Foodies Over 50

A POTATO SALAD SAGA

By Marilyn Michael

Mmmm... Potato Salad!

If you grew up in America and your life experiences aren’t too far out of the ordinary, potato salad is a comfort food. Though commonly appearing in the summertime, for me, Christmas Eve comes to mind. It’s when we would open gifts and was always celebrated at my grandparent’s home. As the big holiday meal was the next day, a buffet was laid out for munching. The star of that buffet, at least in my mind, was my Grandma’s potato salad. My mouth waters as I think about it…the tang of cider vinegar the creaminess of added thick cream, mmmm. It truly celebrated the simple ingredients of potatoes, eggs and onions. 

As a young adult, I was not very inspired by cooking until a new friend offered to teach me how to prepare Indian cuisine. My Indian adventures making pulaos, curries and biryanis began to pique my interest in the broader adventure of creatively combining ingredients into something greater than the sum of their parts. In all my food-challenged years, though, I was known for my (my Grandma’s) potato salad. Its simplicity might have been the secret. There are as many potato salad recipes as there are American families. Many have odd and sundry ingredients like olives, pimentos, relish, pickles, you name it. And, have you ever had a restaurant potato salad beside a sandwich you’d ordered and wondered who in the world thought it had any taste worth serving? Now, I’m not going to pick on family food heritages, but my Grandma’s potato salad has never met a person who hasn’t found its creamy, tangy simplicity delicious. Most say so. It’s like ‘the essence of potato salad’ not cluttered with odd and sundry things for reasons of texture, or color or just automatically following the family’s oft made recipe. OK, I’m not insulting other potato salad recipes by calling them cluttered, but on a consistency scale, I bet my Grandma’s potato salad would be more universally well liked than other more “kitchen sink” versions.

I think it’s partly that the onions are chopped very fine, leaving almost an essence of onion with every bite rather than crunching down on an onion chunk every other bite or so. Also, the extra eggs, it’s a very eggy salad. You don’t have to wait for the pleasure of finding an egg chunk. And then the creaminess created by that quarter cup of unwhipped whip cream (or in my Grandma’s day, thick cream delivered by a local farmer). Its creamy texture creates a pleasing sensation in your mouth unlike some, more dry, potato salads where the potatoes are separate chunks barely blended. My only problem is that I can make the full recipe using 5 lbs. of potatoes and eat it all myself over several days.

My love of my Grandma’s potato salad has kept me uninterested for many years in ever making another version. But, the other day, I went to a potluck and, unbelievably, the desire to try a different potato salad overtook me. I munched on the proffered ‘unique to my taste buds’ version and couldn’t stop munching. How unusual and interesting it tasted. I knew it wouldn’t have the universal appeal of my Grandma’s potato salad, but it was quite the taste treat. I also knew several people, including my husband, who would really enjoy how it incorporated its unusual ingredient – wasabi (also called Japanese horseradish). Yes, that ‘take your breath away’ green paste mostly appearing in Japanese restaurants. Interestingly, it’s something you usually really love or you really don’t love. I’ve been in the camp of not loving it – but then I don’t hang out at sushi bars amidst where it’s served as an accoutrement. 

Here I was, though, savoring bite after bite of this intriguing take on potato salad. What was it? I had learned with Indian cuisine that often even stubbornly intrusive ingredients like cumin added in a blend of other spices do not assault the taste buds in the same way as when alone. Yes, I could still taste the wasabi but it blended somehow with the creaminess and other flavors and didn’t assault me as it does eaten straight. 

The long and short of this potato salad saga is that I actually made it, making a potato salad other than my Grandma’s for the first time in my life. It isn’t the comfort food staple that began on my childhood Christmas Eves but it intrigues my taste buds in a very pleasing way.

I requested the recipe from the gal who brought it and found that it’s available on the Internet. I cut it in half and left out the chives (I didn’t want to run them down) and parsley (I could never understand it but for some sundry green color). Here’s the link:

http://curdmor.blogspot.com/2009/09/alan-wongs-white-house-wasabi-potato.html

And, for a delicious, comfort food summer treat, here’s my maternal grandma’s potato salad recipe.

Ruth Allen’s Potato Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1 - 5 lb. bag of Russet potatoes, peeled, boiled and cut into 2" chunks
2 teaspoons of salt (for boiling potatoes)
1 large sweet onion, chopped very fine
8 large eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
2 cups of Best Foods Mayonnaise
½ cup of cider vinegar
¼ cup of whipping cream or heavy cream (not whipped)
2 teaspoons of salt


INSTRUCTIONS:

Place eggs on to boil. When they are hardboiled, peel and place them in the refrigerator to cool. (I sometimes boil them with the potatoes.)

Bring 9 cups of water to a boil with 2 teaspoons salt. While heating water, peel all the potatoes and cut them for boiling. Add the potatoes to the boiling water just topping them and keep them boiling uncovered for around 15 minutes (a potato chunk should break easily in two when cut with a spoon.)

While the potatoes are boiling peel and very finely chop a large sweet onion. I have to use a food processor to get the right texture. Pulse so you don’t go too far and puree the onion.

Drain the potatoes and allow them to cool, ideally in the refrigerator.

In a very large bowl, slice the potatoes and eggs, mixing chunks together (the potatoes may be a little flaky.) Add the finely chopped onion, 2 cups of Best Foods Mayonnaise; slightly mix the mayonnaise into the ingredients. Add ¼ cup of whipping cream and continue mixing. When the potatoes and eggs are coated, add ½ cup cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix well. It’s very creamy. It gets even better after sitting for a bit in the refrigerator.