Back in 1998 when I signed on to co-write a potato cookbook, I did so with some trepidation. I liked potatoes well enough, but I was nervous about the possibility of spud overload. In the end, I had the opposite experience: I went from simply liking potatoes to loving them.

开发所有这些食谱（书中有300种）的过程迫使我超越了俄罗斯和红色幸福的领域，以发现和欣赏其他更有趣的品种，例如鱼种（因此以旋钮而命名，狭窄的形状，让人联想到狭窄的形状手指）和oh-so cute的小红色，白色，紫色和育空金土豆。除了它们的迷人形状，身材矮小的尺寸和漂亮的颜色外，它们还具有令人难以置信的风味和吸引人的质地，并且在杂货店越来越多地使用。如果您绕过它们是因为您不确定如何烹饪它们，我敦促您下次购物时拿起几英镑，并发现它们的表现如何。

红色，白色和黄色土豆浓密，奶油状，极具用途。除紫色土豆外，大多数小土豆都可以分类为蜡质，这意味着它们倾向于具有牢固，浓密，奶油状的质地，并且在煮熟时保持良好的形状，使其适合沙拉和炖，烘烤，烘烤，烘烤，烤制，和炒 - 但不是为了捣碎，您想要像俄罗斯这样的蓬松土豆。婴儿白色和红色是最乳脂的。它们具有温和的甜味，非常适合任何调味料。育空金黄色的金黄色和鱼种仍然被认为是蜡状的，但是它们的质地更干燥，味道更丰富。

I like to braise fingerlings because the simplicity of this technique shows off the potatoes’ rich flavor. I also like the way baby red and white potatoes get all creamy inside when roasted. And I use baby Yukons for the salad because their buttery flesh stands up to the sharp vinaigrette and chopped bacon. But these potatoes are so versatile, you’ll get equally satisfying results if you braise Yukon Golds, roast fingerlings, or make a salad with baby reds and whites.

Purple potatoes are drier and denser and are best roasted or sautéed.Purple potatoes (sometimes called blue potatoes), including purple Peruvian fingerlings, stand slightly apart in taste and texture. They have a nice earthy flavor, but their relatively low moisture content makes them drier, almost like a russet. This means that purple potatoes are more likely to fall apart when cooked, so you need to pay extra attention when braising or boiling them for salads. They’re at their best sautéed or roasted, because they become wonderfully crisp on the outside and dry and soft inside.

Cooking a colorful potato medley

许多厨师喜欢将两个或三个小土豆品种扔在一起，作为五颜六色的菜肴。我也这样做了 - 但是有一些警告。婴儿红色，白色和育空金都具有相似的质地和烹饪时间，因此它们一起烹饪。具有奇怪形状的鱼种倾向于以不同的速度烹饪，最好单独烹饪。紫色土豆也是如此，当煮沸或炖时，紫色土豆更容易散开。烘烤是一种技术，您可以在不用担心的情况下混合所有品种，因为它们或多或少以相同的速度烤。

Look for heirlooms

If you shop at a farmers’ market or specialty food store, you may find an even greater variety of potatoes than the ones we use here. Lately, potato growers are expanding their offerings to include colorful varieties with winsome names like Rose Finn Apple, Butterball, Nosebag, Ozette, Ruby Crescent, and Désirée. For the most part, these new-sounding spuds are actually antique varieties (thus referred to as heirlooms) that are coming back into fashion. For cooking purposes, heirloom potatoes tend to range from small to medium, with low to medium starch content. They are perfectly suited to all the recipes here.

Are these “baby” or “new” potatoes?

Grocery stores often use the terms “baby” and “new” interchangeably when identifying small potatoes, whether red, white, yellow, or purple. But neither term is accurate. These potatoes may be diminutive, but they’re no younger than their larger counterparts. This is because every potato plant produces full-size spuds along with a few smaller ones, which are mature and fully grown, just not as big as the others. Nevertheless, we call for baby potatoes here because that’s how you’ll find them at the grocery store.

真正的“新土豆”是刚从地面挖出的年轻土豆。他们的皮肤稀薄，像葱和夏季南瓜一样腐烂。您唯一发现新土豆的地方是在夏季农贸市场或您自己的花园中。您在杂货店中发现的大多数土豆在成熟时都会收获，并在45°和60°F的温度下固定在潮湿的地方约两个星期。这种称为固化的过程使他们的皮肤增厚，并治愈收获期间产生的轻微瘀伤，使它们持续更长的时间。