Sweet Potato Salad? Your favorite?

[Tropicalsenior]

It's amazing what you can find on the internet.

Sweet Potato Paste (salad)

 

"This is a salad served in restaurants in Butte, Montana. It's easy and tasty even if the name sounds strange."

 

It sounds pretty much like the one that we used to make except that we used all Durkees.

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

That sounds like my m-I-l’s except I didn’t understand that the sweet potatoes were intentionally mashed.   I thought it was just their nature.

[heidih]

That actually soiunds good if served with the chill off. I like sweet/savory. The mashing reminds me of the poyayo salad a Japanese friend used to serve. The regular potatoes were lightly mashed ad diced ham was included. A sweet note too maybe from the ham.

[JAZ]

My aunt (from Butte) always made this for family functions, but I thought it was her own invention. I never tried it because back then I didn't like sweet potatoes.

[JeanneCake]

I love the sweet potato salad from Thrill of the Grill (Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby).  You  make a dressing from dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, a little ketchup, olive oil, cider vinegar, lime juice, minced garlic and chunk up some peeled sweet potatoes and boil or steam  until just tender,  chop up some red and yellow bell peppers, some red onion and mix it together and pour the dressing over it while it's still a little warm.  I  make a huge amount of the dressing so I can keep it in the fridge and make this whenever I want

[gfweb]

Yams sound like the worst thing for a potato salad because they are so non-waxy they turn to mush easily.  I've tried and failed to make a sweet potato salad that isn't a mess.  Kind of like the problem you have making potato salad with russets.  I usually use Yukon Gold or even red potatoes to get things firm.

 

I wonder if some of the less-usual sweet potatoes have enough pectin to handle being in a salad.

 

Or maybe cook the yams in acidified water to firm-up what pectin they have?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

28 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Yams sound like the worst thing for a potato salad because they are so non-waxy they turn to mush easily.  I've tried and failed to make a sweet potato salad that isn't a mess.  Kind of like the problem you have making potato salad with russets.  I usually use Yukon Gold or even red potatoes to get things firm.

 

I wonder if some of the less-usual sweet potatoes have enough pectin to handle being in a salad.

 

Or maybe cook the yams in acidified water to firm-up what pectin they have?

You have to disassociate this salad from your concept of "potato salad".   It is what it is, mashy and "sweet".   Different but not abhorrent.    The first time I was served this, my reaction was "Yucko!"    But I learned to appreciate it as a different animal.  

[heidih]

I've never had mush issue with russets for potato salad. Large batch (my aunties doing enough for 200 at my wedding) they boiled unpeeled and then used their asbestos fingers to peel. For small batch and sweet potato I find MW yields a result that is no mush, done.

[kayb]

14 hours ago, gfweb said:

Yams sound like the worst thing for a potato salad because they are so non-waxy they turn to mush easily.  I've tried and failed to make a sweet potato salad that isn't a mess.  Kind of like the problem you have making potato salad with russets.  I usually use Yukon Gold or even red potatoes to get things firm.

 

I wonder if some of the less-usual sweet potatoes have enough pectin to handle being in a salad.

 

Or maybe cook the yams in acidified water to firm-up what pectin they have?

you can peel, cube and roast the SPs and avoid the mush. Just have to have a light hand with tossing with dressing. I like oil, venerated, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves.

[scubadoo97]

On 1/16/2023 at 8:38 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

You have to disassociate this salad from your concept of "potato salad".   It is what it is, mashy and "sweet".   Different but not abhorrent.    The first time I was served this, my reaction was "Yucko!"    But I learned to appreciate it as a different animal.  

although I’ve never made or had this dish, I have to agree with your statement 

[Tropicalsenior]

On 1/17/2023 at 9:46 AM, kayb said:

you can peel, cube and roast the SPs and avoid the mush. Just have to have a light hand with tossing with dressing. I like oil, venerated, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves.

I usually cook the sweet potatoes in my instant pot. Cut them in half and cook them 3 minutes. You have to let them get completely cold before you can dice them. Then, like you said, just use a light hand when mixing. But to me, it isn't sweet potato salad without Durkee sauce.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[RWood]

I made this for a gathering, and everyone loved it.  

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad