The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 973

FINGERLING POTATO SALAD WITH CREAMY VINAIGRETTE I’ve made simple vinaigrette-dressed potato salads in the past—they tend to work pretty well with the firm lowstarch fingerling-style potatoes you find in the spring I actually like the cleaner, sharper flavors, which really allow the potatoes to shine But they’re never quite as satisfying as a real creamy, mayo-based potato salad texture-wise (like the Classic American Potato Salad here) What to do? Why not use the power of the potatoes themselves to creamify† my dressing? I knew that the starch granules naturally present in a potato could be a powerful natural thickener, adding richness and creaminess to otherwise thin sauces I initially tried mashing a few of my cooked fingerlings to see if I could get them to form a creamy coating, but it didn’t work Those small, young potatoes are so low in starch and so firm textured that they never really get smooth and creamy unless you go so far as to pass them through a tamis or fine-mesh strainer Much easier was to just add a single Yukon Gold potato to the mix and then fish out a few pieces of it after cooking all the potatoes, along with a bit of the starchy cooking liquid I added the chunks and the liquid to the base for my dressing (a simple vinaigrette made with the vinegar, whole-grain mustard, shallots, and sweet pickle relish), then started smashing Once the potatoes were relatively smooth, I slowly whisked in some extra-virgin olive oil I ended up with a semi-loose yet creamy vinaigrette that had the advantage of bright, fresh acidity and a texture that didn’t dilute any of the wonderful, subtle flavors of the fingerling potatoes Just a few more seasonings and textural elements— sugar, pepper, celery, parsley, capers, and sliced shallots —and my new light fingerling potato salad was born And what a delicious baby it was  ... relish), then started smashing Once the potatoes were relatively smooth, I slowly whisked in some extra-virgin olive oil I ended up with a semi-loose yet creamy vinaigrette that had the advantage of bright, fresh acidity... vinaigrette that had the advantage of bright, fresh acidity and a texture that didn’t dilute any of the wonderful, subtle flavors of the fingerling potatoes Just a few more seasonings and textural elements— sugar,