Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. potatoes
• 1 teaspoonful salt
• 1 to 2 oz. butter
• 1/4 pint milk or cream

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes until perfectly tender throughout.
2. Pour off the water and steam them very dry.
3. Peel them quickly while hot and remove every speck.
4. Press the potatoes through an earthen colander, or bruise them to a smooth mash with a strong wooden fork or spoon—never pound them in a mortar.
5. Ensure the mashed potatoes are entirely free from lumps.
6. Melt the butter in a clean saucepan with the milk or cream over gentle heat.
7. Sprinkle salt on the potatoes.
8. Add the potatoes to the butter and milk mixture in the saucepan.
9. Stir the whole over a gentle fire with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are well mixed and very hot.
10. Serve directly, or heap it high in a dish left rough on the surface and brown before the fire.
11. Alternatively, press the mixture into a well-buttered mould strewed with the finest bread-crumbs and shaken free of loose ones, then turn it out and brown in a Dutch oven or common oven.