German Potato Salad

And my take on it for a recipe

For Saturday Supper when I am feeding the whole North Texas Troublemakers group at my house, I try to have fun with it. Which for the last couple of years, has involved picking a country or location and going there. I’m aided in this by having a collection of cookbooks. So we might do Italy, Hawaii, the southern Mediterranean, or wherever my whimsy takes us. I’ve started collecting regional cookbooks, due to this, and because cookbooks fascinate me.

As a kid, I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘regular’ potato salad, and because my father doesn’t do mayonnaise, it wasn’t ever served at our house. At some point, I was exposed to German Potato Salad, which was a delicious revelation. I soon developed my own recipe for it, and that lived in the household recipe box for many years. Until one day I couldn’t find it.

So, for this meal, I pulled my various German and adjacent cookbooks, and compared notes.

From Lina’s book I’m looking at #9 but I thought you all might like to see some other options.

This is interesting, but I don’t think I’ll do a hot salad when it’s going to be 106F outside!

That potato, apple, and caper salad fascinates me, but I might be the only one who’d eat it. Also the next one with herring or anchovies… drool!

There are a lot of really interesting common threads in these, and more variation than you might have expected. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy developing a recipe with a look at what came before it, the food history, as it were.

My own recipe was a cold potato salad, with that sort of vinaigrette dressing. I usually put in fresh dill if I had it (been too hot in the garden) and pickled onions are a lovely addition but I’ll be doing green onions in mine for color and a mild flavor. Chives, it seems, will not survive in a Texas garden, sadly. I do highly recommend a waxy potato for this, as they will hold their shape and have a good texture. A nice red, or a Yukon Gold, are my preferences. I ordinarily leave the skins on, as they are thin and in the reds, add a bit of color.

I roasted my potatoes for this, to kick up the sweetness in them, but boiling will work just fine as well. Cube them into bite-sized pieces when they are cool enough to handle, and set them aside.

German Potato Salad for a Crowd

serves 12-15

Gently mix together in a large bowl:

• 5 lbs red potatoes (or any waxy potato) diced

• 1 c Roughly diced pickles (I like to mix and match sweets and dills)

• 6-7 green onions, finely sliced

• 1/2 bunch parsley, roughly chopped (omit the stems)

• 3/4 c bacon bits (or your own crispy chopped fried bacon)

• 2 tsp dill seeds

Then whisk these together and toss the potato mixture to coat with:

• 2 tsp salt

• 4-5 tbsp vinegar (I prefer a milder vinegar here)

• 4-5 tbsp oil (grapeseed is nice)

• 4 tbsp pickle juice

Transfer to a serving bowl, and cover, then refrigerate for a few hours before serving. This can easily be made the day before if you have a busy day before the gathering.

Supper tonight will be two coils of German sausage from Fischer’s Meats out of Muenster, TX. One has jalapenos! Sides will be the potato salad, red cabbage, and sauerkraut. The First Reader is making canapes from a fresh loaf of black bread, skewered with a pickled something (onion, giardiniera, pickle, olive… ) and a bit of cheese. We will finish off the meal with a Black Forest Cake. It’s not a complicated meal, but should be very satisfying to eat.

Best of all at these meals is the fellowship of friends. We will talk about all manner of subjects, from writing to the lack of rain, and stories will be told. I shall enjoy watching my food be consumed, and begin planning for the next Supper!