One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four-teen pounds of Potato Salad!

With the heat of summer FINALLY here, the call goes out for potato salad!

Most families have their own adaptation (as do we!), but maybe you want to try something new, healthier, quicker or classic? On a Google search for potato salad, 7,420,000 recipes popped up, how’s a woman to choose???  

The recipe that got me started on this potato quest was “Garden Potato Salad,” from The Food Network. It was the addition of cucumber that caught my fancy.

If you are just starting out, Cooking Light can get you started with “Potato Salad 101.” Chow.com is sporting an article, “Perfect Potato Salad, Five Creative Takes on this Classic Side Dish” with a very unique “Marinated Purple Potatoes.”

I think we can trust Better Homes and Garden with a “Classic Potato Salad,” and Tyler Florence can introduce you to “The Ultimate Potato Salad.”

A food blogger that I enjoy following, Heidi, at 101 Cookbooks, has a great “Grilled Potato Salad Recipe.” Her game plan: throw as many of the salad ingredient as possible on the grill, whip up a simple vinaigrette, toss and enjoy

Then I happened upon “The World’s Easiest Potato Salad” using fresh thyme leaves. This sounds like it is right up my alley. I found an interesting twist at huggingthecoast.com, from the folks at Serious Eats, “Grilled Sweet Potato Salad.”

My family is partial to our grandmother's (Ione Teeter Holm) potato salad, of course. What made it unique was her homemade French dressing that she mixed in. Our cousin, Lori, would help Granny make huge batches of potato salad. The recipe was never written down, but Lori was familiar enough with the ingredients that she was able to figure out the ingredients for our Holm Family Cookbook. The recipe calls for five pounds of potatoes and serves a crowd of about 20. For Easter and the Fourth of July, Granny always used 12 to 15 pounds of potatoes. 

We found an excerpt from her diary that read: “July 4, 1971. Nice day. Up at 6 to make 14 lbs. salad. Dick over to lay fire sprinkler, etc. Rich took me over to put oilcloth on tables, etc. G & Ben not here. 90 of us, very good day, home about 9.”

So get in the kitchen, gear up for summer, and whip up a batch of potato salad! Here's Granny's recipe if you want to give it a try...

GRANNY'S POTATO SALAD

Serves about 20

French dressing

1 cup salad oil

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons lemon juice

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Spice Islands paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Salad

5 pounds red potatoes, cooked and peeled

Salt and pepper

5 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 red onion, finely chopped

Best Foods mayonnaise

Miracle Whip salad dressing

To make the dressing, combine the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, paprika, and dry mustard in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Cover and shake well.

Thinly slice about 3 potatoes and put them in a mixing bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper, sprinkle with the dressing, and mix well. Add approximately a 1/4 cup of the celery and 1/4 of the red onion; mix again. Add approximately 3 heaping tablespoons of the mayonnaise and 2 heaping tablespoons of the Miracle Whip salad dressing; mix again. Transfer this batch to a large mixing bowl. Repeat this same process until all the potatoes are used, being sure to mix the batches together as they are added to the larger mixing bowl.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Enjoy our long-awaited summer!