It would seem a very simple matter to boil a potato, but there is a know-how even to this simple art. The true method is to pare them and let them lie in cold water for an hour-10 hours will not hurt them-before they are boiled….pour off the water in which they have been boiled just as the tubers become soft, and then gently shake the kettle over a slow fire. This drives off the moisture and makes the potatoes dry and meal….if any prefer mashed potatoes with a nice brown crust on the surface, they are welcome to mash them with as much butter or cream as they can afford…
The life of a baked potato, like that of a pear, is very short. Emerson says a pear lives in perfection only five minutes. A potato may be in perfection 10 minutes, but no longer. It needs to be taken from the oven and squeezed…and eaten without delay. Allowed to remain in the oven till overdone, or on the table till cool, the virtue goes out of them. Hotel-baked potatoes are almost always overdone, and are poor eating.
