Nothing says summer like a classic American potato salad with mayonnaise, yellow mustard and the crunchy bite of red bell peppers. Recipe below.
AT OUR HOUSE, A LOT OF THE FOOD WE LOVE is something we’ve come to in adulthood, and even recently. Part of this is because of the great revolution of American eating habits, which has so thoroughly swept up our household. Now so many foodstuffs and cuisines are so accessible to so many of us. We eat not just to live, but to keep ourselves healthy, to entertain our palates and to experience the infinite variations of this most evanescent of art forms.
Thanks to the food revolution, we are all not just aware of a world of flavors and styles, but we seek them out and demand them in their best and most authentic versions. A food that, 20 years ago, might have been impossible to find or too bizarre to even consider putting in the vicinity of your face, much less in your actual mouth, today is just one more delicious dish joining the rainbow of deliciousness available to us all. At least half of my own lexicon of vital, beloved flavors is composed of things I never met as a child. Vietnamese fish sauce; miso; Époisses; lemongrass; seaweed; crème brulee; dried daylily buds: As another minor example, although I grew up in Detroit on an almost exclusively Eastern Europe diet (with daring family forays into things founded on Jell-o or onion soup mix), today there are periods when I eat as much Szechwanese food as, well, people in Szechwan.
But potato salad is a message from childhood. There is such an amazing spectrum of potato salads—warm, cold, mayo-based, vinaigrette-based, with bacon, with anchovies, crudites, pesto, curry, toasted cumin, with roasted tomatoes, with smoked turkey, with no potatoes whatsoever [“mock potato salad,” based on kohlrabi, on the wonderful site chow.com]. You can explore this universe of potato salads, but, let’s face it, in the end, for almost everyone I know, the potato salad you love best and always return to is the potato salad you learned as a child.
This to me is the index classic American potato salad, the one I am most faithful to—mayonnaise-based, and the reason why we always have a plastic squeeze bottle of French’s yellow mustard in our refrigerator. It is almost identical to my mother’s recipe—one of the very few American dishes she ever seriously tried. Her original also included fresh chopped dill, which I also add when I remember to pick it up at the market, and was always finished with an ornamental hard-boiled-egg slice, a sunburst of thin pepper slices, and a delicate sprinkling of paprika on top.
Marion's Classic American Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cleaned, peeled, and cut into small cubes (See kitchen notes)
- 1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon French's yellow mustard (not Dijon!)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- 4 scallions
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1/4 fresh dill, chopped—optional (See kitchen notes)
- sweet paprika (not smoky)
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes. When preparing the potatoes, cut them into the size you would like to eat. I prefer smaller pieces rather than big chunky pieces, to save on energy in cooking and because the small pieces are more pleasant to eat. Rinse them, then put in a big pot with cold water to cover; bring to a boil and simmer until cooked but still nice and firm. Be careful--don't let them get soft and mushy. Then they're only good for soup. Check them often to ensure you don’t overcook them (see kitchen Notes).
- While the potatoes are boiling, prepare a big bowl or a pot with plenty of cold water and ice cubes. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them quickly in a big colander and then plunge them straight into the iced water. Leave them in the water for a minute or so, stirring occasionally, then drain again. Toss away any ice cubes that have found their way into the colander. Shake the colander to force off as much water as you can.
- Prepare the dressing. Put the mayonnaise, sour cream, olive oil, lemon juice and mustard into a small bowl and stir well to mix. Add salt to taste and grind a lot of pepper over everything--stir again. Refrigerate until it's time to assemble the salad.
- Slice the tops off the red bell peppers and discard the seeds and cores. Slice the peppers lengthwise. If paying homage to my mother, be sure to save five or six long, slim slices to decorate the top. Cut the rest of the pepper into fine squares. If you are using dill, chop it now.
- Cut the root end off the scallions and discard. Trim the very ends off the green part and discard. Trim and discard any other part of the scallion you don’t like the looks of. Cut the rest into fine coins. Save two teaspoons to garnish the top.
- Assemble the salad. When the potatoes are cool and drained, pour about a third of the dressing into a big bowl. Put about half the potatoes in the bowl, and about half the scallions and peppers, and half the fresh dill if you are adding it. Then add more dressing. Gently fold all this together. Keep an eye on the way the dressing looks. Sometimes, if the potatoes are newer and thus rather wet, you will not need as much dressing. Once all these ingredients are well mixed, add the remaining potatoes, scallions, dill and peppers (except for the garnish pieces). Add more dressing and fold again. Don’t put in all the dressing yet! If the amount of dressing seems excessive, don't use it all.
