Creamy Homemade Potato Salad

What can you do if you have 3lbs of potatoes? There are lots of options, stuffed, classic oven roasted and, of coarse, oven fries. But creamy homemade potato salad is a great one. Starting with homemade mayonnaise, added to potatoes with olives, scallions and lime juice for the classic flavor and colors we love to see. This is a classic and surprisingly easy to make

Starting with the basics. Potato salad is a bound salad, in as much as the ingredients are bound together by the mayonnaise. This makes it a stable salad that will hold it’s shape on a plate, and a favorite at barbecues. If you’re walking around holding a paper pale with one hand, the last thing you need is the meal falling off.

The origins of the potato salad are from Germany. With the north German version served with mayonnaise, and the southern version served with vinaigrette. However it’s popularity has spread around the world, with everyone creating their own twist on an original theme.

But, the story of the binding agent of potato salad is a lot more murky. Mayonnaise has it’s own story. I’m going to relate the more popular version.

In 1756 the French General The Duke of Richelieu invaded the island of Menorca in the Mediterranean. When the invading army entered the capital, Mahon, the Duke ordered his chef to make a feast to celebrate. The chef found the recipe for a sauce he called Mahonnaise, named after the city of the victorious battle. The recipe was taken back to France where it became one of the “Mother Sauces” of French cooking.

Moving on the to the prep. We’ll start by boiling 3lbs of potatoes. They can be red or white, but there are two things to remember. Firstly cook them till they’re firm not mushy. We want them to hold together when cut up, but, obviously not crunchy. The next thing is to cook them with their skins on. This keeps all the potato flavor in the potato, not thrown out with the cooking water. Medium sized potatoes work best because you can cook them whole. When they’re cooked, allow to cool and just scrape the skins off.

Now for the Mayonnaise part of the dish. Mayonnaise is and emulsion of oil and water, with egg being the binding agent. The lecithin in the egg yolk binds to both the oil and the acid. In this recipe, things are done a little differently. The egg and the oil get mixed separately and the acid, in this case, lime juice, gets added to the salad when mixed. I take an idea from Polish style mayonnaise and add both raw and cooked egg yolks to the mixture. This helps give it a little more substance without so much beating, and also gives it a more yellowy color. Remember, you see food before you eat it

In an appropriate sized bowl, put together the eggs yolks, both cooked and raw. Mix them well into a paste. Now just add the oil little by little, continuously mixing, just don’t beat them too hard, do this till all the oil and egg are mixed. The finished product should look like a smooth, thick yellowish pudding. Just set aside while the last few ingredients are prepped

The extras are simple, finely diced scallions. They add good flavor, just make sure to dice it finely, a mouthful of raw onion is not the desired effect. The whites of the eggs chopped up and, pimento stuffed olives, again deiced up. The great thing about using stuffed olives is it’s like two ingredients in one. The bite of the green olives and the sweetness of the pimento. The colors work well too, red and green.

Chop up the potatoes into about 1 inch cubes, although you could also just slice them into 1/2 inch thick slices. Each way creates it’s own style, try each one too see what you prefer. Put the potatoes in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients, carefully mix everything together, now add the lime juice, again, stirring carefully to not break up the potatoes. Taste to check, adjust salt, pepper and lime juice to taste.

And, there you have creamy homemade potato salad, enjoy as a side, or a snack. Thank you for reading. Please check the video, and subscribe if you enjoyed