You guessed it… I’m making potato salad today, because it’s finally warm enough to open the windows, get some fresh air, and (perhaps) dine outside this evening.
So here’s my take on it, adapted ever-so-slightly from my mother’s rendition*:
2-3 lbs potatoes (white, russet, or yellow. I don’t care for those waxy red ones for this.)
1 large red onion, diced
3 hard-boiled eggs
3 large stalks celery, diced
2 T sweet pickle relish
Miracle Whip (ok, you could use mayonnaise, but I’m a Miracle Whip gal, personally.)
Peel potatoes and chop into about 1"-2" chunks. Boil in plenty of water until fork tender, and drain in colander. Set aside and let cool for about 15-20 minutes.
Smush up hard-boiled eggs in large bowl. Add relish, celery, onions, and about ½ cup of Miracle Whip (or mayonnaise, whichever you prefer). Mix a little, then add potatoes and mix to coat. Add more Miracle Whip until it’s as goopy as you want it, then sprinkle with a pinch or two of dried thyme. May refrigerate and serve up to 24 hours later.**
Some folks like to add mustard, but I loathe even the smell of that stuff, so I don’t. Mom didn’t either. I also don’t really measure everything out, but just eyeball it by spoonfuls. I estimated measurements for any ‘tater salad novices out there.
** If refrigerated and served later, you’ll need to mix in additional Miracle Whip if you want it back to a creamy consistency, because the potatoes will absorb quite a bit over just a few hours.
Easy warm weather food, so please share your potato salad recipes here.
I like to make all kinds of potato salad, but I think my favorite involves red new potatoes chopped rough with their skin on, (freshly boiled and still warm) plenty of boiled eggs, a decent amount of celery, a mild onion, ** a good brand of mustard powder**, (or a strong yellow mustard like French’s if you can’t get mustard powder) miracle whip, lots of lemon pepper, a bit of garlic salt, a bit of ground celery seed, fennel sometimes, some parsley (fresh if you can get it) and lots of good dill pickles. Serve warm.
Sorry I can’t give you better amounts, it’s been a while since I’ve made it, and I don’t always measure when I cook. I use the “that looks/tastes/feels right” method, heh. Experiment with it, if you’ve made potato salad enough, you’ll be able to get the amounts you need of the ingredients to soot your taste.
Well, I don’t have any official recipe either. I just kinda throw together the following:
Red potatoes
Celery, diced
Sweet onions, diced, such as Walla Walla or Vidalia
Boiled eggs chopped, plus some wedges left over to decorate top
*Sour cream
*Mayonaise
Yellow mustard, just a small amount
Dijon mustard (rough style)
Johnny’s seasoning
Salt
Pepper
A little fresh dill, chopped (in salad and for decoration)
Chopped chives
Paprika
Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Drain, set aside to cool. If they’re small potatoes or baby potatoes, just cut them in half. If they’re larger potatoes, I cut them in half the long way, then in halve the halves the long way, and cut into bite size pieces. I leave the peel on (my family likes it that way)
Put all cut pieces (potatoes, eggs, celery, onion) in a large bowl. Add mayonaise sour cream. A couple spoonfuls of Dijon, small spoonful of yellow mustard, the seasonings (less the paprika), and dill, and gently mix until salad is as “wet” or dry as you like it.
Smooth out top. Put egg wedges in a nice design over the top. Sprinkle chives, dill, a little paprika, and little salt and pepper on top. Chill or serve immediately. Either way is good.
*I find the half sour cream and half mayo combo cuts the heaviness of the mayo. It seems cooler and lighter.
I like to use peeled red potatoes for this. Also, I chop up the onion, celery and some garlic and marinate it in the bowl in a little olive oil and cider vinegar with either kosher or ground sea salt and pepper while the spuds are cooking. You can then cut down a bit on the mayo you add. I like to add dill, either fresh or dried, and a bit of mustard, although I’m not married to it.
However, I’m looking out the window at a late winter snow storm and I think potato salad is a couple of months off yet.
I lost my copy of the recipe long ago but an old neighbor of mine made THE BEST spud salad EVER. I swear.
Very tasty and savory, not even a hint of any sweetness whatsoever, the way spud salad is meant to be.
His “trick”, if I remember correctly, is cubing and cooking the spuds the evening before the salad is to be eaten. Then you soak the cooked spuds in a vinegar solution overnight in the fridge. The next day you drain and mix in your spices, mustard, mayo, hardboiled eggs, etc…and he also tosses in sliced black olives.
