We do our potato salad slightly differently, as we never peel our potatoes, just boil them in jackets and then dice; add the salt, pepper, celery seed, diced celery and green onions while the potatoes are hot. Then let the salad cool to room temp and add the mayo (never Miracle Whip!) Mayo on hot potatoes could be unhealthy.

Happyheart, glad you enjoyed it. The only thing you’ll have to tell people who ask for the recipe is not to change it at all, at least the first time they make it. I have given this recipe out many times and those now deceased cooks sometimes worked for years to perfect their signature recipes. When someone says. "Our family likes eggs in potato salad so I’m going to add them" or "We’re going to omit the onion", it won’t taste as good as their usual potato salad recipe.

If they tell you they made it but it didn’t taste as good as yours, you’ll know they tampered with the recipe. Don’t mean to rant on about this but it’s one of those kinds of recipes.

Ruby Rose….Thank you so much for sharing that potato salad recipe. That was the ABSOLUTE BEST potato salad I have ever had!! I made it for thanksgiving and it was a really big hit! Everyone wanted the recipe and raved on and on about the taste. It is a definate keeper in my very favorite recipes. Thanks for sharing!![:D]

I don’t know how to paste a link for this thread into another thread, so I am just going to reply here and bring this one up to the top again.

I know this is late but, I find it’s makes a great difference if add chopped onions to your potatoes as they cook! This gives your potatoes added flavor, then add maybe 1/4 cup finely chopped after potatoes are done. I too also put my eggs in to bioll with my potatoes. While my potatoes are cooling, I chop my eggs and add them to the potatoes, just throw em’ on top. I mix my mayo, chopped onions, tad of mustard, relish or celery, LAWRY’S seasoned salt, fresh ground pepper, and just a pinch of celery seed. Mix well, and refridgerate for about 10 minutes to allow flavors to mix. Pour mixture over potatoes and fold in gently. Mixing your "sauce" ingredients together allows for minimal stirring so that you don’t end up with "mashed" potato salad.
I’m not really a "sweet" person, so I prefer teh mayo/celery combo, whereas my husband prefers the salad dreesing/sweet relish method. Sometimes I make both…..

Here is my German Grandma’s recipe :

Ingredients
6 medium potatos
8 slices bacon
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 large onion
3 Tbsp flour (optional)

1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions

Cut potatos into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices; boil till just tender. Fry bacon crispy in skillet. Remove bacon leaving 3 Tbsp drippings behind. Chop onions and saute in bacon dripping till tender. Add flour,or a little reserved potato, til slightly brown. Add sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar, and water; bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer till it just starts to thicken. Pour over cooked potatos, toss, and serve hot. Excellent with sauteed Leberkaese.

We also made this mayo-based recipe:

5 medium garden potatoes, peeled
1-1/2 cups favorite brand mayonnaise (Hellman’s)
4 tablespoons freshly chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons freshly chopped celery
1-2 teaspoons OLD BAY SEASONING
2 fresh eggs, hard boiled, coarse chopped

Peel and cut potatoes into chunks and boil in water until tender; drain well. Add mayonnaise, onion, celery, and OLD BAY SEASONING. Mix together and blend well. Fold in chopped eggs. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or more.

Enjoy!

Have any of you ever tried baked potato salad? It’s not as good as the German style or the mayonnaise kind, but it’s different. A good way to use left-over baked potatoes in a restaurant. Cut up the baked potatoes and mix with all the things you would put in a hot baked potato: crispy fried bacon, chives, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.

I dress my potato salad while it’s still warm with Hellmans, some vinegar, a dash of mustard, lots of freshly cracked pepper, and some french or catalina style salad dressing. It gives it a bit of color and adds a nice dimension to it all.

Everyone loves my potato salad………I use nothing but lots of eggs, finely diced cukes (no seeds) for crunch and capers! A potato salad with capers is divine……….also use some sour cream instead of all Hellmans. When I want it to look elegant, I put sliced hard boiled eggs on top, sprinkle parsley over and then add paprika.

Bell Peppers, No (I think that they taste vile). Chili Pepper sure, if I am doing a spicy version. The nice thing about sauting the onions is that you can make it up ahead of time and the people that are not big onion lovers (which I don’t understand) will still eat it. [;)]

I tend to add sauted onions to my potato salad instead of raw ones, that way the flavor doesn’t overhelm, especially in left-overs.

Hey folks,
somebody on one of the food sites I visit had a great hint(I thought it was here but can’t find it, so let it be known, thank you whoever you are![:D]) The hint developed out her experiment with cooking her potatoes. You put the potatoes (small to medium sized & whole) in a pot, covered with water & lid, bring to a boil, turn off & let sit for 30 minutes, voila just like hard boiled eggs they are done, as a matter of fact I put a couple of eggs in the pot with them for the salad. It definitely worked great, no more billowing steam in a hot kitchen & no watching the pot for it to boil over.[8D]

A sort of potato salad we sometimes make is related to the French salad Nicoise. We dont follow any fixed recipe but it always is based on potatoes, green beans, and black olives, and dressed with a rivigote type sauce. Depending on what’s on hand we might add apples, celery, peas, radish, corn, cucumber, etc.,etc. Some things it never has is mayo or sour cream- we save that for the real potato salads.

As to thickening the sauce for German Potato salad, I’ve never found any need for flour – the potatoes give off enough starch to make a sauce of nice consistency. I like OCDreamer’s idea of an extra baking potato to provide the thickener – I’ll try it next time we have wursts and warm potato salad