Boiled Potatoes

Ingredients

 * 6 unblemished potatoes of uniform size
 * boiling water, well salted

Directions

 * 1) Potatoes should always be boiled in their skins, or `jackets', if possible. Never be guilty of paring a new potato before boiling.
 * 2) Wash and scrub the potatoes well. Put them, with their jackets on, in the boiling water. Let them cook until they are soft enough to be pierced with a fork. Do not let them remain a moment longer, or they will become waxy and watery. Nothing is more disagreeable than a watery potato.
 * 3) When done, take them off the heat and drain them dry. Put them into a steamer, sprinkle with salt, and let them stand to allow the steam to evaporate. After five minutes, take them out of the steamer and peel quickly. Serve in a covered vegetable dish. Nothing is more unpleasant than to be given a cold potato at the table. Properly cooked, the potato should be dry and flaky and most acceptable.
 * 4) If the potatoes are old and beginning to sprout, it will be found better to put them on in cold water after paring or peeling, then turn on the stove, and let them cook gradually.
 * 5) The Creoles use the water in which the potatoes have been boiled for destroying the green flies and insects that infect rose bushes.