OLDEST KNOWN POTATO RECIPE

The first published potato recipe known to Meredith and Tom Hughes appeared in Germany in 1581: 'Boil diced potatoes, roast them in bacon fat, and simmer the result in milk.' (From 'Ein Neues Kochbuch,' by Markus Rumpolt.) HOW TO MAKE VERY GOOD CUSTARDS OF POTATOES An Englishman who waxed poetic about the potato in all its forms offered this recipe a century later: 1 quart milk 6 or 7 potatoes, diced 2 eggs, beaten 1/4 lb. sugar (1/2 cup) Grated nutmeg, to taste Unbaked pie crust (optional) Butter (optional)

'Take a Quart of New Milk,' the recipe goes, 'six or seven Potatoes, boyled and very well broken, a couple of eggs beaten, sugar about a quarter of a pound, a little Nutmeg grated; mingle them well together, and put it into a shallow pewter or earthen dish, or else into Crust, having first put a little piece of Butter into the bottom, and so bake it in an Oven ...; then keep it till it be almost cold, and you will have an excellent dainty and wholesome Dish, being both very pleasant to the Palate, and ve ry restorative and strengthening to the body; and also so cheap that four pence charge, as much may be made, as will serve two reasonable men for a Meal.'