Some of the old recipes are the best!

I was going through my file of old recipes I got from Granny Miller a long time ago, I found a classic recipe I hadn't done in forever, German Potato Salad. Granted, there's a thousand German Potato Salad recipes on the web, it's fantastic when I can go back to the one which I loved as a kid when being babysat.

Granny M's German Potato Salad


Tools:
Large Pot to boil potatoes in.
A VERY Large Skillet for the Bacon and to construct the salad. (and a lid helps as well to keep the messes down)
Strainer for the taters.
A large bowl (with lid) that you can put all the ingredients into.
Cutting Board.
Knife.
A heavy duty mixing spoon.
Measuring Cups

Ingredients:
6 cups of red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes.
1 lb of bacon (cut into small chunks, about an inch long, and none of this sugar cured crap either)
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons parsley
1/2 cup of white vinegar
6 tablespoons of white sugar
4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of ground black pepper
1 tablespoon celery seeds.

Alright, first thing you should know, this isn't one of those weight watching potato salads, we are going for FLAVOR, which means a decent bacon is a must for the dish.

First, dice up the potatoes to the appropriate size, I leave the skin on because I like the texture. I tend to chop potatoes like this with my 2 cup measuring cup next to my cutting board. As I chop the taters, I'll add them to the measuring cup until it's past the two cup line. This isn't exact or an art form, but a useful approximation for how many potatoes = a cup. If I have to guess looking at how many lbs of potatoes I use with what's left in the 5 lb bags of taters I buy, I usually use about 3 lbs.

Add the potatoes to the tater pot and fill it up to just above the potatoes. Your mother might fill a large pot with water to the very top, but you don't need to waste both time and heat trying to boil extra water that won't cook your taters any better than just adding water to the potato line. Turn the heat onto high and let it boil ten minutes after the water comes to a rapid boil (or to the point you can stick a fork easily into the potatoes). Drain in the sink once they are done.

In the large skillet, cook the bacon on medium heat to help render out all the tasty bacon grease. Cook the bacon until it's crisp, and then pull it out of the pan and place it into your large serving bowl. (A trick to help the bacon cook faster is add a tablespoon of oil to the hot pan before you add the bacon, it will help the bacon to keep from sticking and to promote the bacon to give up its tasty flavoring.)

Add the diced onion into the bacon grease and cook on medium heat until the onions start to brown. This will take at least ten minutes, more if the pan is uncovered. Do NOT cook on higher heat! Burning the onions or the oil is very bad and will lead to a very disappointing potato salad. (If you do burn the grease or onions, just make mashed potatoes instead and get rid of the grease and onion. You won't like the flavor.) Continually mix the onions as they cook.

Once the onions are browned, which should be about the time the taters have been sitting in the sink draining out, add the sugar, salt, vinegar, and water to the pan, stirring the entire time. Keep stirring until the sugar melts in the bacon grease/liquids. Add the celery seed, pepper, bacon, and parsley to the pan right before adding the potatoes.

The trick now for the next minute is gently turning the potatoes over in the pan, coating all the potatoes in this wonderful bacon dressing that you've made. Once the potatoes are coated in the dressing, transfer them to their final serving dish.

This, my friends, is how you make potato salad. This salad is fantastic both warm and cold (although I think its the best warm) you can let this salad speak for itself. And really, what dish isn't awesome when it involves a pound of bacon?

Bien Camino!