them in a stew-pan, with one large onion cut in quarters, six
berries of allspice, the same of black pepper, cover the steaks with
boiling water, let them stew gently one hour, thicken the liquor with
flour and butter rubbed together on a plate; if a pint of gravy, about
one ounce of flour, and the like weight of butter, will do; put it into
the stew-pan, shake it well over the fire for five minutes, and it is
ready; lay the steaks and onions on a dish and pour the gravy through a
sieve over them.

[153-*] See "THE ART OF INVIGORATING AND PROLONGING LIFE," by the editor
of "THE COOK'S ORACLE." Published by G. B. Whittaker, No. 13, Ave-Maria
Lane.

VEGETABLES.

_Sixteen Ways of dressing Potatoes._[155-*]--(No. 102.)

The vegetable kingdom affords no food more wholesome, more easily
procured, easily prepared, or less expensive, than the potato: yet,
although this most useful vegetable is dressed almost every day, in
almost every family, for one plate of potatoes that comes to table as it
should, ten are spoiled.

Be careful in your choice of potatoes: no vegetable varies so much in
colour, size, shape, consistence, and flavour.

The reddish-coloured are better than the white, but the
yellowish-looking ones are the best. Choose those of a moderate size,
free from blemishes, and fresh, and buy them in the mould. They must not
be wetted till they are cleaned to be cooked. Protect them from the air
and frost, by laying them in heaps in a cellar, covering them with mats,
or burying them in sand or in earth. The action of frost is most
destructive: if it be considerable, the life of the vegetable is
destroyed, and the potato speedily rots.

Wash them, but do not pare or cut them, unless they are very large. Fill
a sauce-pan half full of potatoes of equal size[155-+] (or make them so
by dividing the larger ones), put to them as much cold water as will
cover them about an inch: they are sooner boiled, and more savoury, than
when drowned in water. Most boiled things are spoiled by having too
little water, but potatoes are often spoiled by too much: they must
merely be covered, and a little allowed for waste in boiling, so that
they may be just covered at the finish.

Set them on a moderate fire till they boil; then take them off, and put
them by the side of the fire to simmer slowly till they are soft enough
to admit a fork (place no dependence on the usual test of their skins'
cracking, which, if they are boiled