MMM, potatoes, one of my favorite foods, in any format. When a recipe called for leftover mashed potatoes, I scoff at it, because there's no amount of leftover mashed potatoes I don't want to smother in brown gravy and devour like that. BUT sometimes for the sake of a good second recipe, I set some aside, like for these potato balls from the Virginia Housewife Tasting History for the next in my series. I can imagine that with less variety back then, they were desperate for any new way to prepare potatoes and that is how this recipe may have come about.
The Virginia Housewife Or, Methodical Cook was written by Mary Randolph (it's notable that HER name is on the book, not Mrs. David Meade Randolph) in 1824 and is considered the first regional American cookbook.
The potato balls are in the vegetables section and the recipe has vague instructions from which one could get varying results. I combined them to make for a really good crispy coating, one that Patrick commented on without prompting, and he is very precise about his frying. The original recipe reads:
Mix mashed potatos with the yelk of an egg, roll them into balls, flour them, or cover them with egg and bread crumbs, fry them in clean dripping, or brown them in a Dutch oven. They are an agreeable vegetable relish, and a supper dish.
So, okay, how many potatoes? What works best, flour or egg and bread crumbs? What are clean drippings, and what is an agreeable vegetable relish?
Potato Balls
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes made however you like
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup flour
- ½ to ¾ cup bread crumbs
- Approximately 1 cup of peanut oil or enough to cover the frying pan in at least ¼" of oil
Instructions
- Set out three bowls, put flour in one, reserve the middle one for eggs, and breadcrumbs in the rightmost bowl, plus a clean plate to the right of the bowls.
- Separate one egg and put the yolk in the mashed potatoes, and the white into the middle bowl. Add the other egg to the middle bowl and mix the eggs together well.
- Mix the yolk into the mashed potatoes well, and take this opportunity to season the potatoes more if desired.
- Use your hands and roll the potatoes into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and set aside.
- Begin dredging all of the balls in flour, then in the eggs, then finally through the breadcrumb mixture.
- Put the pan with oil over medium-high heat and wait until it shimmers before adding potato balls. Do not crowd the pan, you may need to fry in batches depending on your pan size.
- Use tongs to turn the balls over as they begin to lightly brown. Turn the heat to medium if they are getting too dark of a brown.
- Remove the completely browned balls to a paper towel lined plate.
Unfortunately the only question I can't answer is what an agreeable vegetable relish is, but these potato balls are quite agreeable. These seem to be the 1800s answer to tater tots, so feel free to use ketchup on them if you feel moved to do so.
