Friday, April 30, 2010

German potato salad

I cook for a person who won't eat mayonnaise, so German-style potato salad is an alternative to the fattening kind made with gobs of real mayonnaise, eggs, celery and sweet pickle. I think American potato salad is delicious, but that might be because I don't get it very often.

On the other hand, served warm or at room temperature, German potato salad is lighter and goes better with almost any meat. I remember my grandmother Anna used to make it with roast chicken for Sunday dinner, along with spaetzle noodles and gravy.
As usual, I don't have a real recipe to share with you, but nothing could be easier to make by taste. Of course you start by boiling and draining the potatoes, then slice them thinly. Mince 2 or 3 slices of smoky bacon and sauté until crispy.
There are no unusual ingredients. I chopped some chives from the garden, because I didn't have green or red onions on hand.
Add the bacon (with a little of the fat) and sprinkle the potatoes with whole celery seed, about a teaspoon of sugar, some salt and pepper. I think this salad is better with plain old cider vinegar and vegetable oil, but I've also tried olive oil and white wine vinegar. Use a generous hand with the oil, the salad should be shiny and not dry.
It was good the other night-- we had chicken baked in the oven with a Parmesan breadcrumb crust.

2 comments:

  1. Yay! Thanks for this post. Jordan was just telling me how much he wanted to try German Potato Salad. I was getting ready to call my Mom for our family recipe :)

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  2. Hi April! Let me know how it turns out, I can never seem to make the exact thing twice, but it's hard to go wrong on this one.
    XXXOOO

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