My Potato Salad
Personal Photo
My potato salad has at least a few die-hard fans who
proclaim it to be the best they ever had.
It evolved from the potato salad that the mother of one of my high
school friends made. She put green
olives in it! I don’t typically eat
green olives, but they really add something to potato salad.
Another key ingredient is Dukes mayonnaise. Dukes was originated by Eugenia Duke in
Greenville, South Carolina, and subsequently produced and distributed by the
Sauer company in Richmond, Virginia. In
my early years in the Air Force, I carried Dukes back with me whenever I came
home for a visit. It’s more widely
distributed now. I can buy it at my
local HEB in Texas. I also add some
Greek yogurt to my potato salad. It
gives the potato salad a nice texture, and helps keep the texture after
refrigeration.
It’s really important to hand chop the pickles and
onions. If you use a food processor or
slap chopper, you lose the great texture.
It’s also crucial in my book to use Claussen’s kosher dill pickles, for
taste and texture. They are never cooked,
and found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.
I don’t have an exact recipe. Making potato salad requires lots of
tasting. I’m sharing with you my
absolute best guess to get you started.
Then enjoy tasting!
Potato
Salad Ingredients
3 lbs of potatoes
4 large Claussen’s kosher dill pickles
2/3 cup green olives
1 medium-large sweet onion
4 boiled eggs
1 cup Dukes mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons Dijonnaise mustard
½ cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup pickle juice
1/8 cup olive juice
Instructions
1- Peel potatoes, and cut into approximately 1-inch
cubes. I like red potatoes. My mom always said they were sweeter and
moister. Boil in a large pan in salty
water until tender, breaking apart easily with a fork.
2- Drain potatoes and return to pan. I don’t use a potato masher. I just break them apart by stirring, because
I like some chunks. Don’t worry that
there are still lots of chunks, because there will be plenty more stirring.
3- Put eggs on to boil.
When done, after 10-15 minutes of boiling, drain and put in cool
water.
4- Add mayo, mustard, and yogurt. Stir to combine.
5- Chop pickles into small cubes. I slice vertically through the pickles about
3-4 slices, then another 3-4 slices across, like a checkerboard. Then slice horizontally across the
pickle.
6- Chop olives. I
slice each olive lengthwise into quarters, then cut across.
7- Chop onions into ¼-inch or larger cubes.
8- Add pickles, olives, and onions to potatoes.
9- Add pickle and olive juice. Stir thoroughly to combine.
10- Peel and mash eggs.
I don’t like large hunks of egg white, so I thoroughly mash the
eggs. I recently started using my food
processor for this. Add eggs to potato
salad and stir to combine.
11- Taste potato salad.
Add additional mayo, pickle or olive juice, &/or yogurt as needed
for a moist but not soupy texture. Add
additional pickles, onions, &/or olives if needed.