- Transfer neatly to an attractive serving bowl. If you wish, garnish the top with a sunburst of pepper slices, or simply with the reserved chopped scallions.
- Once the salad is mixed together and in its serving bowl, it can be refrigerated for a few hours, covered tightly with plastic wrap. If there will be significant delays before the salad is served, be sure to refrigerate. If you need to transport it, transport on ice.
- This potato salad tastes wonderful the next day too. I can't speak for the third day because it usually doesn't stick around that long.
Now that is what I call a beautiful potato salad! Summer in a bowl right there. Craving! 🙂
I grew up on Italian potato salad made with potatoes, celery, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, so that’s what I usually make. Yet, if someone were to ask me what the quintessential “American” potato salad looks and tastes like, then I’d point them to yours. It looks remarkably creamy and satisfying.
Terry,
You are so right about this potato salad and most especially about having that yellow bottle of sissy mustard in the fridge. It’s just something that has to be there!
Great recipe!
You’re absolutely right we cling to the potato salad of our childhood! I’m also from the Detroit area, but my family is pretty Germanic. Our potato salad is similar except we add more hard boiled eggs and don’t add the mustard or the sour cream.
canarygirl—I get to eat this on a regular basis and reading Marion’s post on it [okay, and looking at my photo] has me craving it too!
Susan—You know I immediately had to go to your blog and look for your Italian potato salad. I think we may have to try this next!
Mary—Growing up, I never thought of it as sissy mustard. It was just mustard.
Other Mary—I grew up in St. Louis, also with German potato salad. But the one my grandmother made was a vinegary non-mayo kind that didn’t do much for me [sorry, Grandma!]. So I was delighted to discover Marion’s wonderfully creamy version.
This is a huge favorite here, too, Terry. You’ll find it in any barbecue!
Your version sounds and looks delicious.
Marion, I LOVE the way you write recipes. “WAIT–don’t pour it all on.” I really need those watch-outs.
But the best part of this recipe is your oops note on how to salvage your dish. What a comfort this note would be to a nervous new cook. Next time I’m asked to bring a covered dish, I think I’ll just agree but not identify my offering … until I arrive. Thanks for this post.
I guess we’ve all got potato salad on our minds these days. That was my last post before my trip, and in fact I had to make some more of it when I got home! Next time I’ll try it with Yukon Gold, though. I think I’ve gotten stuck in a red potato rut for too long!
My mom makes the best potato salad and I’ve made it my mission to find one that trumps hers. I think I’ve found it! Looks and sounds delish. Can’t wait to try it!
This is the potato salad I loved when I was growing up. At some point, I tasted my first French-style potato salad — no mayo, dressed with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs. And I fell in love with that style of potato salad. Now I alternate between the two!
Patricia—Actually, Marion made the model for my photo for a neighborhood party [well, a much bigger bowl that this was part of]. It was a huge favorite there!
Carolyn—A good plan! We try not to commit to a particular dish either. Sometimes things don’t work out, but just as often, we run out of time or a key ingredient isn’t available. So we improvise.
Toni—I remember reading your potato salad recipe and being quite taken by the capers in it.
ali—Thanks for stopping by! I was glad to find your blog today.
Lydia—Boy, I’m finding great potato salad recipes left and right. I just went to your blog and found your French potato salad—with Dijon mustard, no less. I see a lot of potato salad variations in our immediate future!
It’s 10 at night and I had a huge dinner, but your potato salad description has made me hungry all over again.
This is a gorgeous recipe and post. I never think about potato salad, but you guys have just made me think it might be one of the most profoundly American dishes ever. I just might have to get some with my BLT for lunch today!
thoughtbasket—I know what you mean. No matter how full I am, I always get hungry reading food blogs.
ann—First, thanks! And second, now you’ve totally got me wanting a BLT. At 9:35 in the morning.
My grandmother is the potatoes salad. But simply, just mayonnaise. In old times she made homemade mayo, maybe salmonella was out of fashion in olds days 🙂 I am kidding . Today she still makes, now with Hellman’s, potatoes , onions and parsley.