• Project description and varieties listing (features' overview)
• Catalog with pictures and variety description - Potato cultivars are linked to specific recipes, like this one.
• Heirloom Potato Recipies Listing - all Potato Recipes are listed in alphabethical order, and offer specific cultivars suggestions, varieties that are recommended for each recipe.

We credit J. Kenji Alt, Cook's Illustrated Associate Editor (www.cooksillustrated.com) for this recipe.

Compared to the traditional "American Potato Salad", the novelty of this recipe is the lack of mayo! A potato salad can be served warm or cold, featuring ingredients like minced onion or shallots, pickled cucumbers, and spices like chives and mustard. The dressing is supposed to be creamy - in absence of mayo - in this recipe the dressing is made with mash potato.

If you cannot find the best potato variety to use, the main concern is to keep the consistency of the potato texture, and prevent overcooking and the breakdown.

Kenji suggests to simmer the tubers for 20 minutes in a pan with 1 cup of water, 1 cup of broth and 1 table spoon of wine vinegar, rather than using a pot to boil the tubers. This solution may turn out properly cooked potato more consistently. The broth adds flavor and the vinegar prevents the breakdown.

Home grown fingerling have thin skins. We always suggest to cook tubers whole (not cut) and with the skins to preserve more nutritional value. While with larger tubers you would have to cube the potato before cooking. Keep the potato covered while cooking to ensure the spuds cook thoroughly. Drain and reserve a cup of liquid for the dressing.

Mash half a cup of potato, add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, 1 table spoon mustard and add one laddle of cooking liquid to adjust the creamy consistency of the dressing.

Cut the rest of the tubers to your preferred size and mix a minced red onion, 6 minced cornichons (small pickled cucumber), 2 table spoon minced fresh chives and the dressing. Salt and pepper to taste.

Find this recipe on CooksIllustrated.com for a more detailed explanation of the science behind the use of vinegar to slow the breaking apart of tubers.

Similar recipes to compare:

• French Potato Salad
• German Rhine Potato Salad
• Italian Potato Salad with Fish
• Norwegian Potato Salad

Fingerling shaped tubers, like Austrian Crescent, Rose Fir Apple, Purple Peruvian. With these three varieties, your potato salad would feature a multi-color effect.

How do you select the cultivars that you grow in your garden?

Would you be enticed to try different cultivars if these would make interesting dishes?

We believe that future generations will more likely grow heritage cultivars if we offer records and recipes of best use in the kitchen!

Please email recipes suggestions to: recipes@curzio.com