Russet Potato

A potato dish for dedicated garlic lovers.

Russets and sweet potatoes combine in this hearty yet low-calorie soup.

Celery root gives the potatoes an intriguing new taste; mascarpone cheese provides the ultimate in creaminess.

Rick Rodgers, cookbook author and teacher, says, "I've always thought of mashed potatoes as an everyday way to serve potatoes, but scalloped potatoes really say special occasion to me. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter—they all call for scalloped potatoes, not something as humble as mashed. And since I've never been one for bland food, I kept fiddling with the amount and types of cheeses until I got this full-flavored version. If you like it with turkey, wait until you try it with the Easter ham."

The star of this dish is skordalia, a garlicky dip that is the Greek version of aioli.

Food writer Adam Rapoport fried these latkes in a combination of vegetable oil and schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), a tactic that apparently gave him the edge over the competition in the James Beard Foundation's Fourth Annual Latke Cook-Off. He won both the People's Choice and the Amateur awards. This recipe has two things going for it, shared by most really good recipes: it's tried and true, and it came from someone's mother, in this case, Rapoport's mom, Maxine.

From Daniel Boulud and Alex Lee, the former executive chef at Daniel in New York.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr

Skordalia is a garlicky Greek dip made with mashed or pureed potatoes.

These small potato cups (each one is half a russet potato) are a great choice if you're short on oven space. The potatoes can be baked and stuffed one day ahead and chilled, then warmed in the oven for 20 minutes while the turkey rests before carving.

Though the chips and purée can be served at room temperature, the caviar should be chilled, so assemble these hors d'oeuvres in batches as platters need replenishing.

Hot-smoked fully cooked salmon is flaky in texture and fragrant with alder smoke. This dish can be completely assembled and chilled one day before baking.

A favorite steak-dinner starter served at Cattlemen's Steakhouse in the historic Stockyards City area of Oklahoma City.