There is no one "best" potato salad recipe. However, some popular potato salad recipes include ingredients such as mayonnaise, mustard, celery, onions, and pickles.
Gather ingredients.
The half cup of sprinkling vinegar should be justestimated from the bottle as you sprinkle.
It's just a conservativeguestimate and the exact amount will depend upon the amount of potatoes tosprinkle.
Don't worry about it too much.
Boil potatoes whole.
If yourpotato size varies much, put in the larger ones first.
A medium sizedpotato will take ABOUT 25 minutes total.
A smaller one maybe 18 minutes.
One of the keys here is to boil the potatoes till cooked but still a littlefirm.
If they are cooked till soft, then the subsequent stirring willrender the salad mushy.
You don't want them crunchy, but just cooked andstill firm.
That's the first secret! Peel the potatoes when they are stillwarm.
The warmer the better.
Peeling them AFTER they are cooked seems tomake a difference in taste.
They MUST not cool entirely or the vinegar willnot be absorbed properly.
I peel them almost straight out of the pot whenstill darn hot.
That's the second secret! Cut them into irregular chunks,little wedges about an inch or slightly less on a side with the greatestthickness about a half inch.
Just cut a little off one end, then cutanother small chunk off, then keep cutting pieces off in random sizes ofvarying shapes, mostly you end up with very irregular pyramidalshapes.
You want pieces big enough to not turn into mush but small enoughfor .
your liking! The edges will eventually break off and mush up ontothe salad while the larger parts of the bodies will remain whole.
You arecutting, peeling and dropping them into a large bowl.
There really shouldbe two people doing this or one should work as quickly as possible.
Afteryou have cut up a potato or two, sprinkle them fairly generously vinegarand stir around a bit in the bowl.
just a bit so you get the vinegar thatfell to the bottom of the bowl on the potatoes.
As you finish a potato ortwo, sprinkle each (they should be warm to hot when you sprinkle, ifpossible.
THAT's the BIG secret to this recipe)fairly generously.
I putmy finger over the end of the bottle of cider vinegar and drizzly drip itonto the potatoes making sure each is sprinkled well.
If you run out of thehalf cup, just use more.
Each potato gets a fairly generous sprinkling ofvinegar.
THAT point is more important than the measurement of the 1/2 cupof vinegar above.
Note: I don't measure out a half cup and then pour it onthem.
That would be awkward.
I did measure this once out so I could have arecipe for a friend and I learned I sprinkled ABOUT a half a cup.
Salt themat this point; I don't know how much.
Just salt them like you like.
Thevinegar needs a comment.
The importance of a generous sprinkling of vinegarwhile the potatoes are warm/hot can't be over emphasized.
They will soak upthe vinegar.
I am always amazed at how much vinegar it takes and how whenthey are done, the vinegar is tasted, but the dish is not 'vinegary' like ahot German potato salad which I hate.
trust in a good sprinkling ofvinegar at this point and if in doubt, sprinkle a little more! Stir in theother ingredients, leaving the eggs to last.
Chop up the eggs, slicing,cutting in whatever size/shape you wish but we are not talking about wholeor half eggs here.
Cut them up.
The yolks will fall apart when sliced upand that's ok.
Stir all the eggs into the rest of the mix.
The yolks willincorporate into the salad and you don't have to worry about them; don'tstir forever or worry about being gentle or anything.
Just mix it up.
Addthe other 1/2 cup of vinegar.
If you are a real chicken, you may wish toadd only a 1/4 cup but it will probably take it all (and maybe even a bitmore eventually).
Take a taste.
Add some more salt if needed.
It will begood but not perfect at this point.
Taste it again.
Note the vinegar flavorpeeking through.
It may even be fairly vinegary (that's a word, right?).
Cover and put in a fridge over night.
That's the last big secret.
Tasteagain after sitting in the fridge overnight.
Notice that the vinegar flavoris much softer.
Add some more vinegar and let that absorb for an hour ortwo.
You may well have used much more than the 1 cup total by this point.
Salt to taste if needed.
You can serve this without the over-night settingbut it will truly be a noticeably better salad the next day.
You will wantto adjust the amount of mayo to suit your taste.
I like a pretty mayoeesalad.
Probably even a bit more than this calls for.
Some don't.
You maywant more or less celery.
My wife doesn't like any (egads!) None of theseamounts need be exact, but they are close enough for a good starting point.
The key is to use more vinegar than you could have imagined, sprinklingwell while the potatoes are hot and firm but not crunchy.
The rest is allto taste.
I've never served this to a group that didn't ohh and ahh overit.
