Potato salad: eggsalent with or without eggs?

[Gifted Gourmet]

And come to think of it, I never put eggs in it. I suppose that's because no eggs is what I grew up eating. Maybe it's a Delta thing? I don't know. More research is needed. This might make for an excellent topic.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man", has posed this very question just today in a discussion on Varmint's Pig Pickin' final arrangements ...the thread

do you add hard boiled eggs to your potato salad?

or do you avoid them?

This is a very big issue here .. please add your responses in order that we might find some common ground for the proper potato salad ....

[jo-mel]

And come to think of it, I never put eggs in it. I suppose that's because no eggs is what I grew up eating. Maybe it's a Delta thing? I don't know. More research is needed. This might make for an excellent topic.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man", has posed this very question just today in a discussion on Varmint's Pig Pickin' final arrangements ...the thread

do you add hard boiled eggs to your potato salad?

or do you avoid them?

This is a very big issue here .. please add your responses in order that we might find some common ground for the proper potato salad ....

←

Potato salad just needs sliced potatoes, lots of scallions, a dressing of mayo/oil/vinegar, pepper AND capers - lots of capers. NO EGG!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thanks for the quick answer! So the score currently stands at:

without eggs = 1

with eggs = 0

[Marlene]

Actually, the discussion goes further than that. It's not just potato salad we're talking here. What's at stake is what makes up the traditional Southern potato salad? Does Southern potato salad have eggs in it or not?

Dave the cook says yes. Mayhaw Man says no.

[tejon]

I'm not any kind of expert on Southern potato salad, but I'll add in my vote for no eggs. If I wanted egg salad, I'd make that instead.

[Gifted Gourmet]

but I'll add in my vote for no eggs.

←

Without eggs gets yet another vote ..

Dave and Mayhaw Man's opinions cancel each other out ..

but wait! Louisiana potato salad recipe indicates ... read on ... whoa Nelly! milk??

[rooftop1000]

how about this one...my polish/english aunt from Buffalo NY ....viva italian dressing over hot sliced potatoes then chill....actually pretty good

but forget the eggs ...(please)

dress the potatoes hot or cold??

tracey

[petite tête de chou]

I go either way. If I use eggs, I smash the hard boiled yolks with the mayonnaise, mustard, etc and chop the whites, adding them to the potatoes. And using my little egg slicer I garnish the top with egg slices and a bit of paprika.

[lesfen]

Eggs in potato salad? I say yes, but I really only notice the whites. I like the texture contrast. Firm potato, crunchy onion/celery/pepper, bouncy egg white. Mmmm. I want some potato salad now. Must... call... mom...

Macaroni salad? Nooooo. Too much slip and slime. Blegh.

[Gifted Gourmet]

dress the potatoes hot or cold??

←

Hot!! .. dress the hot potatoes with salt/pepper/vinegar .. then add the celery/onions .. finally the mayonnaise (always the best I can afford ...

BTW, the reason for hot is that the potatoes need time to absorb the vinegar .. otherwise it simply melds into the dressing ...

[fifi]

The classic salad that my family always made had eggs. The yolks were mashed up with the mayo, mustard. The whites were diced by cross slicing in the egg slicer. My mother brought this version to an art form. The potatoes had to be the white smooth skinned variety so the cubes held together. They were peeled, diced and boiled in well salted water. She would sit the colander over the still hot boiling pot to drain and dry. Then, the pickle juice or cider vinegar that would have normally been used in the dressing was sprinkled over the potato cubes for them to absorb it. Add the usual onion, celery and finely chopped pickle (not sweet). Then sometimes she would add chopped pimento or parsley, sometimes not. Her real stroke of genius was the addition of celery seed to the dressing.

That doesn't mean that we don't digress way far afield of the classic. We do with abandon. A version with capers and smoked salmon flakes was particularly popular. The dressing for that one added sour cream and no mustard. No eggs in that one. Then there was mother's recipe for "German" potato salad dressed with bacon drippings, crumbled bacon and served hot. She used red skinned potatoes unpeeled for that. No eggs in that one either.

