DOES POTATO SALAD make you stand on your tippy-toes, your head, your…shoulders, and…neck and…um, other places that aren’t meant to be stood upon? We love potato salad, though maybe not quite as much as the unbelievable dancing sisters Aggie, Maggie and Elmira Ross. (Their real names were Vicki, Dixie and Betsy Ross–perfect for an Independence Day salute.) Watch the 1944 clip of the contorting triplets above and you’ll get the connection, we promise! And then, with July 4th fast approaching, join us as we dust off our vintage recipe stash for fresh takes on the ultimate summer barbecue and picnic staple:
There are two basic types of potato salad: American (with a creamy, usually mayonnaise-based, dressing) and German (dressed with oil and vinegar.) The history of both types is murky, to say the least, with no certain provenance for the American version, and at least one theory that the German version actually originated in Poland. (The example above suggests that the American version might have come from somewhere else, too. Hey, that’s the beauty of the melting pot, right?)
If you’d like to try a really old-fashioned version, this 1894 American-style recipe, from a book compiled by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Presbyterian Church, Marion, Ohio, 1894, sounds pretty darn good, as does this 1954 take on German potato salad from House and Garden. But if you’d like something more off-beat, this recipe for a Tuscan version cries out for attention. It comes from McGinnis Sisters, a group of Pittsburgh-area specialty food stores run by, you guessed it, the three McGinnis sisters. (The markets host an annual potato-salad contest, so we’re guessing that these sisters know something about what takes potato salad from good to great.)
From the 'Silver Anniversary International Cook Book' by the sisters of Beta Sigma Phi, 1956
I like the looks of the 50′s-era recipe above, though I would definitely substitute fresh herbs for the dried. I usually make my potato salad with lots of celery and onion, and a dressing that mixes a bit of mayo, some plain yogurt, and some seasoned rice vinegar; I’m aping a long-lost magazine recipe that I remember being the best potato salad I ever ate. Someday, maybe I’ll find the clipping again, but in the meantime, I tend to wing it.
Don’t forget to share your favorite potato salads (or other must-serve picnic-holiday sides) with us. TSP Sister Marion offers her mother-in-law’s, the one that Marion says sealed her marriage. And if you can get your family to do a Ross Sisters-style dance for their potato salad this July 4, please, please be sure to send us the video, pronto.
Happy 4th, sisters! If you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, be sure to check out more of our recipes, and especially our look back at the ultimate sisterly cookbooks.
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In my neighborhood, there are three potato salad variations, each named according to geography:
–Russian, which is red potatoes, cooked carrots, fresh cooked peas, some pickles, eggs if you like, little cubes of smoked cheese if you like, and tiny bits of smoked meat, in a sauce that is something white and creamy (yogurt, sour cream, mayo, also discretionary) plus some lemon juice and mustard. This kill-me-by-cholesterol version is a “training food” for new cooks: it tests patience and precision dicing skills. The name tends to support the speculation in your neighborhood that the American version has Russian origins;
–French, which is everything above except meat and cheese. I’m not sure what that says about local preconceptions of the French;
–Mediterranean, which is sliced boiled potatoes and onions, olive oil, salt and pepper, mixed while potatoes are still warm. So far this salad remains unattributed to a single country or nationality.
Well, Czech cuisine has the Russian and French potato salad as described above, as well as a cook’s version of Czech potato salad. Mine includes grated (raw) carrot and radish, parsley and chopped green onion, small tart and sweet diced apple, as well as German or Czech garlic dill pickles (which have some sweet). Have I left anything out? (well, potatoes and mayonnaise). Oh — parsley.
These days, I make Swiss potato salad — low-starch potatoes are cooked (JUST ) in chicken stock, and then drained and thinly sliced. They are doused in a good white wine, letting it soak in. Once the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, you add chopped capers, finely chopped parsley, as well as on oil and Vinegar dressing, and adjust the salt and pepper.
