In the mood for some tater salad...

My recipe is pretty straightforward…taters, onions, pickles, eggs, mustard, mayo.
My g/f makes it with curry, which is very good, and I’ve had a couple of German varieties, which were OK, but didn’t thrill me. So if you have the ultimate recipe, or even one that’s just a little different than mine, please share…

Min is pretty much just a little different.

Difference #1. Sprinkle a teaspoon or three of fresh dill weed (or dried, I’m not picky) into the salad.

Difference #2. For a nice creamy texture, mash up one or two of the potatoes with a little sour cream, and mix it into the salad.

Do you have a blender? Making fresh mayonnaise is astonishingly easy, once you’ve done it a couple times, and can make all the difference.

Google a recipe and give it a try.

Excellent and delicious sounding suggestions…I’ll try them.

I use unpeeled red potatoes and marinate them (after cooking) in a homemade vinaigrette for a couple of hours. The ingredients vary, but it’s usually 3 parts oil to 1 part cider or red wine vinegar. Add any dried herbs you like. I typically use at least tarragon, thyme, and oregano. I also usually add some Dijon mustard. I don’t often use egg, but I do add chopped red onion and celery. I’ve occasionally added olives, too. The mayonnaise gets folded in at the last minute, and you don’t need to use too much because of the oil in the vinaigrette.

My Stinky Potato Salad:

-Use 3 or 4 pounds Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn or some other schmancy taters. They’ve got a delicate but real flavor that makes a big difference.
-Mix up a vinaigrette using a combination of vinegars (cider, basalmic, wine), olive oil, lots of pepper, and an assortment of herbs (basil, dill, oregano, rosemary, etc.–mix and match to taste). Use lots of pepper.
-Add some tamari to this vinaigrette. Add a few giant spoonfuls of mayonnaise.
-Crumble up a block of good blue cheese into the sauce.
-Chop up a couple dozen kalamata olives and add them to the sauce.
-Chop up half an onion and a couple stalks celery and add them to the sauce.
-Crush four or five cloves garlic and add it to the sauce. By this point, it’s going to be a very chunky sauce.
-Mix the sauce in with the potatoes while they’re still hot.

This potato salad is delicious hot or cold, but it makes you reek.

Daniel

Maybe, but it sure sounds scrumptious! Cher3’s sounds kind of like yours, but not as extreme. All this is making me droooool like a fool.

I just came in to see if y’all were making Ron White references. I don’t actually like potato salad.

Potato Salad is a bit like chili. Everyone’s recipe is a little bit different, and everyone swears theirs is the best.

Two things I particularly like to do to mine:

Mix it together when the potatoes are still warm. I find it helps the flavours mix a lot better. Some people leave them to cool too long, and the spices don’t permeate the spuds as well.

Instead of mustard I use mustard powder. It’s a stronger, tangier flavour.

I’ve got a friend that swears by apples. Mixed in with the taters are just a few diced apples. It’s certainly… different.

thwartme

Man I came in here looking for some Ron White humor…

“I had the right to remain silent…but not the ability.” --RW

I made some yesterday actually and just ate the last of it with my lunch.

Mine is really strange though and nothing like anyone else makes, I got it from Grandma and I have no clue if she just made it up or found it from somewhere else.

Potato salad:
Lettuce
Leftover mashed potatoes
Green onions

The dressing is made from a combination of mayo (or miracle whip), vinegar, a little bit of sugar (maybe 1/2 a tsp) and some salt and pepper. I can’t really give exact numbers, I just mix the dressing to taste (which is on the sour side) until smooth, dump it all in a bowl and mix together.

It sounds strange, but it is very good.

So you bake your potatoes like normal, then just peel and cube them and add whatever you want as they start to cool? I feel like an idiot for never having attempted making my own, but I have some leftover potatoes after my failed gnocchi-making experiment earlier this week, and I’m inspired to try potato salad.

I’ve never baked them: I always cube and boil them. Don’t know what baking would do.

Daniel

I got to get in on this just to read it when I get home to a stove…

Is it better to peel before or after boiling, then? And how long do you boil – until they’re tender, or is there a good time limit that always seems to work?

I baked my potatoes before making gnocchi, then peeled them, then put them through the ricer. I think my problem is I didn’t add nearly enough flour, because they came out tasting like mashed potato balls, and they were too starchy, sticky, and soft after I boiled them.

You really should use red or Yukon gold or some similar potato that’s intended for boiling rather than baking. You can peel them before or after cooking or not at all, but with my recipe it’s better to add them to the vinaigrette while they are still warm.

When I make them, I don’t peel the potatoes: the skin adds extra texture to the salad. If you use good proportions (i.e., not much mayo), it comes out pretty different from most other potato salads.

Daniel

I use red potatoes and boil them with the skins on, then peel after cooling. I add diced green pepper, diced pimento or roasted red pepper, sweet pickle relish, diced onion, diced celery, chopped boiled egg, Miracle Whip (YMMV!) and yellow mustard. Salt, pepper and celery seed. For more sweetness, add a little sugar - more tart, add a splash of vinegar.

Re: peeling/not peeling potatoes; and if so, when.

Some potato peels are going to be more highly textured than others, and the skin of a russet potato, for instance, might not be to your taste. Of course it makes no sense at all to peel a white- or red-skinned potato, but if you want to take the skins off one of the rough-skinned spuds, I’d recommend after cooking.

If you do this while they’re still hot, using a sharp knife under cold running water, they should slip off without too much fuss.