Irish Stew--Stoved Potatoes

These form excellent and nutritious dishes. The former dish can be made from a portion of the back ribs or neck of mutton, the fleshy part of which must be cut into cutlets. Flatten these pieces of meat with a roller, and dip them in a composition of pepper, salt, and flour. Peel potatoes and slice them to the extent of two pounds of potatoes for every pound of meat. An onion or two sliced into small bits will be required. Before building the materials into a goblet, melt a little suet or dripping in it, then commence by laying in the pot a layer of potatoes, which dust well with pepper and salt, then a layer of the meat sprinkled with the chopped onions, and so on till the goblet is pretty full. Fill in about a breakfast-cupful of gravy, if there be any in the house; if not, water will do. Finish off with a treble row of potatoes on the top. Let the mess stew slowly for about three hours, taking great care to keep the lid so tight that none of the virtue can escape--letting away the steam is just letting away the flavor. Shake the pot occasionally with some force, to prevent burning. Some cooks, in preparing this dish, boil the potatoes for some time, and then pour and dry them well; others add a portion of kidney to the stew; while extravagant people throw in a few oysters, a slice or two of lean ham, or a ham shank. Irish stew should be served as hot as possible. It is a savory and inexpensive dish for cold weather.--Stoved potatoes are prepared much in the same way. Cut down what of the Sunday's roast is left, and proceed with it just as you would with the neck of mutton. Some cooks would stew the bones of the roast, in order to make a gravy in which to stove the meat and potatoes, but the bones will make excellent potato soup. Irish stew is an excellent dish for skaters and curlers. It is sometimes known as "hot pot."