167 replies to this topic

[Fat Guy]

It's interesting you'd bring this up right now because over the weekend I did a little potato salad taste test between a mayonnaise-based American-South-style potato salad (you know, with egg in it and all that) and a German-style potato salad with a vinegar-based dressing. Both were excellent, and they were also good mixed together! (Forgive me.)

So I'm pretty open-minded about potato salad. The one thing that really irks me is when the potatoes are overcooked. They should maintain their shape and have a little body to them. I also prefer the waxier potato varieties for potato salad.

I'll try to get my mother's recipe, but as with all her recipes it will be a process to obtain it and it won't actually represent how she makes it. Still I can try. I know she uses two types of potatoes.

[torakris]

I love potato salads in all its variations. Mayo based, oil based, warm German style.

For me I think only waxy potatoes work and I like it to be chunky, no "mashed" potato salads.

In the mayo version, green olives and lots of dill are the only requirement, other additions are secondary.

In the oil based I like it with EVOO and a good wine vinegar, green beans, maybe some red pepper and lots of herbs.

German style warm potato salad can only be made with lots of onions, crispy bacon and basalmic vinegar.

I am also partial recently to a version from Jamie Oliver, boiled waxy potatoes tossed with avocado, cress sprouts (I use kaiware, daikon sprouts) and EVOO and lemon juice, of course lots of S and P. The kids love it.

[mynamejoe]

Mayo-based is ok to me, but I much prefer warm German potato salad (kartoffelsalat). Traditional German recipes that I've seen consist of basically potatoes, vinegar, onion and chicken stock. I like it better as Torakris describes it, which is kartoffelsalat mit speck. The best I've made was with sliced baby yukon gold potatoes, onions, red wine vinegar and rendered pork fat.

[Suvir Saran]

So I'm pretty open-minded about potato salad. The one thing that really irks me is when the potatoes are overcooked. They should maintain their shape and have a little body to them. I also prefer the waxier potato varieties for potato salad.

I'll try to get my mother's recipe, but as with all her recipes it will be a process to obtain it and it won't actually represent how she makes it. Still I can try. I know she uses two types of potatoes.

The one I ate at Eds was made with waxy potatoes and was mayo based with eggs and pickled cucumbers... It is my all time favorite.. he also adds a generous amount of fresh herbs... I cannot resist eating large bowlfuls of it.
I was sent home with a large box of Potato Salad Schoenfeld .... and I shall eat it tomorrow for lunch.

[polly]

I too love most types of potato salad.
For mayonnaise based ones I like lots of chopped spring onions or a brunoise of red onion through it, along with lots of other herbs and seasonings.
Good quality mayo is also a must. Most commercial brands are sooo sweet and artificial tasting...and they can't be served chilled. Refrigerated potato is horrible.
Warm potato salads are probably my favouites.
The German type with garlicy vinaigrette, lots of parsley and crispy bacon, or warm pots tossed in savoury ( the herb), creme fraiche and salt and pepper.
I now wish I had some potatoes in the house to play with...

[gknl]

I like both kinds, warm and cold, too. I usually use Yukon golds or reds.

There's one in the Pasta and Cheese cookbook (is that store still around?) that's pretty good. It's a play on baked potato flavorings and includes sour cream, scallions, and chives in addition to mayo (with dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice).

[ChefHDAN]

My preference is for the varieties with vinaigrettes, fresh herbs, some sort of good mustard, and most often BACON. When making this style always remember to dress the potatoes as soon as they have been drained. Potatoes absorb flavors while they're hot and the starches will "seal" up the potatoes once they have cooled.

[Marlene]

I usually use Red potatoes. They seem to hold their shape better, and I don't peel them. I also use bacon in my salad as well as keilbassa. I take tubs of this salad to picnics and potlucks, and there is never any left over.

[wawairis]

I usually use Yukon gold. Boil potatoes with skin on until tender, but not mushy. Cool until able to handle. Chop potatoes into approx 1/2 inch size pieces. Chop 1 yellow (or red) onion into small dice. Add to potatoes, chop 2 hard boiled eggs into small dice and add to potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add approx 1 Tbsp of hearty prepared mustard and 1 Tbsp of sweet relish. Throw in a couple of shots of your favorite hot sauce and add mayo to dress the mixture until your desired consistency. This was my Mom's recipe and it's been requested repeatedly at family/friend and work gatherings. Everyone always wants to know the recipe. IMHO, it's what I like...
BTW, my Mom used to add a pinch of sugar too.

[snowangel]

Dijon is a requirement in our household -- whether it's mayo or vinegarette-style.

