Perfect Potato Salad

I’ll be posting a new Fourth of July dish every day this week. And I can’t promise there won’t be bacon involved at some point.

The Cast of Characters: You’ll need some regular russet potatoes.

Some eggs.

Real mayonnaise. If you attempt to use that other stuff (the stuff from the devil) I will spank you.

Sometimes I even use homemade mayonnaise. Would you like to learn how to make it sometime? My mama showed me how.

You’ll also need some small, whole pickles. I used to have a healthy aversion to sweet pickles, but now I love them. But feel free to use mini kosher dills if you prefer.

You’ll need plenty of salt. Kosher is always best, but not required.

And you’ll need prepared mustard. I went ultra traditional with this yellow mustard, but you can also use any Dijon or spicy mustard that makes your skirt fly up. (I usually use a combination of both.)

You’ll need a few green onions, too. They add the most wonderful flavor without overpowering.

The first thing I do is hard boil some eggs. I’m cooking extras so I can make deviled eggs later this week. To hard boil eggs, place the eggs in a pot and cover them with water.

Bring the pot to a boil.

Then cover the pot and turn off the heat. You can let them sit for 12 to 18 minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients.

Wash about five pounds of russet potatoes (about 8 medium potatoes) and cut them into halves/thirds to facilitate even cooking.

Boil them in water for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a fork can be easily inserted. Drain them in a colander.

Cut the ends off of about five green onions. I usually do one green onion per pound of potatoes. I like coming up with little rules like that; makes my life easier.

Slice the onions all the way up until you get to the darker green area of the onion.

Now grab five or six pickles. (Again, I usually grab the same number of pickles as green onions.)

Slice them into large chunks. No teeny pickle dice will do.

I happened to have some dill in my garden and chopped up a little…but this is totally, totally optional. I just like the rebellion of using sweet pickles with fresh dill.

I have too much time to think out here. I stage imaginary rebellions between food flavors. Send help immediately.

Get 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise ready to go, as well as about 4 or 5 tablespoons mustard, depending on how mustardy you like things.

Now, I’m using a food mill because my potato ricer recently met with an untimely death (my boys touched it). But a food mill and a potato ricer accomplish basically the same thing in this scenario. And you can certainly mash them, too. But ever since Peggy, a friend of mine from church (who makes divine potato salad) told me she uses a ricer, I’ve never gone back to mashing.

This is how a food mill works: as you crank the handle, it extrudes the food out of the bottom.

You can see the fluffy texture of the potatoes. It almost looks like grated cheese, doesn’t it?

Now, I could have peeled the potatoes before cooking them, but I have a small problem: I’m lazy.

So I’d just periodically dump out the peel as I processed the potatoes. Is it wrong of me to want to salt this and eat it with a fork? I love potato peel.

The potato’s all ready!

And so are the eggs. Peel four of them.

And give ’em a rough chop.

Now throw in the mustard and mayonnaise…

The green onions…

And plenty of salt and black pepper.

Throw in the pickles and the eggs…

And fold the mixture together gently.

(Update: I have added bacon pieces to the recipe and to the main photo on this page, but it is optional!)

At this point I always give it a taste, then add more seasonings as needed. Here, I decided to add some paprika. Gives it just a little bit of an edge.

And since I always desire to have the best of both worlds…

I plop in a little Dijon.

But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Don’t look now…but I do believe it’s ready! Just be sure to taste it at the very end and make sure it’s adequately seasoned! I don’t know about you, but my potatoes don’t come salted.

Yep, this’ll do. This’ll absolutely, positively do!

A sprinkling of dill tops it off nicely.

Hope you love it!