Food & Drink: One potato, two potato Food & Drink: One potato, two potato (July 07, 2004)

There are dozens of potato salad recipes and every cook thinks hers (or his) is the best

By Jane Knoerle
Almanac Lifestyles Editor

It's potato salad season. For the next two months potato salad will be a favorite dish for the backyard barbecue, the ultimate "go with" for hamburgers and hot dogs.

The most popular versions are usually family favorites -- recipes handed down from Grandma Wallwork or Aunt Gertrude. The basics are potatoes, onion, eggs, celery and mayonnaise. Then the creative touches take over.

Thumb through cookbooks and you'll find endless variations that include the addition of: mustard (dry, Dijon or yellow), parsley, pimento, sweet or dill pickles, black or green olives, red or green sweet peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, celery seed, various herbs (dill, tarragon or thyme), bacon, shrimp, ham, even golden raisins. Please don't try all at once.

Mayonnaise may be "doctored" with yogurt or sour cream, or replaced with salad dressing (think Miracle Whip). I remember my mother making her own "boiled dressing."

Cooks have various opinions on what potatoes to use. In her book, "Savannah Seasons," Elizabeth Terry recommends new red-skin potatoes for "sweet potato and new potato salad," and "new red potato salad," but switches to Idaho baking potatoes for "creamy potato salad."

In "Cooking for Comfort," celebrity cook Marion Burros recommends Yukon Gold potatoes. Many recipes just go with plain old potatoes. I like White Rose because the skin is so light it doesn't matter if a little remains when you peel them.

More important is timing. Potatoes should be cooked through, but still firm. Too much cooking and you have mashed potato salad.

For the novice cook who doesn't have her mother's potato salad recipe, a safe bet is the recipe on the Best Foods mayonnaise jar. It's just your basic potatoes, eggs, onion, mayo, etc. And, trust me, this isn't the time to substitute low-fat or no-fat dressings. If you think mayonnaise is too fattening, skip the potato salad and make a green salad instead.

I have taken many wonderful trips to Europe and Asia with food writer Eleanor Ostman, whose "Tested Recipes" column appeared in the Sunday St. Paul Pioneer Press for 30 years.

Eleanor published "Always on Sunday" a few years ago, sharing favorite recipes from her column. Her "World's Greatest Potato Salad" was featured at her 50th birthday party, along with "Perfect Hamburgers."

"My mother always marinated warm potatoes for salad so flavor penetrated them. Using her technique, I built a recipe. I make it by instinct, but this is close enough."

World's Greatest Potato Salad

Marinade:

1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
Generous grindings of black pepper

Salad:

5 lbs. potatoes, boiled and peeled
6 green onions, sliced
1 large sweet onion, diced
3 cups salad dressing
1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
1 to 2 tablespoons prepared mustard (Dijon preferred)
6 ribs celery, finely chopped
8 eggs, hard-cooked

To make marinade: Combine oil, vinegar, dry mustard, sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. Beat with wire whisk until well blended.

To prepare potatoes: Boil potatoes until tender, but not mushy. Drain. Peel while still warm. Slice potatoes into large bowl. As soon as a layer of potatoes covers pan, sprinkle with some green onion and sweet onion. Drizzle with some marinade. Repeat layers of potatoes, onions and marinade until all are used. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate several hours.

To make salad: When ready to mix salad, combine salad dressing, cream and prepared mustard. Taste and add more mustard if desired. Add chopped celery and chopped eggs to potatoes (reserving some center slices of egg for garnish if desired). Stir in dressing mixture until potatoes are coated. Adjust seasoning to taste. Spoon salad into lettuce-lined serving bowl. Garnish with egg slices. Sprinkle with paprika. Serves 12 to 15.

Kathleen Tatola of Menlo Park contributed her "Grandma Wallwork's Potato Salad" recipe to "What's Cooking," a collection of recipes from the Laurel School community.

"Grandma Tena" was born in Germany, but lived most of her life in Redwood City. She was known for her ham hocks with sauerkraut (making her own sauerkraut), and apricot pies, says Kathleen.

Kathleen says she makes the potato salad "all the time." Her children (Natalia, Eddie Jr., and Owen) especially like it when served with barbecued chicken prepared by her husband, Edward.

Grandma Wallwork's Potato Salad

8 russet potatoes
6 eggs
4 regular-size dill pickles
1 16-oz. can ripe olives
1/2 bunch green onions
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup yellow mustard
Salt to taste
Paprika

Boil potatoes. When cooked, peel and chop into pieces. Boil eggs, chop into pieces. Chop pickles, olives and green onions and mix with potatoes and eggs. Add mayonnaise and mix well. Add mustard and salt to taste. Chill and serve. Serves 6 to 8.

Almanac writer Marjorie Mader shares the recipe for "Waupun Potato Salad," from her native Wisconsin. Waupun refers to the state prison at Waupun, Wisconsin, now called Waupun Correctional Institution. Seems Marjorie's grandparents' next-door neighbor was on an oversight board for the prison. He liked the potato salad served there so much he persuaded the warden to give him the recipe. The only problem was, the ingredients were measured in bushels and pecks.

Waupun Potato Salad

Version of German potato salad served to inmates at Waupun State Prison long ago.

6 large baking potatoes
3/4 to 1 cup onions, sliced into small pieces

Cook potatoes in boiling water, remove skins while still warm and cut potatoes into cubes. Layer potatoes in a bowl with pieces of onion and salt and pepper.

Dressing

8 slices of bacon, cut into pieces and fried.

Drain bacon and set aside, pour off extra grease if necessary, but save some bacon fat for dressing. Add to bacon fat and cook:

1 tablespoon flour (to thicken)
1/2 cup sugar, added slowly
1 cup cider vinegar

Bring to a quick boil to thicken, add bacon pieces and pour hot dressing over layered potatoes. Let stand at room temperature ("I remember mother would put a plate over the bowl so that the potatoes steeped in the dressing," says Marjorie.) The salad is best if made a day in advance. Can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.

Surfing the Net, I found dozens of potato salad recipes, including Greek and Japanese-style. Greek salad included 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, seedless cucumber, feta cheese and Greek olives. The Japanese recipe was basically the same as our old-fashioned down-home style, except for the addition of cucumber slices and diced ham.

"Always a winner potato salad," submitted on one site by Debi Porter, was a basic potato salad enlivened by 8 ounces of small shrimp. The recipe called for canned shrimp. Fresh shrimp would taste better. By adding shellfish, this could be a main dish for a summer supper.

Here are a few ingredients I like to add to basic potato salad using six large potatoes:
a teaspoon of celery seed,
1/2 teaspoon tarragon,
1 teaspoon yellow mustard (for color),
1/2 cup chopped green pepper,
l teaspoon sugar dissolved in 1 tablespoon vinegar, and lots of eggs.

I also pour 1/2 cup Wishbone Italian dressing over the potatoes while they are still warm, adding the remaining ingredients after the mixture has cooled.

With your own homemade potato salad, you could be making some memories for your family as well as a delicious dish. If you enjoy reading recipes more than making them, however, Draeger's old-fashioned potato salad is one of the best of the store-bought variety.

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