Thinking low-fat? Ha! From the First Presbyterian Church of Rapid City, SD, where my sister Marion’s father-in-law was pastor, from their 1980 cookbook:
German Potato Salad
6 potatoes, boiled, peeled and chunked
5 strips bacon, fried till crisp
1 c. sour cream
1 Tbsp vinegar
1Tbsp sugar
1 onion, diced
Remove bacon from frypan. To bacon grease add chopped onion, sautee 5 minutes. Add potatoes to onions. Mix sour cream, vinegar and sugar. Simmer all for 15 minutes. Break bacon over top. Serve hot or cold.
PS: I could read these funny old auxiliary cookbooks all day.
I make two different kinds.
One is mayo based, and it’s chunked boiled red new potatoes (skin on), finely minced raw onion and red bell pepper, chopped hard boiled eggs, and crumbled bacon.
The other is more german, and was inspired from an amazing meal I had at Madeline’s (of Chatham’s Mado Patisserie) house.
I slice warm potatoes “flat” (I find a waxy variety like fingerlings work best) and dress with a vinaigrette made with good cider or sherry vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard and lots of sauteed shallots.
Petra–I like the sound of that Mediterranean version–yum. Precision dicing is all well and good, but not for picnic fare…
Monika–Ditto on your Swiss version. Wine bath before vinegar? Unusual, and yummy sounding.
Margaret–your cholesterol fest can join up with Petra’s for an artery-hardening showdown….
Holy Crap Paige! I just saw you in Country Living! What the…???
I feel like I have entered an alternate universe.
Beautiful home. Beautiful family. Can I have your little girl? I have enough boys… but the girl… I need one of those. I also need your wallpaper. Kay?
I like a bright yellow mustard potato salad. Emphasis on the bright and the yellow and the pickle relish and the ice-cold. Pale potato salads do not work for me at all, though I must say that the bacon in the above recipe sparked my interest because yes… bacon.
Tell Rechelle she can not have The Rock. The Rock belongs here with me, where she can share more of those leg-hugs that are her specialty, wrapping herself around both of mine and hugging.
Now as for potato salad…I remember that Deb at SmittenKitchen.com had Roseanne Cash’s potato salad recipe a year or two ago, and here it is. A goodie, from a great musical sister via a great kitchen sister.
I second Margaret’s plug for Roseanne Cash’s potato salad a la Smitten Kitchen. And while you’re over there, check out Deb’s spectacular array of potato salad recipes. I promise a potato salad search on her site will be richly rewarded.
Rechelle–I can hook you up with some wallpaper, but the Rock stays with me. At least until her next tantrum. Glad you saw the story and hope you liked it! Now, onto more important matters: what makes your potato salad yellow? Egg yolks? Mustard? Recipe, please!
Margaret–see above re Rock.
Alana–Welcome! We love Deb, too–I will definitely check out her potato salad collection, that is, if I can make it past her desserts…
Honey! I don’t make the potato salad… I purchase it already made. My favorite is found at a local BBQ joint. Both their baked beans and their potato salad are worth their weight in gold. Bright yellow gold… bright yellow ice cold gold… with pickle relish… and crisp sweet onions. I have tried to make it and it never comes out right. So I surrender and I just buy theirs!
I forgot to add that I have the motherlode of potato salad recipes in my recipe files: c.1972 Ladies’ Home Journal Potato Salad Contest winners — with many, many honourable mentions. Never seen potato salad like those recipes since then! (“Bird’s Nest Potato Salad”, “Georgia Peach Potato Salad”, etc.) Wild.
Your website mentions a Georgia peach potato salad and I would be very interested in that recipe. If possible, could you e-mail it to me. I had something similar to at a luncheon but have never been able to “recreate” it. Thanks :)
Weird, growing up in NYC the creamy slice potato version was always called “German” but was obviously the more typical “American” version.
The other version I love, which I do not know the name of but have been making all my life is:
Either fresh small red or regular new potatoes, fresh dill, sea salt, mayonnaise (I use the ultra light these days) and sometimes either add a little paprika or pepper.
The potatoes are cut in halfs or fourths, boiled in the skin till tender but not mushy. Allowed to stand till cool then a healthy dollop of mayo to coat, sprinkle sea salt to taste and then add hand crushed dill and other seasoning as desired.