 pint. _Obs._—Mashed potatoes are often moulded with a cup, and then equally