Potato Salad à la Parisienne

Salade de pommes de terre à la Parisienne (Parisian potato salad) teaches one clean rule: wine goes onto the potatoes while they are still lukewarm, before oil touches them. Warm starch drinks; oil coats. Reverse the order and the wine can only skid over the surface.

The classical instruction assumed a commis for tournage, the careful trimming of every potato into a perfect cork before slicing. For one cook, one stove, one evening, small potatoes of one size provide even roundels without wasting their sides. The tournage is brigade scaffolding and goes; the wine-first dressing and the source's full two-thirds-pint proportion stay because they are the dish. Its two-pound measure already gives four generous side servings, so the ratio needs no further shrinking.

You are after intact violet or ivory coins, lightly glossy with vinaigrette and freckled green with chervil and parsley. The decisive moment is the final fold: lift from underneath with a flexible spatula, turn only enough to distribute the herbs, and stop. Stir as though mixing dough and the roundels disappear.