First things first: I spent almost the first half of my life in the restaurant business, either growing up and being around it, or working in it. One of my many stints was at a chain which is named after a particular Rolling Stones song (hint: it’s not Bitch). It sucked just like most of the restaurants (especially chains) where I worked, but there was one rather good thing which came out of it and that was learning the recipe for what is, quite possibly, the best potato salad on the planet. It’s a little mayo-heavy, but for this recipe it works.
A caveat before we get started: There’s a reason why the real name isn’t being mentioned here because I’m pretty sure I would get busted for industrial espionage and thrown in the clink for the remainder of my life. Remember, kids: the two crimes that can never be forgiven in this country are stealing from rich people and stealing from corporations. So, let’s just keep this our little secret, shall we?
Here’s what you’ll need:
3 ½ Lbs. Potatoes, cubed
1 ½ Cups Celery, diced
½ Cup Green Onions, diced
½ Cup Green Pepper, diced
1 ½ Cups Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped
1 Cup Bacon, cooked (crispy, goddammit) and diced
2 Cups Mayonnaise
1 ½ Tbsp. Mustard
½ tsp. Celery Salt
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
Cook your potatoes in a pot of water over high heat until a fork can easily pierce through the center of a cube. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Mix together potatoes, celery, green onions, green pepper, eggs and bacon until well distributed.
In a separate bowl, mix together the mayo, mustard, celery salt, salt and pepper.
Add to the potato mixture and mix well.
Serve at your next picnic or other summer gathering and be very, very evasive when asked where you got the recipe.
As with everything in life, timing is critical. Which means I should have posted this before Charlie Watts died.
eh..just re wrap it as a tribute and pretend that was the intent all along
I thought it was an homage.
You are not a fan of German potato salad?
This looks yummy, and perfect for a day like today, when it is 92 degrees, “feels like 98”. I assume you refrigerate this for a good long while before serving.
Definitely refrigerate so it gets nice and chilled.
German potato salad fucking sucks–especially when it’s served hot, which potato salad should never be. I’m sure it embarrassed my German grandmother to no end, but I’ll just chalk it up to my Irish DNA.
I’ve actually been quite curious for years about why the Germans love vinegar so much (there are many common German salads that use it) but they shy away from mayonnaise. Probably because it is alleged to be French. Supposedly it was created to celebrate the French victory over the British at Mahón in Menorca (so Mahón -> mayonnaise, like Lyon -> Lyonaise, and Marseille -> Marseillaise) in the late 1700s. Why they were all hanging out in the Balearic Islands is a long story.
I didn’t know this was a thing, but my German grandfather did adore vinegar.
I will happily eat both German potato salad and American mayo-based potato salad. I tend to believe potatoes are delicious in most forms.
If you order something in Germany or Austria that comes “mit Salat” (“with salad”) it will usually be a small serving of shaved carrots, cucumber slices, diced tomatoes, cabbage maybe, some combo of something like that, with vinegar. I have no idea why. I’ve never thought to ask but there must be some internet resource, probably in German, that could tell me.
I mean, add oil to that and isn’t it a pretty standard salad anywhere? Crunchy raw veggies with oil and vinegar?
That’s the thing, you don’t add oil (often.) Finely ground black pepper often makes an appearance though.
I love warm German potato salad and vinegar in general. I didn’t realize the latter was somewhat a German thing.
I also love mayo and this recipe sounds delicious!
Mmmmmm. I only wish others would eat potato salad.
It’s “Mother’s Little Helper”?
The potatoes and eggs are “Shattered.”
Just don’t put any “Brown Sugar” in it.
I’m not usually crazy about mayo-heavy salads, but your Mushroom Soup was so delicious I’m going to trust you on this.
Trust me. This is excellent.
I made his mushroom soup as well – it really is that good!
@Elliecoo I’m going to make another batch when I get home from my sister’s . I could eat it ever day.
The Rolling Stones had a song called “Waffle House”?
