eG Cook-Off #87: Potato Salad

[David Ross]

11 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

That raises a general question: whether to cut the potatoes before or after cooking. Most instructions that I read say to boil the potatoes, then allow them to cool, then slice or dice them as desired. A recent cookbook or two has said to dice them first, then cook them. It seems to me that the latter method would allow all the chunks to cook more evenly and quickly. I probably picked this idea up in a pressure cooking cookbook.

 

What say you all? Boil the potatoes, then slice/dice? Or cut them into chunks first, then cook? If the latter, what's your preferred cooking method?

I use different cooking techniques basically based on what sounds good at the time.  Yesterday I had some baby Yukon Golds I have previously frozen.  They were soft when defrosted, but not cooked so I roasted them in the oven with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Then cooled I cut them in slices and tossed in homemade mayonnaise.  Tasted great and I enjoyed the texture.  Other times I boil or steam the potatoes.  In those cases I leave them whole and cut them after cooking. 

[MokaPot]

I like Japanese potato salad a lot. IME, it's peeled russets, mixture of potato chunks & mash, not much sweetness in the "dressing." I like to use togarashi on it.

[Katie Meadow]

On 7/16/2021 at 8:34 AM, David Ross said:

 

 

I agree potatoes must be the main ingredient in the potato salad, yet I also like adding additional things like herbs, spices and things we've discussed.  I think it's a good question to get everyone's feedback. I know that my niece and nephew who are much younger than I am like additions to their potato salad, yet with the potatoes as the main ingredient. They make a mayonnaise based potato salad with curry spices, slivered almonds and raisins and it's delicious.  Again keeping the almonds and raisins in small amounts. 

I agree that in order to be called Potato Salad the potatoes must be the main event. Salade Nicoise is not potato salad. Almonds and raisins in small amounts? Both sound weird to me. If I encountered a raisin in potato salad I would probably think it was a stow-away creepy-crawler, especially if I bit down on it without warning. 

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, David Ross said:

Yesterday I had some baby Yukon Golds I have previously frozen. 

Am I reading this right? You froze raw Yukon Gold potatoes?

[gfweb]

45 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

I agree that in order to be called Potato Salad the potatoes must be the main event. Salade Nicoise is not potato salad. Almonds and raisins in small amounts? Both sound weird to me. If I encountered a raisin in potato salad I would probably think it was a stow-away creepy-crawler, especially if I bit down on it without warning. 

 

Finding a raisin in food is like finding a cock-a-roach.

Maybe worse

[Duvel]

3 hours ago, MokaPot said:

I like Japanese potato salad a lot. IME, it's peeled russets, mixture of potato chunks & mash, not much sweetness in the "dressing." I like to use togarashi on it.

I do love Japanese potato salad, or ポテトサラダ. 

 

However, as far as I know, this salad is made from a potato variety called “May Queen”, ubiquitous in Japan and of waxy consistency, rather than russets, which are floury …

 

 

 

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, Duvel said:

I do love Japanese potato salad

Please talk to us about German potato salad. Is it a thing or is it like English muffins that the English have never heard of?

[David Ross]

I wanted to start looking at European recipes for potato salad, so the first cookbook from my library I looked at was the Alpine Cookbook, Comfort Food from the Mountains by Hans Gerlach, DK Press, 2015.  I was interested to see what contemporary potato salads are popular with home cooks today.  They sound delicious and are quite different from traditional American potato salads.

 

Green Bean Salad with Egg, Potatoes, Sour Cream and Dill.  Similar to a Deviled Egg and Green Bean Salad I do sans the potatoes.

-5 1/2 oz. green onions

-14oz. small red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-4 eggs

-1ob. 2oz. green beans

-1/2 bunch dill

-2/3 cup sour cream

-2 tbsp. mayonnaise

-1-2 tsp. spicy mustard

-salt and pepper

 

Potato Salad with Wild Mushrooms-

-1lb. 5 oz. red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-1 kohlrabi

-3 green onions

-1 1/4 cup vegetable broth

-1 tbsp. mustard

-1/4 cup white wine vinegar

-1/4 cup canola oil

-7oz. wild mushrooms

-1 bunch chives

-1 bunch dill

-salt and pepper

 

The potatoes are boiled with the caraway seeds then drained.  This is interesting, the vegetable broth is boiled then poured over the kohlrabi and green onions.  The potatoes are cut and put into the broth mixture with the kohlrabi and green onions.  In a bowl the mustard is mixed with vinegar, canola oil and whisked.  

 

The wild mushrooms are sauteed in oil for 5 minutes, then added to the potato mixture with the chives and dill.  It reads almost like a potato soup because there isn't any mention of draining the potatoes, kohlrabi and green onions from the vegetable broth.  I like the idea of cooking in broth for flavor, but I'd probably drain it off and keep it for another use like vegetable soup. 

 

[heidih]

Dang - I can't find the war and post war  era (WW2) everything potato cookbook we had. Published in Austria. Will continue to dig.

