The Potato Salad Dilemma -- Solved!

Twice this summer I was disappointed with the results of my potato salad. The first time it tasted too salty. The second time, too bland.

For years I made potato salad on the fly – without using a specific recipe, just potatoes, hard-cooked eggs, celery, salt, pepper, mayo, and a little bit of prepared mustard. No set amounts – no cup of this, teaspoon of that. Such a haphazard approach always produced satisfactory, if not outstanding, results. The boys, generally not big fans of salads of any kind, always gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Maybe it’s time to learn how real potato salad is made, I told myself.

Instead of going online to find proven method – I’m particularly fond of allrecipes.com – I went to the section of the dining area where JoAnna shelves her home library of cookbooks. As if guided by a secret force, my right hand reached for a well-worn copy of the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, the 1955 edition. (The book’s almost as old as I am! From a penciled notation inside the front cover, it was apparently purchased at a used book sale.)

With nearly 700 pages of recipes and a 70-page index, not much standard fare escapes this book’s attention. Potato salad? Yes indeed. On page 304, to be exact. But such Juanny-come-lately additions to the American menu like burritos and tacos are not to be found here.

In addition to the potatoes (4 cups diced) and celery (1½ cups sliced), the Good Housekeeping “Old-Fashioned Potato Salad” recipe includes ½ cup cut-up scallions (chopped fine is how I do it), ¼ cup sliced radishes (2 large diced into small pieces is my preference), and 2 T. snipped parsley (I chop it up as I do the scallions.) Although the recipe doesn’t call for it, I add 2 diced hard-cooked eggs. In my book, any potato salad deserving of a place at the table must be made with hard-cooked eggs.

The dressing is what enhances and brings together a variety of flavors: 1 c. mayo, 1 T. vinegar, 2 t. prepared mustard, ½ t. celery seeds, 1½ t. salt, and ⅛ t. black pepper.

After allowing the ingredients to mingle and tingle in the refrigerator for at least two hours, the salad is ready to be enjoyed. It’s the best I’ve ever tasted. As a result, I will be combing through the book for other classic recipes to revive.