Old Fashion Potato Salad

Every year for my mother’s birthday she requests the same meal: hamburgers, old fashioned potato salad and lemon-aid cake (recipe will be coming soon!). The sheer volume of meat and potato salad consumed by a tiny little woman is quite impressive. We are talking twice the amount of food as my father. And my mother is not a fast eater which means that this affair takes the better part of an hour. I’m tucking the kids into bed and she is still munching.

In my mother’s opinion potato salad should always be creamy, crunchy and filled with hard-boiled eggs. Personally I’m not a big fan of hard-boiled eggs, but I have made my peace with them for the sake of potato salad. I know that creamy potato salads filled with a mayonnaise base are certainly not ‘in vogue’ right now. They are very reminiscent of the Betty Draper 1950s pot-luck BBQ. But unlike their macaroni salad cousin I feel an old fashioned potato salad has its place. Just like grandma, it’s a little ‘old school’ and shouldn’t be left out in the sun too long, but family dinner wouldn’t be the same without it.

Tip for perfectly hard-boiled eggs: Place the eggs in a small pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, turn off the heat, and place the lid on the pot. Let sit for 11 minutes. Bang the eggs along the side of the pot a few times and run under cold water for several minutes to stop cooking.

Old Fashioned Potato Salad

Loosely Adapted from The Best of Bridge Cookbook

Served 6-8 as a side

3 lbs diced cooked, peeled potatoes (russet or Yukon Gold, from about 5-6 medium potatoes)
3 hard boiled eggs, cooled and chopped (see note above)
1 cup diced celery
2-3 green onions, sliced
½ cup sliced radishes
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp celery seeds
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Peel and cook the potatoes until just tender. Let cool and cut into 1/2-inch dice. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, onions, radishes and chopped parsley.

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, mustard, celery seeds, salt and pepper. Add 3/4 of the dressing to the large bowl and combine. Add the remaining dressing as needed, until all of the potatoes are coated. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.