[David Ross]

1 hour ago, David Ross said:

I wanted to start looking at European recipes for potato salad, so the first cookbook from my library I looked at was the Alpine Cookbook, Comfort Food from the Mountains by Hans Gerlach, DK Press, 2015.  I was interested to see what contemporary potato salads are popular with home cooks today.  They sound delicious and are quite different from traditional American potato salads.

 

Green Bean Salad with Egg, Potatoes, Sour Cream and Dill.  Similar to a Deviled Egg and Green Bean Salad I do sans the potatoes.

-5 1/2 oz. green onions

-14oz. small red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-4 eggs

-1ob. 2oz. green beans

-1/2 bunch dill

-2/3 cup sour cream

-2 tbsp. mayonnaise

-1-2 tsp. spicy mustard

-salt and pepper

 

Potato Salad with Wild Mushrooms-

-1lb. 5 oz. red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-1 kohlrabi

-3 green onions

-1 1/4 cup vegetable broth

-1 tbsp. mustard

-1/4 cup white wine vinegar

-1/4 cup canola oil

-7oz. wild mushrooms

-1 bunch chives

-1 bunch dill

-salt and pepper

 

The potatoes are boiled with the caraway seeds then drained.  This is interesting, the vegetable broth is boiled then poured over the kohlrabi and green onions.  The potatoes are cut and put into the broth mixture with the kohlrabi and green onions.  In a bowl the mustard is mixed with vinegar, canola oil and whisked.  

 

The wild mushrooms are sauteed in oil for 5 minutes, then added to the potato mixture with the chives and dill.  It reads almost like a potato soup because there isn't any mention of draining the potatoes, kohlrabi and green onions from the vegetable broth.  I like the idea of cooking in broth for flavor, but I'd probably drain it off and keep it for another use like vegetable soup. 

 

For the wild mushroom potato salad I would make it in the fall with local wild chanterelles and then in the spring it would be local wild morels.

[heidih]

41 minutes ago, David Ross said:

For the wild mushroom potato salad I would make it in the fall with local wild chanterelles and then in the spring it would be local wild morels.

We are not envious at all of your Pacific NorthWest mushroom bounty. The shrooms with potatoes are classic but I'd not imagined them in potato salad form. 

[Porthos]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:15 PM, weinoo said:

 

Hmmm.

 

In my less than humble opinion, sweet potatoes ARE NOT FOR POTATO SALAD.

Agreed. 

 

Several years ago an acquaintance offered me some potato salad,  and I declined.  I found out a little while later that it was SWEET potato salad. I'm glad I declined.  I would have gagged on it. 

 

My potato salad is steamed red or gold potatoes (skin on) cut smallish bite size, salt, Best Foods or homemade mayo, green onion or onion powder,  finely chopped celery and chopped hard-cooked eggs. Raw red onion was part of it in the past, but my Sweetie no longer does the raw onion thing; they don't agree with her any more. Sometimes paprika in a nod to my mom's PS, which was always liked by me.

[gfweb]

11 hours ago, David Ross said:

I wanted to start looking at European recipes for potato salad, so the first cookbook from my library I looked at was the Alpine Cookbook, Comfort Food from the Mountains by Hans Gerlach, DK Press, 2015.  I was interested to see what contemporary potato salads are popular with home cooks today.  They sound delicious and are quite different from traditional American potato salads.

 

Green Bean Salad with Egg, Potatoes, Sour Cream and Dill.  Similar to a Deviled Egg and Green Bean Salad I do sans the potatoes.

-5 1/2 oz. green onions

-14oz. small red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-4 eggs

-1ob. 2oz. green beans

-1/2 bunch dill

-2/3 cup sour cream

-2 tbsp. mayonnaise

-1-2 tsp. spicy mustard

-salt and pepper

 

Potato Salad with Wild Mushrooms-

-1lb. 5 oz. red potatoes

-1 tsp. caraway seeds

-1 kohlrabi

-3 green onions

-1 1/4 cup vegetable broth

-1 tbsp. mustard

-1/4 cup white wine vinegar

-1/4 cup canola oil

-7oz. wild mushrooms

-1 bunch chives

-1 bunch dill

-salt and pepper

 

The potatoes are boiled with the caraway seeds then drained.  This is interesting, the vegetable broth is boiled then poured over the kohlrabi and green onions.  The potatoes are cut and put into the broth mixture with the kohlrabi and green onions.  In a bowl the mustard is mixed with vinegar, canola oil and whisked.  

 

The wild mushrooms are sauteed in oil for 5 minutes, then added to the potato mixture with the chives and dill.  It reads almost like a potato soup because there isn't any mention of draining the potatoes, kohlrabi and green onions from the vegetable broth.  I like the idea of cooking in broth for flavor, but I'd probably drain it off and keep it for another use like vegetable soup. 

 

Interesting. I view potato salad as a simple dish. Perhaps I'm missing something.

[Porthos]

Regarding the question of Hot German Potato Salad being an actual German dish, yes it is. I checked in a cookbook written in Germany and it lists 4 regional variations. I mentioned this to my wife and she reminded me of when we served my MIL's recipe for HGPS to our friend Geli years ago, and Geli said it was was an authentic dish. Our friendship with her and her husband was such that she would not have said so just out of politeness.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Porthos (log)

[Anna N]

17 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Regarding the question of Hot German Potato Salad being an actual German dish, yes it is.

