Potato Salad

Name: Potato Salad
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 1 lb potato, waxy or Yukon Gold (peeled, cut in 1-inch chunks); 2 l water; 1 tbsp salt (for the cooking water); 2 unit eggs; 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 5 tbsp mayonnaise; 1 ½ tsp mustard, yellow; 1 unit celery (finely diced); 2 tbsp onion, red or sweet (finely diced); 1 tbsp sweet pickle relish; ½ tsp salt; ¼ tsp black pepper (ground)

Vegetables & Salads · American

12 ingredients · 80 minutes · 2 servings

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502kcal11.6g protein31g fat44.9g carbs~$1.27/ serving*

Contains egg · sometimes contains soy — check the label · only in an optional ingredient: dairy

Restrictions

ContainseggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (Mayonnaise)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Only if you add itdairy (cream, sour)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.

Diets

VegetarianPescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

1 lb	potato, waxy or Yukon Gold (peeled, cut in 1-inch chunks)
2 l	water
1 tbsp	salt (for the cooking water)
2 unit	eggs
1 tbsp	apple cider vinegar
5 tbsp	mayonnaise
1 ½ tsp	mustard, yellow
1 unit	celery (finely diced)
2 tbsp	onion, red or sweet (finely diced)
1 tbsp	sweet pickle relish
½ tsp	salt
¼ tsp	black pepper (ground)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

¼ tsp	paprika (dusted over the top)
1 tbsp	dill (chopped)
2 tbsp	scallion (sliced thin)
2 tbsp	sour cream (in place of 2 tbsp of the mayonnaise)
½ tsp	sugar

Steps

Dice10 min
even 1-inch pieces
- potato
potato peeled and cut to one size — mixed sizes guarantee that something is mush by the time the largest piece is done, and mush is what turns potato salad into paste
Boil18 min
start in cold salted water, then bare simmer
potato + water + salt, from cold so the outside heats at the same rate as the middle; hold a lazy simmer rather than a rolling boil, which knocks the edges off the chunks. Done when a knife slides in with no resistance and the piece does not crumble off the blade
Boil10 min
separate pot, then ice water
- eggs
eggs, 10 minutes for a set but not chalky yolk, chilled immediately so the shells release and the yolks stay yellow rather than turning grey-green
Season2 min
potatoes still steaming
- apple cider vinegar
drained hot potato + apple cider vinegar + half the salt, tossed once. Hot starch is open and porous and drinks the acid; on cold potatoes the vinegar just pools in the bottom of the bowl and you taste it as a sour surprise instead of as seasoning
Rest20 min
uncovered, room temperature
- mayonnaise
potatoes spread out to cool to barely warm. Mayonnaise stirred into hot potato breaks — the emulsion splits, the oil separates out, and the salad reads greasy no matter how much you stir it back
Fold4 min
gentle, with a spatula
cooled potato + mayonnaise + mustard + celery + onion + relish + chopped egg + remaining salt + black pepper, folded from the bottom up and stopped the moment everything is coated. Each extra stir shears more starch off the chunk edges and thickens the dressing toward glue
Rest30 min
covered, refrigerated
chill so the celery and onion perfume the dressing, then taste again cold — cold flattens salt and acid perception, so a salad seasoned correctly while warm will need another pinch of salt and a few drops of vinegar out of the fridge