Potato salad was a staple of our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners growing up. It did not matter whether we had turkey or ham, we could always count on having my grandmother’s potato salad. Everyone who ever ate it raved about it perhaps because she had a few secrets ingredients (which I will share in a minute).
Apparently cooking is not genetic because I did not inherit my grandmother’s skill in making potato salad. I always try and dear husband always eats it, but it is always a little … off. To start with, I can never cook my potatoes just enough to get them firm, but not mushy. I think I would be a great mashed potato maker because my potatoes always fall apart as I take them out. Mushy potatoes do not a great potato salad make! And I always seem to add too much mayonnaise.
Today, for Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to make a different potato salad recipe a friend had given me. It consists of a layer of diced red potatoes (skins left on). Then pour Ranch salad dressing on top of the potatoes and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Finally, sprinkle with bacon bits. Continue to layer until you have used up all your potatoes. Top with one last layer of Ranch dressing, cheddar cheese, and bacon bits. Even with my mushy potatoes, it still looks good and I am sure it will taste good as well!
My grandmother’s recipe for traditional potato salad was diced red potatoes (peeled). She would add pimentos, grated pickles (no store bought relish in her potato salad!), mayonnaise (Dukes was her preferred brand), diced onions, diced eggs, and salt and pepper. The three things that I think made her potato salad a little different was she added a little garlic powder, she mixed a little pickle juice into her mayonnaise (rather than white vinegar) and she never used mustard. Many potato salad recipes call for mustard, but she swore against using it. She also said the potato salad was better after it had set for an hour or so in the refrigerator.
That is one of the cool things about grandmothers who love to cook – even when they are no longer with you, they leave yummy recipes behind. Even if you never can make them quite as good as grandma could.