It is a bit of an effort but if you take the time you will have some ofthe best potato salad ever.
Ingredients
Directions
Gather ingredients.
The half cup of sprinkling vinegar should be justestimated from the bottle as you sprinkle.
It's just a conservativeguestimate and the exact amount will depend upon the amount of potatoes tosprinkle.
Don't worry about it too much.
Boil potatoes whole.
If yourpotato size varies much, put in the larger ones first.
A medium sizedpotato will take ABOUT 25 minutes total.
A smaller one maybe 18 minutes.
One of the keys here is to boil the potatoes till cooked but still a littlefirm.
If they are cooked till soft, then the subsequent stirring willrender the salad mushy.
You don't want them crunchy, but just cooked andstill firm.
That's the first secret! Peel the potatoes when they are stillwarm.
The warmer the better.
Peeling them AFTER they are cooked seems tomake a difference in taste.
They MUST not cool entirely or the vinegar willnot be absorbed properly.
I peel them almost straight out of the pot whenstill darn hot.
That's the second secret! Cut them into irregular chunks,little wedges about an inch or slightly less on a side with the greatestthickness about a half inch.
Just cut a little off one end, then cutanother small chunk off, then keep cutting pieces off in random sizes ofvarying shapes, mostly you end up with very irregular pyramidalshapes.
You want pieces big enough to not turn into mush but small enoughfor .
your liking! The edges will eventually break off and mush up ontothe salad while the larger parts of the bodies will remain whole.
You arecutting, peeling and dropping them into a large bowl.
There really shouldbe two people doing this or one should work as quickly as possible.
Afteryou have cut up a potato or two, sprinkle them fairly generously vinegarand stir around a bit in the bowl.
just a bit so you get the vinegar thatfell to the bottom of the bowl on the potatoes.
As you finish a potato ortwo, sprinkle each (they should be warm to hot when you sprinkle, ifpossible.
THAT's the BIG secret to this recipe)fairly generously.
I putmy finger over the end of the bottle of cider vinegar and drizzly drip itonto the potatoes making sure each is sprinkled well.
If you run out of thehalf cup, just use more.
Each potato gets a fairly generous sprinkling ofvinegar.
THAT point is more important than the measurement of the 1/2 cupof vinegar above.
Note: I don't measure out a half cup and then pour it onthem.
That would be awkward.
I did measure this once out so I could have arecipe for a friend and I learned I sprinkled ABOUT a half a cup.
Salt themat this point; I don't know how much.
Just salt them like you like.
Thevinegar needs a comment.
The importance of a generous sprinkling of vinegarwhile the potatoes are warm/hot can't be over emphasized.
They will soak upthe vinegar.
I am always amazed at how much vinegar it takes and how whenthey are done, the vinegar is tasted, but the dish is not 'vinegary' like ahot German potato salad which I hate.
trust in a good sprinkling ofvinegar at this point and if in doubt, sprinkle a little more! Stir in theother ingredients, leaving the eggs to last.
Chop up the eggs, slicing,cutting in whatever size/shape you wish but we are not talking about wholeor half eggs here.
Cut them up.
The yolks will fall apart when sliced upand that's ok.
Stir all the eggs into the rest of the mix.
The yolks willincorporate into the salad and you don't have to worry about them; don'tstir forever or worry about being gentle or anything.
Just mix it up.
Addthe other 1/2 cup of vinegar.
If you are a real chicken, you may wish toadd only a 1/4 cup but it will probably take it all (and maybe even a bitmore eventually).
Take a taste.
Add some more salt if needed.
It will begood but not perfect at this point.
Taste it again.
Note the vinegar flavorpeeking through.
It may even be fairly vinegary (that's a word, right?).
Cover and put in a fridge over night.
That's the last big secret.
Tasteagain after sitting in the fridge overnight.
Notice that the vinegar flavoris much softer.
Add some more vinegar and let that absorb for an hour ortwo.
You may well have used much more than the 1 cup total by this point.
Salt to taste if needed.
You can serve this without the over-night settingbut it will truly be a noticeably better salad the next day.
You will wantto adjust the amount of mayo to suit your taste.
I like a pretty mayoeesalad.
Probably even a bit more than this calls for.
Some don't.
You maywant more or less celery.
My wife doesn't like any (egads!) None of theseamounts need be exact, but they are close enough for a good starting point.
The key is to use more vinegar than you could have imagined, sprinklingwell while the potatoes are hot and firm but not crunchy.
The rest is allto taste.
I've never served this to a group that didn't ohh and ahh overit.
It is a bit of an effort but if you take the time you will have some ofthe best potato salad ever.