[Dana]

I never met a potato salad I didn't like!!! I take that back---I hate that sweet relish mushy stuff people buy in the grocery store and bring to covered dish dinners when they are too lazy to cook something. Several years ago, I threw a surprise party for my husband's birthday. I needed a vast amount of potato salad, so I simply baked the potatoes in a large baking pan, let them cool, then proceeded as usual. Best potato salad I ever made!!! The potatoes were not waterlogged, and were full of good potato flavor. (It's the only way I make it now). I use mayo (only Hellmans) and ballpark mustard, and dill pickles along with a little pickle juice, green onion, celery and hard boiled eggs, parsley and s&p. I prefer the dill version over sweet, but that's what I grew up with.

[Aix]

Whichever way you like your potato salad (vinaigrette-based or mayo), they should always be tossed in a good quality vinegar when they are warm. A little white wine doesn't hurt either.

In both styles, I use Dijon or grainy mustard. My fave: lots of shallots and fresh tarragon.

[Suzanne F]

Mmmmm -- potato salad! Always start with yukon golds or red-skin new potatoes. YES, waxy is better! Slice for French- or German-style, chunk for American. Cook until just tender -- that's the hard part. (The instructions in Julia's The Way to Cook never work for me; I find 6 minutes is too short.) Drain. For American, let the cubes cool to room temp; French and German, mix the potatoes with the other ingredients and then let cool (German need not cool at all).

I like to add the onion flavor in different ways, again depending on ethnicity: chopped scallions/green onions for American; shallots for French; and sautéed Spanish onions for German (cooked in the bacon fat). Other additions:
American: Mayonnaise; mustard; yogurt, to lighten the mayo; diced celery (or a little celery seed); sweet pickle relish or chopped sour pickles; chopped parsley.
French: I pretty much follow the recipe in The Way to Cook -- but I'll add a lot more chopped herbs, whatever I have available.
German: much like everyone else's: crumbled cooked bacon and its fat, the aforementioned cooked onions, a little sugar along with the salt and pepper (lots of pepper), and vinegar (Balsamic is a great idea!).

When I was little, a German deli in our neighborhood made a very simple, very delicious potato salad, with a creamy white dressing and chopped parsley only. I wish I could find out how they made the dressing: it was a little sweet, a little tart, and pure white -- not mayo, but ?????

BTW: Blue Smoke has one of the best potato salads I've ever eaten; theirs has sour pickle, onion, and egg.

[tommy]

you can do so much with potato salad. it's a blank slate. a near-perfect canvas.

[Dana]

I almost forgot---Bobby Flay has a recipe for a Spanish potato salad on TVFN web site that is outstanding!!! It uses saffron-infused vinegar with a lot of garlic and fresh thyme. My law-school daughter always asks for it every time she comes home.

Another thought---what do ya'll serve your salad with? I serve it mostly with BBQ or grilled meats, or sometimes with fried fish. There are a lot of families in our area who include it in holiday meals - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc. It seems too picnic-y and casual for holiday fare. Besides, there are soooo many carbos at the holiday-type gatherings, another is unnecessary.

[snowangel]

When I was little, a German deli in our neighborhood made a very simple, very delicious potato salad, with a creamy white dressing and chopped parsley only.  I wish I could find out how they made the dressing: it was a little sweet, a little tart, and pure white -- not mayo, but ?????

There's a German deli in a very German town just south of Minneapolis that also makes a salad of very thinly sliced red onions with this same dressing, sans the parsley, but with poppy seeds. Anyone have any ideas what this dressing is? I think a miracle whip-tasting dressing most closely approximates this, but that's not quite right, either.

[Suzanne F]

Miracle Whip, eh? Never had it that I was aware of, so maybe ... Guess I'll get some next time at the store and check. Thanks!

[Suvir Saran]

you can do so much with potato salad.  it's a blank slate.  a near-perfect canvas.

And like so much other stuff... a clean slate that is ruined by so many.

[Suvir Saran]

I never met a potato salad I didn't like!!! I take that back---I hate that sweet relish mushy stuff people buy in the grocery store and bring to covered dish dinners when they are too lazy to cook something.

It is exactly the same potato salad that made me wonder for years if I would ever eat a tasty mayo based potato salad.
And after eating Ed's version, I have become a convert, but also spoiled for life. Few versions stand upto his. I simply get myself invited to his home when I have a craving.
He is not a lazy cook.

[stagis]

I guess everybody likes potato salad in all its variations......the only requirement? Firm taters.......no moosh.

[rslux]

I really hate mayo so for me, it's German style potato salad or nothing.

[Suzanne F]

I really hate mayo so for me, it's German style potato salad or nothing.