Does anybody have a recipe for potato salad without onions? For potatoes sliced thin, not diced? And for a minimum of spices, say only some salt and dill seed or something? Maybe jeeeeeeeeeeeest a tad sweet? Thanks.
Take the onion and seasonings out of my recipie, keep the potatoes, eggs, Miracle Whip, and substitute a little bit of pickle relish picklili (sp?) for the dill pickles? Maybe a bit of pimentos if you like them? I’d keep the lemon pepper, and add a bit of dill, with a pinch of salt. Maybe put just a tad of ground mustard powder in it for kick?
The whole point of my recipie is to celebrate Spring with new potatoes. They could be sliced thinly if you left them a bit firmer when you cooked them. That would be a good balance of sweet/salty, with a bit of tang from the lemon. It’s a recipie you can play with, and personalize to “suit” your own tastes. Play with it, see what works for you, it’s flexible.
Caution: Mustard powder is POTENT! Especially if it’s a good brand, and fresh. Carefully sniff it, and measure it in fractions of a fraction of a teaspoon. An amount of the diameter about equal to 2 or 3 of the emoticons here would equate to a generous “tad”. Just putting this up for those who’ve never really used the stuff for cooking. Heh, I remember the first time mom asked me to put some in when she was teaching me to make potato salad as a kid. Woo! It had SOME kick. blush
Someone told me if you like potato salad but you’re doing Atkins, SugarBusters, or South Beach, to try your favorite recipe but use cauliflower instead of potatoes. I tried it, and it was great! Of course, the texture wasn’t the same as with potatoes. But the flavor is governed more by all of the other ingredients anyway. I cut the cauliflower into flowerettes and steamed them for 10 minutes, then just followed my regular recipe, which is about the same as MissGypsy’s. Since raw onion can sometimes be really strong, sometimes I just use onion powder, LOTS of it.
The other members of my family are tall and slim, as opposed to my Crisco figure (short and fat). So now, when they want potato salad, we prepare the other ingredients and split them between their potatoes and my cauliflower.
I’m not an onion fan, so will make potato salad according to a given recipe and just omit it. I find a lot of the time, if I just take out a bit of the mayonnaise to make up for anywhere from a 1/2 cup to a cup less of dry ingredients (the onion), it works great. I am a fan of radishes though, so will often use radishes in place of the onion. A good way to keep some color, too.
As far as sliced potatoes, I usually see this in Hot German Potato salad and sometimes in country style potato salad. The first one is found easily (lot’s of variations) with a search, and the country style I’m referring to, seems to be the same as regular potato salad, but with either a dijon or a brown mustard in larger amounts (the salad looks lot’s more yellow than white). Either way, I think slicing the potatoes can work in most recipes, may need just a small amount of tweaking.
Recipe for the Best Potato Salad Ever: no mayo, no hardboiled eggs, maybe onions.
Bake 5lbs of Idaho potatoes at 375 degrees F. for one hour. When potatoes are baking,saute 2-3 finely minced shallots['til translucent] in a quarter cup of olive oil. Add 2 tablespoons dried crumbled tarragon and lots of freshly ground black pepper, continue cooking for 2 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock and boil down to reduce by one-third.Add salt after tasting boiled down mixture. Remove potatoes from oven when done, peel, chunk and place in large bowl. Dress the potatoes as you peel them with the tarragon mixture, they will suck it up. If you come up shy on liquid, add more chicken stock. Let dressed potatoes sit at room temperature "til serving time. Fold in 2 cups sour cream, freshly snipped dill and razor thin slices of red onion[optional, but recommended] Check for salt. Best served right away, but still good left over[be sure to refrigerate leftovers promptly]
Boil red potatoes in their skins, cut into large chunks. Mix with cooked crumbled bacon, freshly grated parmesan, and some sort of creamy Ceasar salad dressing. Oh, SO GOOD! I loved this stuff the first time I made it, and Dave’s not crazy about cooled potatoes, so more for me!
This thread sent me looking for a recipe and I can’t find it! Damn!
It is for a roasted red potato salad. You take new red potatos, peels on, diced into 1/2" cubes/wedges, which are roasted on a baking sheet for about 40 minutes. The dressing is what makes it though, and I can’t remember exactly how it goes. It uses coarse-grain mustard, vegetable oil, assorted spices, some kosher salt. Put the warm potatoes in a mixing bowl, pour the dressing over them and toss.
but an old neighbor of mine made THE BEST spud salad EVER. I swear.