Turn Squishy Potatoes into Crispy Home Fries

Problem: You intended to boil those perfectly shaped new potatoes just until fork-tender. But when you drained them, they collapsed into mush.

Solution: “Immediately say, ‘Oh, how wonderful — I’ll make mashed potatoes,’” Rozanne Gold, a chef and author of the 1-2-3 series of cookbooks, says. Or, if you’re not in the mood for a mash, make home fries: Drain the potatoes and fry them in a skillet with a small amount of fat — olive or peanut oil, butter, or bacon drippings — stirring only occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 20 minutes.

Next Time: Gently simmer the potatoes instead of boiling them. The lower temperature causes the starch in them to swell more slowly. As a result, only a bit of the gummy starch leaks out of the potatoes and into the cooking water, says Shirley O. Corriher, a food scientist and the author of CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking (Morrow, $30, www.amazon.com).

Turn Stale Bread into Crostini

Problem: The loaf you brought home from the bakery the day before yesterday is still sitting on the counter, untouched and aging fast.

Solution: Flaunt the dry bread’s finer points and make crostini. Thinly slice the bread and toast it in a 325° F oven until it’s crisp throughout and barely golden at the edges, about 5 minutes. Use the glorified toast as a foundation for bruschetta, as garlic-rubbed croutons to float atop soup, or as you would melba toast. If the bread is so dry that it crumbles when you slice it, toss it into a food processor and pulse to create bread crumbs.

Next Time: As soon as you realize the bread won’t be used in time, wrap the still-fresh loaf tightly in a couple of layers of plastic and freeze it. To defrost, leave the bread at room temperature overnight. Then unwrap it and warm it in a 350° F oven for about 20 minutes.