What's Good On: Potatoes

The potato came down out of the Andes, where people grew thousands of them — potatoes the color of amethyst, of egg yolk, of river clay, some no bigger than a marble. The ones in your kitchen are the descendants that made the long boat trip and got famous. A narrow branch of a wild family tree, and still they can do nearly anything.

That's the fun of them. You can crisp a potato, cream it, shred it, fry it, bake it until the skin crackles. The same tuber (ed: a plant's swollen underground stem) goes silky in a gratin and shatters in a croquette. Few things in the kitchen are this willing to play.

October is the moment to start. The storage potatoes dug this fall have spent all summer turning starchier and more themselves, and the oven's finally worth lighting again. So: one potato, five directions.

The gratin. Sliced thin and stood on end, so the edges crisp while the centers go soft. Black Garlic Standing Potato Gratin leans on black garlic — the molasses-dark, mellowed kind, none of the bite of raw. This is the one you make when the table is worth it.

The roast. Paprika Potatoes, by way of the authors of Fresh & Fermented. The spice is Smoked Sweet Paprika from La Vera, where they dry the peppers over oak fires — smoke without heat, a trick the Spanish have had to themselves for centuries. It stains the potatoes a deep rust and tastes like fire without the burn. Nothing like the rosemary-and-salt roast you've made a hundred times.

The pancake. Georgian Potato Pancakes, seasoned with Khmeli Suneli — the fenugreek-and-marigold blend we were turning over at the start of the month. A potato pancake is only ever a vehicle; this is what you load it with. Georgia has been doing extraordinary things to the potato for a long time, quietly, while nobody was looking.

The mash. Cascade Mushroom Mash. One spoonful of Cascade Mushroom Mix — ground porcini, smoked salt, a Pacific Northwest forest in a jar — and the mash stops being a side and starts being the reason. The kind of potatoes that love you back.

And then the leftovers move. Because there are always leftovers, and nobody should waste good mash. Bomb Leftover Mashed Potato Croquettes — the Dutch idea, croquettes on every corner, cold potato given a second and better life. Crisp outside, molten in. The day-after dish that's quietly the best one.

If you want a sixth, Fried Potatoes with Harissa Tehina — Harissa and tahini, heat and cool in the same bite.

Five potatoes, five moods. The grand one, the crisp one, the far-flung one, the comforting one, and the thrifty one that saves the week. Turn the oven on.

Until next time!