So, what to do. I am going to say that my vote would be eggs - yes, since if we just say "potato salad" without a clarifying description we are talking about the classic.

[Carrot Top]

Can I vote twice? Once for each side?

The usual potato salad, yes. A bit of egg here and there for texture and color.

But my favorite potato salad is made with red potatoes (skin on), fresh green beans in 1" pieces, and bacon, also in about 1" strips. No eggs on that one or there would not be room to eat anything else but the potato salad itself in any one sitting.

Let's face it, Mayhaw Man is from the Deep, I say Deep. . . South.

They do things a mite different down that a ways.

Edited: Fifi just proved me wrong on that last line. Therefore it must not be the Deeeep South, it is just him.

Edited August 25, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[foodiehall]

Absolutely NO hard cooked eggs in my potato salad....or in anything else I make. I can spot (or smell) hard cooked eggs in any kind of salad and when I do, I don't touch it. I don't make a big deal of it, I just simply pass on it.

[Bernaise]

Finely chopped hearts of celery (edited to add: make sure to include the tender leaves)

Minced garlic as much as you dare

Decent olive oil

plenty of salt and pepper

dribble of white wine vinegar (optional)

tossed with hot peeled and roughly chopped potatoes

no egg

no mayo

simple and popular

Edited August 25, 2005 by Bernaise (log)

[Taboni]

1 vote for eggs (2 grated)

mustard

mayo

pickle relish

chopped pimento

scallion

cooled chunky potatoes

Edited August 25, 2005 by Taboni (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I believe egg in potato salad is optional, and I am not opposed to the addition of it. However mustard is MANDATORY.

[Rebecca263]

Mustard, YES! Eggs, YES! Cracked pepper, YES!

My mother made a potato salad that barely made it to the meal. She used hard boiled eggs alongside the potatoes and chopped raw onions as well. I remember mustard, vinegar and her cracking the peppercorns for the salad. I can not remember the details other than that. Ah, freshly blendered mayonnaise, but minus the sometimes addition of garlic. Oh, how we would sit at her elbows and beg to eat the salad while it was still warm. Now I've had other potato salads, I tend to like them all, but the family style one is my favorite. Mom was from Boston, by the way.

[chef koo]

I believe egg in potato salad is optional, and I am not opposed to the addition of it. However mustard is MANDATORY.

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that's very diplomatic of you. i agree. i can't say which i prefer. but i think we;re looking to have some shit disturbed

[easternsun]

eggs yes! mustard yes! and i am afraid to say that i add a bit of milk and dill as well.

potato salad makes me think of gigantic bowls of the stuff at family functions . in japan, i often find boiled carrot is added to the mix. this is found in the conbini favourite - the potato salad sandwich

[Sottise]

I have to vote for eggs. Not that potato salad is the artform here that it seems to be in the US, but there's something about the combination of eggs, potatoes and mayonnaise that makes me eat far more than I really should.

And that's usually all my potato salad usually is; well seasoned boiled potatoes, chopped medium-hard boiled eggs, good mayonnaise - maybe with seeded mustard, maybe not. Comfort food for summer!

[Verjuice]

No egg. Homemade mayo a must. Adds the spirit of egg without the rubber.

[Rebecca263]

I've had those 'rubber' eggs before, isn't that from overcooking? Yuck. I've been looking online, and a number of recipes call for milk. I'm wondering, how does that taste? I'm going to make a potato salad for dinner tomorrow. Maybe I'll try a milk enhanced recipe.

[Ninjai Fanatic]

I vote no eggs!

[BarbaraY]

Eggs, eggs, eggs! Must have eggs. To me it doesn't seem like potato salad without them.

I dress the warm diced potatoes with a bit of vinaigrette and let it cool while prepping the remaining ingredients: celery, diced red onion, diced dill pickle, red bell pepper or piminto, sometimes coarsely chopped black olives, lots of minced flat leaf parsley. Toss it all together with good mayo and then gently fold in plenty of diced hard boiled egg.

[Gifted Gourmet]

So many variations! Boggles the mind!

I will do a tally of the eggs/no eggs choices shortly .. but please keep up your very cool suggestions ...