COLD POTATOES FRIED

Boiled potatoes
Clean meat drippings, butter or grease
Salt
Pepper

Put a bit of clean dripping into a frying-pan; when it is melted, slice in your potatoes with a little pepper and salt; put them on the fire; keep stirring them; when they are quite hot, they are ready.

The Cook's Oracle by William Kitchiner, MD, New York, 1829

Comment: This is a classic method of using up leftover boiled potatoes from the previous night's dinner. If cubed or grated they become hash browns, but when sliced apparently do not merit a name of their own.

While bacon drippings are still occasionally saved by frugal cooks today, mostly for use in flavoring boiled greens or other vegetables, it was in the past more common to save the fat which cooked off of any sort of roasted meat. It became "clean" after it was poured through a strainer or piece of cheesecloth to remove any bits of meat which might have fallen into it. Many books recommend it for use in making pie crusts or other rough pastry, as well as its use as a direct frying agent as in the recipe above.

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