FOOD FIGHTS
How potato salad can divide us
When I was growing up, there were really only two kinds of potato salad: Your mama’s and my mama’s. Whether vinegar-, mayonnaiseor mustard-based, warm or cold, my mama’s was always better than your mama’s.
More than one family meal has been tarnished by the argument. No matter how tiny the sweet onion was minced, your baby sister would always discover it and loudly proclaim the culinary insult to the table. Potato salad becomes part of your identity. I might not be able to remember all of my ex-husbands’ middle names, but I remember their mamas’ potato salads.
Even today, people have very strong feelings about their potato salad. Some insist on crunch in the form of raw vegetables. Some want no crunch at all. Some demand sweet pickle relish, others say “No, no, NO!” My own mother added many ingredients: bacon, dill pickles, bell pepper, onion, celery, eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, green olives. We loved it all, except the paprika with which she decorated the finished product. No kid likes paprika. And, boy, did she whip the potatoes! She took out the hand-mixer and creamed those babies until smooth. I didn’t eat a chunky potato salad until I was married. I thought everyone whipped the potatoes. My in-laws let me know, with no delicacy, that whipped potato salad was not normal, at all.
I like potatoes in various textures, depending on the kind of salad, and I break them down with my grandmother’s potato masher. I like crunch, but I don’t like sweet pickles or relish. I don’t add eggs, and I don’t want mustard to touch the bowl. Don’t even whisper mustard when I’m making the potato salad, please.
When it comes to mayonnaise, I’m particular. No “salad dressing,” only the real stuff. I have brand preferences for the different types of potato salad I serve. One of my recipes even uses sour cream, and another decadent version uses a fancy soft cheese. Not one calls for paprika. We’re going to leave be that classic potato salad argument and let the passionate opinions duke it out.
Today, we’re concentrating on a handful of novel approaches, salads that stand out from the standard-bearers. Two, in fact, use leftovers. Three hail from “The Peace, Love and Potato Salad Cookbook” by Zack Brown, the guy made famous on the internet for his potato salad Kickstarter.
The Ohio-based Brown set a $10 goal to make his first potato salad (maybe he used the fancy soft cheese). It was the summer of 2014, and on a whim he posted his project to Kickstarter. The campaign went viral.
It might have been the capricious collective conscious of the internet, charmed by this
guy’s daring or his enthusiasm or his whimsical nature or maybe just potatoes, but what began as Brown’s stunt project became the fourthmost-viewed Kickstarter campaign to date, raising tens of thousands of dollars to fight hunger and homelessness. Almost 7,000 backers from 74 countries received thank-yous in the form of this pledged cookbook, a collaboration between Brown and recipe developer Teresa Blackburn.
This year, Brown and Blackburn released a book for the rest of us: “The Peace, Love and Potato Salad Cookbook” (Spring House Press, $16.95).
Ahead of the July 4 holiday, I compiled a few tips from Brown and my own potato salad education to help you improve your own potato salads.
Stick with low-starch, waxy potatoes — new, fingerling, red and Yukon Gold — for salads. They hold their shape best during boiling. All-purpose white potatoes are fine, but avoid starchier baking potato types like russet.
Possibly the simplest recipe in Brown’s book is the smashed red potato salad, which was also my favorite. Baby new potatoes have a more intense flavor than their larger counterparts, so they’re especially good for roasting and smashing into a flavorful potato salad, but the grated ginger that seasons the roasting potatoes was a perfect subtle flavor addition that I hadn’t seen elsewhere.
Go gentle with that smashing, though. With a drinking glass, I eventually discovered the best pressure to use — pressing the glass all the way down to the table or kitchen counter created a thinned pile of mash that was difficult to handle, but a slow, steady pressure downward, with an audible skincracking, pressed potatoes into 1/2-inch thick rounds, a perfect smash for salads.
If you like onions but not the way they can overwhelm the dish, try soaking the onion pieces in lemon juice to take away the bite and sweeten them just enough to complement the dish.
If you have leftover potato salad, scoop it like I do on top of gumbo or any other comfort food, but Brown offers a unique solution we taco-loving Texans will find intriguing: Using potato salad instead of refried beans on a tostada or maybe even a soft taco. It’s just crazy enough to work.
On hot summer days, ensure the food safety of your potato salad, or any dish served cold, by transporting in a chilled cooler. Avoid bacterial growth by limiting the time it sits at “food temperature danger zone,” which is between 41 degrees and 135 degrees, to one hour or less. Consider serving your bowl nestled into a larger bowl of ice for an extra measure of caution.