It was during their Skiffle period very early on in the late 1950s.
Looks great. I’m sure I could find an appropriate sub for the bacon and make this. I would have to actually buy celery salt though, which is one of those things that occasionally pops up on a recipe and I debate if it’s worth having around my kitchen.
My 2 cents: Celery salt is worth having. Typically good for 2-3 years in a cabinet.
It is, truly, the only reason why I have celery salt. I had to buy a small container to make this recipe.
Growing up at family parties I had one great aunt who still made the German potato salad that my mom’s generation fucking loved.
Loved so much that me and the cousins would never get any because the adults would descend on it like a plague of locusts so naturally we always assumed it must be fucking amazing.
One time I managed to get a little before my uncle nabbed the rest.
NO NO IT IS NOT IT’S HOT GROSS VINEGAR GROSSNESS
Also please raise your hand if based on the title, you expected this to be a recipe from the Frank Sinatra cookbook @mathewcrawley has been working through
Because I totally did.
sonofa I forgot one of the t’s @matthewcrawley
Astonishingly there is not a single recipe for any kind of potato salad in the entire Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook. From memory I could have contributed an entire chapter devoted to it. But I was not one of Frank and Barb’s celebrity friends. Diane Sawyer did contribute her Roasted Potato Skins with Scallion Dip but that’s like a glorified stuffed baked potato.
I made Conrad Bain’s Cherry Tomato Surprise salad recipe but I got caught. While Better Half was out with Faithful Hound I brought the book with me to see whether we had a bottled dressing that would mimic his vinaigrette recipe, to spare me the trouble. While I was rooting through the shelf on the fridge door he reappeared unexpectedly because he had forgotten to bring along one of our eco-conscious poop bags (for the Faithful Hound, not for him.)
It was like something out of “I Love Lucy.” “M-a-a-a-tti-e-e-e, what are you doing?” “I thought we’d have this cherry tomato/celery salad, that’s why I–“
“Oh, God. Well, if this is what makes you happy.”
So that makes four recipes so far. Tomorrow night, for vegetarian/pescatarian Friday, I’ll be making Cheryl Tiegs’s Fish With Fresh Tomatoes. This sounds very promising and I may get an FYCE post out of it. It’s very simple. You sauté garlic, strain it, and put it aside. Then, in a casserole dish, you layer tomatoes (I have cherry tomatoes to use up, thanks Connie), some of the garlic, some basil; then fish fillets (swordfish or tuna; BH will see what the local fishmonger has), some anchovies and red pepper flakes. Then you add more tomatoes, the rest of the garlic, more basil, and drizzle with olive oil.
Here’s the daunting part, when it feels like it’s 100 degrees outside: You bake it for 20–25 minutes at 400 degrees, but with my oven it’ll probably go more quickly. Plus I can get my open-plan main area pretty chilly when I want so I will persevere. This will be recipe 5.
Unfortunately for me some of Frank and Barb”s friends were celebrity chefs of the era and their recipes are a little daunting, so I’m gong to save them for winter. There’s a very involved one for a Chicken Bouillabaisse from Café des Artistes, where I’ve been many times, it’s a friend’s favorite and it’s right across Broadway from Lincoln Center. Alain Ducasse, when he was at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, which I have also eaten at, for lunch, once, has garden vegetable salad with truffle which seems doable, but expensive. Paul Bocuse has a recipe for Caramel Custard, also pretty easy.
Wolfgang Puck has a recipe for Alaskan Salmon with Ginger and Black Pepper, which sounds easy enough, but you also have to make a somewhat complicated sauce, which you pour on a warm dinner plate. Then you top that with a celery purée, another PITA. Then you top with the prepared salmon fillets. Much Spago, happy Wolfgang, joke’s on me. I may attempt this for Thanksgiving. This may be my Everest, and I’m the loon that cooks out of the Julia Child oeuvre.
We here at DeadSplinter believe in you, Mattie! You can do it!!
How dare you.