This is the legendary family potato salad, which has been passed down to me. I've kind of hemmed and hawed over whether or not to put the recipe out on the Internets, but as it turns out my grandmother actually included it in a number of fundraising cookbooks, so the recipe was already out in the wild.
But she still got to sit back and laugh while one after another, friends and loved ones attempted to duplicate the potato salad and failed. Even I'm not 100% proficient at it yet. So, uh--GOOD LUCK
Okay, here's the big secret:
It's not the recipe that's tricky--it's the technique. The really important part is to salt the hell out of the potatoes after they've been boiled--but don't oversalt them. You will over- or under-salt at least one batch the first few times, and although you'd really rather undersalt them (it won't be as good if you have to compensate by adding more salt to the dressing, but at least it'll be edible) than oversalt them (GUILTY oh God that was horrid), it will take you a few tries to figure out exactly how much salt those potatoes need.
Anyway, your ingredients.
- 5 lbs. red potatoes, boiled and sliced thin (like 1/4" or thinner); I've found it quicker and easier to slice them before boiling them.
- One red onion, chopped fine
- 3 eggs, freshest possible
- 3 cups Wesson oil (no substitutes)
- 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 3 tsp. sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- The teeniest dab of plain old French's mustard
Boil your taters. Peel them or not--your call. I prefer not to, because potato skin is yummy and also because standing over the sink peeling five pounds of red potatoes? AHAHAHAHAHAno.
You want them a little firmer than normal, otherwise you'll end up with mashed potatoes.
***THE VERY VERY IMPORTANT STEP***
Put a layer of warm potatoes in a huge bowl. Sprinkle salt over the top. I use kosher salt--it's easier to not screw up because you can easily see what's salted and what's not. When each potato has a little pinch worth of salt sticking to it, add another layer and salt them. Keep going until you've got all your potatoes salted.
***AGAIN: IT IS FAR BETTER TO UNDERSALT THAN OVERSALT; IF IN DOUBT USE LESS***
Congratulations, the hard part is done. Let the potatoes sit for a while, then come back and stir one up from a lower layer and taste it. If you think it needs more salt, add CAREFULLY. If it's too salty, you may be screwed. You can try rinsing the potatoes off, but chances are the salt has already seeped into the potatoes.
If the salt level is acceptable, set the potatoes aside while you chop the onion and put the dressing together. You can go ahead and dump the onion into the bowl now, if you want.
This is the easy part! The main thing is, you're going to need mechanical assistance. You can do the dressing with a wire whisk, but you really, really don't want to. In order of preference:
- Stand mixer with wire whisk attachment
- Hand mixer
- Stick blender (will kill your arms and possibly the blender, but it makes an incredibly smooth and fluffy dressing)
- Food processor with whippin' blade
- Blender
Start by cracking your eggs into a bowl and beating them at a medium-low speed. You don't want meringue, you want mayonnaise. Once the eggs are beaten, start adding the Wesson oil--very, very, slowly. I'm talking "trickle." This is why I prefer a stand mixer for this--I don't have to hold a buzzing mixer or button with one hand while trying to slowly and carefully add three cups of oil at a trickle to a bowl of eggs.
Do not, do not, DO NOT dump the oil in all at once. I cannot stress this enough.
Once the oil is all mixed in, you should have something that looks like a yellowish mayonnaise. Which it is! There should be no oil hanging around the edges of the bowl or oily bits that refuse to mix in or clots or clumps.
Now add your vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard. You can actually add more or less of any of these to taste, but be careful with the mustard. And the salt--remember, your potatoes are pre-salted.
When the dressing is seasoned to taste, dump it into the bowl with the potatoes and onions and stir carefully--you don't want to mash the potatoes, you just want them coated with dressing.
You can serve it right away, but it's even better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight. Let it warm up to room temperature before you serve it.
I have made an onion-free version of this with celery instead of onions for my stepmom, who can't eat raw onions, and it was okay.
