So. Yes, the party I went to had "regular" potato salad. I'll call that one American potato salad. There was no German potato salad. But there were two other kinds of potato salad. What could they be? Don't you just love mysteries? Except I'm going to give away the ending of this particular mystery right now. SPOILER ALERT.
I brought a beet and potato salad with a dressing made of sour cream, horseradish, scallions, and dill. This one can be called a Russian potato salad, I think. Because of the beets and sour cream, you know. It was, if I may be so immodest, delicious. It was also a truly disturbing shade of bright pink, thanks to the beets. But really, I think there should be more neon foods. The recipe came from a cookbook called "Serving Up the Harvest," by Andrea Chesman. I love this cookbook. I made it because we have a lot of beets in the garden right now, along with a lot of potatoes and all the rest of the ingredients. It is not a dish to bring to just any potluck, however. You have to know the crowd will be adventurous enough to eat something so luridly colored. This crowd was.
The other kind was a Japanese potato salad. I had never heard of Japanese potato salad before. I guess I just don't think of Japanese cuisine as heavy on the potatoes, so it never occurred to me that there would be a Japanese version of potato salad. But what do I know? Not much, because it was YUMMY. I didn't ask the guy who made it what was in it, but I looked up some recipes online. I think the closest is probably this one, although the one I had didn't have any carrots in it, just cucumbers. Also, he smashed the potatoes a bit, so they were still lumpy but also a little mashed. I liked the texture. And the guy who made it put a little sign up on the bowl saying to put some soy sauce on it when you served yourself. Which I did, and that contributed greatly to the yumminess, I think.
There is, of course, also French potato salad, which I have written about before. That would be a . . . wait, lemme count . . . a fifth variety of potato salad. American, Russian, Japanese, French, and German. A veritable United Nations of potato salad. I'm sure there are more, too. Can you think of any?
I make a potato salad inspired by a restaurant that's no longer in Denver (I felt no need to stay in Denver after they closed). It's roasted potatoes (with sea salt & herbs) on a bed of greens, drizzled with vinaigrette and topped with goat cheese.
ReplyDeleteUnited Nations? Five varieties is barely the League of Nations.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'm wondering how many other potato salads there may be.
Good ol' boy potato salad.....throw some, no, lots of crispy bacon in.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's potato salad:
ReplyDeleteRed skinned potatoes, dijon and may, cooked egg, cooked bacon, minced shallots and fresh peas.
I have a recipe taken from Uncle Ben's Converted Rice box that's called..... BETTER-THAN-POTATO SALAD... that's really good. It's basically made with cooked rice, mayonnaise, onions, mustard, salt and pepper, diced cucumbers and radishes. Whatever you put in your potato salad can be used in this salad. Just substitute cooked rice for the potatoes. Bonnie
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I can't stand really creamy, mayo-heavy MACARONI salad, but potato salad? The creamier the better.
ReplyDeleteI also like the lighter, non-mayo versions too. MMM. Y'all makin' me hungry.
I'll have to try that "Serving up the Harvest" version of potato salad with beets. Because, alas, we still have beets. Yarf.
ReplyDeleteI made some German-style potato salad this weekend and it was grand. Well, it might not have been super German, but it was really good.
And not all mayo-y or goopy or super yellow like that American crap.
My grandma's p-salad was the American variety (non-mustard sub group)--very good and ALWAYS served in the same bowl whether at home or hauled to picnics. After she died, we continued using the bowl until we found out it was worth $500 (25 years ago). So now the Buffalo Pottery bowl sits in the cupboard and the potato salad doesn't quite taste as good.
ReplyDeleteOh, Becky ... use the bowl. Do you plan to ever sell it? No? Then you're never going to get that $500 anyway. It's valuable to you because of the fond memories. And they aren't memories of seeing the bowl sitting on a shelf.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Mexican variation, too. It uses pickle juice instead of hte vinegar in a German style salad. At a potluck at my kid's school, we sat with an Hispanic family. The mom and my hubs exchanged potato sald recipes. Such fun!
ReplyDeleteAnd there is the Tuscan/Italian version: Red-skinned potatoes, fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, s&p. I would have added olives or capers, but I was a guest and didn't want to ruin my hostess's dish with experimenting.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Drew. The bowl is in my mother's custody, but should it ever be in mine, it will most definitely be used for potato salad (but perhaps not taken to picnics).
ReplyDelete