Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    129/600 (page 117)
    The potato is our most valuable and commonest vegetable, and one which can be cooked in a great variety of ways. For plain boiling, it is best to cook potatoes in their jackets or skins. This skin consists of something like thin cork, which keeps all the good in the potatoes while they are cooking. There is in most garden vegetables, but especially in the potato, a substance called salts of potash, which is very valuable in strengthening the bones, in keeping the blood pure, and in pre- venting scurvy and other kinds of suffering. It is said that after the potato was brought to England by Sir Walter Ealeigh, the plague disappeared, and scurvy became greatly lessened. This is believed to have been chiefly in consequence of the use of the potato ; so you see how important it is not to lose more of those salts of potash than can be helped. When the potato is pared before cooking, about half of those salts of potash escape into the water and are lost. Boiled Potatoes,—Choose potatoes of an equal size, in order that they may all be ready in the same time. Wash and brush them well, and pack them closely in an iron saucepan. Cover with cold water, and add a little salt. Put the lid on the pan, place it on the fire, and as soon as it boils, draw a little to one side, and let the potatoes cook gently until nearly soft. Tf they are boiled too quickly, the outer part will be broken and soft before the middle part is cooked enough. When the potatoes are sufficiently soft to be pierced by a fork, pour off the water, draw to the side of the fire, and cover them with a clean cotton cloth, which will absorb the steam and finish the cooking. In about fifteen minutes they will be ready. The length of time that you boil potatoes depends on the size, age, and quality you use. Large old potatoes take the longest. Those grown in sandy soil are the finest, and keep their colour best when cooked. The potatoes I am cooking will take about twenty minutes. As an iron pan is in every house, we have shown you the simplest way of cooking potatoes; but a still better way is to cook them in a steamer. A steamer can be made to fit any pan; it has holes in the bottom of it, through which the steam from the boiling