Not even French??? I guarantee, if you try the one in The Way to Cook, you'll have an alternative.

[awbrig]

im with rslux, i dont do mayo either! Trotter has a great potato salad w smoked salmon and horseradish that is excellent...I also want to try out that Flay recipe someone mentioned earlier w saffron...

[stefanyb]

This may be something everyone already knows but when I discovered it I was just ecstatic. That is, after boiling the potatoes, slice them by using a hard boiled egg slicer. Definitely use waxy potatoes and then sprinkle with white wine vinegar while still warm. What you do from there is your choice, you can hardly go wrong.

[Suzanne F]

Stephanyb -- does it work if you leave the skin on, or do you have to peel them? In any case, BRILLIANT!!!

[stefanyb]

Stephanyb -- does it work if you leave the skin on, or do you have to peel them?  In any case, BRILLIANT!!!

I can't take the credit for it but thanks anyway. I have done it with tiny red bliss with the skin on but if you slip off the skin first it comes out a little neater. If you can get potatoes about the size of eggs, thats good but you can always quarter the larger ones. The one caveat is not to overcook the spuds.

[Aurora]

I love mayo in my potato salad, but I make my own with flavored oils and the flavor possibilities are endless. Miracle Whip...the sandwich and salad world knows no greater affront.

I like to use red potatos. I also like Yukon Gold potatos. I sometimes mix them with fingerlings, but when I do that I cook the different types of potatos separately. I usually boil the potatos in salted water, but I have also roasted them. The skin always stays on. I like to assemble the potato salad while the potatos are still warm.

I have added various things in different combinations: bacon, roasted mushrooms, cheese--sometimes coarsely grated, sometimes fine, sometimes cubed or crumbled (blue cheese is amazing), dill, tarragon, chives. If celery is added, it must be finely chopped. I cannot stand big chunks of celery in anything. Red onion, shallots, green onion, parsley and garlic are a must. I also like using dry mustard and a good amount of cracked pepper. An occasional splash of red wine, white wine or cider vinegar gives it a nice punch.

Not being an egg fan, I generally don't add them, but I will used chopped hard-boiled eggs with the yolks removed from time to time.

The recipe with sausage sounds really good.

Since a number of us are about to bid farewell to the farmer's markets, here is a link for really nice fingerling spuds

Earthly Delights

[maggiethecat]

Potato salad is bliss. Red new potatoes, Yukon gold, fingerlings, mayo, dijon, O&V, my friend Clive's garnish of devilled eggs and paprika. Warm, sweet and sour. bacony. Summer savoury. Lashings of parsley and watercress. Divine anchovies and capers.

In fact, this thread has so inspired me that I will head downstairs and make some for tomorrow.

My mother is a serious, travelled and seasoned gourmet. Her dressing? Half homemade mayo. Half Miracle Whip! We shudder and rag her about the MWhip, but Man! That potato salad is GOOD.

[Suvir Saran]

Potato salad is bliss.  Red new potatoes, Yukon gold, fingerlings, mayo, dijon, O&V, my friend Clive's garnish of devilled eggs and paprika.  Warm, sweet and sour. bacony.  Summer savoury.  Lashings of parsley and watercress.  Divine anchovies and capers.

In fact, this thread has so inspired me that I will head downstairs and make some for tomorrow.

My mother is a serious, travelled and seasoned gourmet.  Her dressing?  Half homemade mayo.  Half Miracle Whip!  We shudder and rag her about the MWhip, but Man!  That potato salad is GOOD.

I ate Potato Salad for dinner Sunday night and ate no less than 2 pounds of it for lunch yesterday (Monday) with some heirloom tomatoes and cornbread. Heaven!

[Marlene]

The recipe with sausage sounds really good.

In this case, Miracle Whip does work. I know I know. I don't normally use it either, but it fits in this salad. Here's the receipe. Try it once before completely condemning the Miracle Whip. Honest.

Reprinted from Ann Hodgman's "Beat That!" cookbook. I"ve adapted it slightly

8 med sized red potatoes, boiled in their jackets
3 oz garlic ring sausage (Keilbassa)
3 slices thick-cut bacon, diced, cooked until done, but not too crispy, and drained well.
1 medium tomato, deglopped and chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 med dill pickle, drained and minced
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives or minced scallion tops
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2/3 cup myaonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip

In a large bowl, mix everything together except the mayonaise and miracle whip.

Add the mayonnaise and miracle whip. For moister salad, use more of these in equal parts.

Chill the salad for several hours or up to 3 days, but bring it back to room temperature before you serve it

If you can't find garlic sausage in the States, you can substitute salami and add a glove of minced garlic.