Thanks. I would still love for @Duvelto give his take. If nothing else it may well be amusing.

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thanks. I would still love for @Duvelto give his take. If nothing else it may well be amusing.

Thanks, @Anna N. You may have already noticed a slight hesitation to answer your first call …

 

Problem is: Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) is huge in Germany. There are at least as many recipes as households, with vast (and religiously defended) variations across areas, towns and families. It is very difficult to me to sort & categorize, even more so to give guidance. I will try my best to write something up 🙏

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Thanks, @Anna N. You may have already noticed a slight hesitation to answer your first call …

 

Problem is: Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) is huge in Germany. There are at least as many recipes as households, with vast (and religiously defended) variations across areas, towns and families. It is very difficult to me to sort & categorize, even more so to give guidance. I will try my best to write something up 🙏

Thank you. Sorry to have been insistent!
 Not necessary at all To try and untangle the web. I was just curious to know if something along the lines of a warm potato salad with bacon was known in Germany. I have a lovely recipe which I’m quite happy with although I haven’t made it for a long time. 

[Duvel]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Thank you. Sorry to have been insistent!
 Not necessary at all To try and untangle the web. I was just curious to know if something along the lines of a warm potato salad with bacon was known in Germany. I have a lovely recipe which I’m quite happy with although I haven’t made it for a long time. 

Well noted and no worries …

 

Warm potato salad is quite common. A popular variety in the south is the swabian potato salad, that uses oil, vinegar, (beef) broth, onions, cornichons and mustard as the base dressing. It is served warm (not hot), but is equally delicious the next day (provided you’ve cooked the onions). In a swabian household you would enjoy it in its simple form - a decent recipe can be found here - if you venture south to Bavaria, the addition of fried bacon pieces (think lardons) would be appropriate. 
The same salad can be prepared by swapping the cornichons for a larger amount of thinly sliced cucumbers. In this case, the room temperature version is more popular as a light summer dish. In the north (Hamburg) can be augmented by smoked fish, much like the addition of lardons in the bavarian variety.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Duvel (log)

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, Duvel said:

Warm potato salad is quite common.

Thank you.  @Porthoshad actually done a fine job of answering my question (thank you) but I still wanted to go right to the source. I don’t want to find myself at some future point in time where I am sitting next to the German ambassador in the Canadian consulate and happen to mention hot German potato salad and discover it is unheard of in that country. I do not have any pearls that I could clutch. 

[heidih]

Although I am Donau-Swabian (specifically Banat Swabian) the warm one was around but maybe I just did not like it as I prefer intense flavors. But I am the outlier who does not like mashed potatoes and the like. I disliked the one in my 2011 blog from a very respected German place as boring.

[FauxPas]

I have made a potato and beet salad a few times. In this one, I used Warba potatoes, roasted (not pickled) beets, feta cheese, young beet greens and the vinaigrette dressing in the recipe linked to below. 

 

 

My version was adapted from one at  Seasonal Ontario Food, which in turn got the idea from the potato salad description at The Old Foodie, from a Cambridge, MA article written in 1842. 

 

 

[heidih]

@The Old Foodie Maybe this person  I like the combo though the bleed can goof some people up.

[David Ross]

On 7/20/2021 at 11:22 AM, Anna N said:

Am I reading this right? You froze raw Yukon Gold potatoes?

Yes and they were fine for a potato salad when thawed and just a quick reheat.  They were soft and still had good flavor.  Sometimes I'll freeze raw potatoes that I have leftover and put them different kinds of salads.

 

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

I have made a potato and beet salad a few times. In this one, I used Warba potatoes, roasted (not pickled) beets, feta cheese, young beet greens and the vinaigrette dressing in the recipe linked to below. 

 

 

My version was adapted from one at  Seasonal Ontario Food, which in turn got the idea from the potato salad description at The Old Foodie, from a Cambridge, MA article written in 1842. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this looks and sounds delicious.

[FauxPas]

My everyday potato salad is pretty simple. I love the Spring/early summer Warba potatoes because they have a firm flesh and a fresh earthy taste. They are harvested very early almost without a skin and aren't cured at all, so they have to be kept refrigerated. 

 

 

I like potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and a generous amount of celery. I let the potatoes cool a bit, then toss them with a few splashes of sweet pickle juice. Add the diced celery and eggs and then a bit of mustard and lots of (Haters can pile on here, ha) Miracle Whip.  I have a friend who uses mayo but adds sugar and I suggested she could make her life easier by just using MW instead.  😃 😈

 

 

Sometimes I add some diced sweet onion or a bit of green onion and maybe top it with a bit of paprika. Chopped pickles (sweet or dill) don't really appeal to me, but I've tried adding them once or twice. 

 

I just made this batch, somehow the photo makes it look gloppier than it really is.  🙂

 

[FauxPas]

And my favourite warm potato salad is potatoes with green beans, served warm and quickly mixed with sweet onion, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese and a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Maybe a bit of fresh basil. Plan to make this one tomorrow, will try to share a photo.