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and a spoonful of olive oil (to prevent the butter burning) in a heavy frying-pan. Put in your potatoes and let them stew rather than fry in the butter. Add a seasoning of salt, freshly-milled pepper and half a dozen crushed or chopped juniper berries. Turn the potatoes over from time to time. When they have amalgamated into a mass and are quite tender, turn them on to a hot flat dish and, on top, put whatever meat or poultry they are to accompany—veal cutlets, a roast, fried or grilled chicken, grilled pork chops.

SAUCISSES DE POMMES DE TERRE

POTATO SAUSAGES

Here is an admirable cheap little recipe, and quite an old one (it appears with variations in several early nineteenth-century French books) for using up left-over meat or chicken.

Suppose you have just a very small amount, say 3 or 4 tablespoons, of cooked and finely-chopped meat, calf’s head, brains, kidney, chicken or turkey. Then in a small quantity of butter, about oz., melt a couple of chopped shallots and a little parsley; stir in your meat and add 2 or 5 tablespoons of stock or broth, then stir in about a teaspoon of flour or potato flour; let it reduce; add seasonings and then 2 well-beaten whole eggs. Stir until the mixture starts to thicken, and then take quickly from the fire before it turns to scrambled eggs.

You have ready, or you now prepare, a purée from 4 large potatoes boiled in their skins, peeled and mashed very smooth with a little butter, salt and pepper, but no milk. Into this purée incorporate your meat mixture, and beat again until it is all well amalgamated.

Spread thickly on a lightly-buttered plate and leave to get quite cold, preferably until next day. You then take little spoonfuls of the mixture and, on a well-floured board, you roll them and shape them into little sausages no larger than small chipolatas or cocktail sausages. You fry them, not too fast, in good clear beef dripping or clarified butter, turning them over once or twice until they are golden and crisp on each side. Take them out, as they are done, with a perforated spoon.

Serve them very hot as a first course with, if you like, a freshly-made tomato sauce, but they are also excellent on their own.

POMMES DE TERRE BRAYAUDE

POTATOES BAKED IN THE OVEN

Boil 2 lb. of potatoes in their skins, keeping them a little undercooked. Peel them, cut them into thick slices or rough cubes and season them. Melt a couple of tablespoons of pork or goose dripping or olive oil in a large shallow earthenware baking dish. Put in the potatoes. Cook them uncovered in a moderate oven, Gas No. 4, 350 deg. F., for about 45 minutes, turning them from time to time in the fat. By the end of the cooking time, each piece of potato should be shining and very slightly crisp on the outside. Add some parsley before serving.

SALSIFIS SAUTÉS AU BEURRE

SALSIFY COOKED IN BUTTER

Salsify is a very considerable trouble to clean, so it is really only worth cooking if you are sure that those who are to eat it will appreciate its delicate and subtle flavour.

The salsify root must be very thoroughly scraped clean of all its black skin and each one, as it is ready, put into a bowl of acidulated water. When all are done, cut them in half, then cut the thick ends in half lengthways. Plunge them into fast boiling salted water and cook them for 20 to 25 minutes. (Most cooks say 40 minutes: it is too long.) Drain them and then let them cook gently for a few minutes in a frying-pan with a little butter, so that they just turn a pale gold. Serve them with a little lemon juice squeezed over and a dusting of parsley.

BEIGNETS DE SALSIFIS

SALSIFY FRITTERS

Prepare and cook the salsify as above, keeping them slightly undercooked. Drain them well, steep them for an hour or so in oil and lemon juice, dip them in frying batter (page 245) and fry them crisp in a deep pan of olive oil.

TOMATES À LA LANGUEDOCIENNE

TOMATOES STUFFED WITH BREADCRUMBS AND PARSLEY

A dish similar to tomates provençales but milder in flavour. It is to be made when large, sprawling, ripe tomatoes are available,