It has always felt so weird to me that we call a potato salad a salad.
It feels unfair to other salads, does it not? It’s wildly superior if we had to rank salads.
But is it a salad, though?
I know a salad is ambiguous in it’s description, and to be honest, with the way the world is nowadays, anybody on Instagram or the TikkedyTok can call anything a bloody salad, but it feels weird to me that a bowl of… well, basically a bowl of creamy potatoes, is a salad? Question mark?
Because let’s talk technique – if I were to plunge a masher into the bowl and crushed up all the potatoes… then it’s basically just a decadent and bougie bowl of mashed potatoes?
Which a doctor would agree is NOT a salad… ya feel me?
SO WHY IS IT A SALAD?
Actually, I don’t care, I want to get to the recipe and I have other things to say, so I’ll end the questioning there.
I’ve been making potato salad the same way for years, so much so that it existed as a Highlight on my Instagram with no written recipe for ages because it felt strange to write it up.
Much like my House Dressing.
When something just… exists in my life with no huge amount of planning, resource, or research, I often feel like I’m short changing my readers.
But alas, when I served this alongside a chicken one day and three people (yes, it was only three… rude…) asked for the recipe, I felt it necessary to put the thing into writing finally.
If not for you or me, at least for them.
Those three people. I love you guys.
Okay so I have some opinions on potato salad:
- Don’t waterlog your potatoes by cutting them up before you boil them. Boil them whole in water with a lot of salt.
- Boil more than you need. I haven’t specified this in the recipe below because the measurements are for the salad alone, but I always boil loads more than I need and keep a few whole, boiled baby potatoes in the fridge on standby. Perfect to make potato cakes, to fry in some butter and garlic, to slice thinly and eat with kimchi, or to just dip into salt and bite as you go. Also give a cold, cooked baby potato to the dog. They will love you endlessly.
- Make sure the potatoes have thoroughly dried out before cutting them for the salad. Mushy, wet potatoes in a potato salad are not it.
- It doesn’t need celery. It just doesn’t.
- No canned potatoes. I’ve seen people make potato salads with canned potatoes, for ease, they say. Keep it out of my kitchen.
- I like my potato salad with a briny, pickly flavour profile and rather than add a whole bunch of gherkins and capers and blah blah, I literally just use American yellow mustard, or hot dog mustard as we like to call it. It has that relish flavour to it, plus it makes the salad a very… whimsical colour. Saying that, I have thinly sliced up some cornichons for this potato salad before and it was lovely, so do it if you want. I’m just saying it doesn’t need it.
- I don’t use mayonnaise. Mayonnaise for what? I don’t like a soupy gloopy potato salad, I want to be able to bite into each potato individually, not slop it on the plate and need to use a spoon to bring it to my mouth. Potato salad is fork food not spoon food. So the yellow mustard cut with a little natural yogurt for a slight body is all I need. Add mayo if you want, but don’t tell anyone I told you to do it though. Also, while we’re here, mayo tastes… of NOTHING. It’s a lie. It belongs with tuna and tuna only. It doesn’t even belong on chips. THERE I SAID IT – YOU MAYO DUNKING CHIP EATERS NEED A WORD WITH YOURSELF. Now homemade mayo (which I never make) or an aioli with chips is another story, fair enough, now we’re talking actual flavour, but some squirty mayo is literally just tasteless eggy goop and has no place anywhere other than to be paired with tuna, which to be fair, canned tuna is also fairly tasteless. That’s another rant for another day. Actually no, you know what, while I’m here, I’m also going to address all of you who put mayonnaise AND KETCHUP on chips. Who hurt you? There is nothing sadder to me than a plate of chips Jackson Pollock’ed with ketchup and mayo. That is confusion on a plate. But anyway.
- Potato salads are better when they’ve had some time to rest, so if I know I’m cooking something that would be amazing with a potato salad on the side (roast chicken and smash burgers – I’m looking at you) then I make this a day or two in advance. I like it room temp though, so I pull it out of the fridge an hour before I need it.
Okay. All understood? Good.
Also, I am sorry for that midway rant against mayonnaise. I have nothing against it or those who like it.
Actually you know what, yes I do, and I didn’t mean that apology.
So here’s a very good potato salad recipe, without mayo, for you to enjoy.
Serves 4 – 6
1kg baby potatoes
2 – 3 spring onions
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsps American yellow mustard
2 tbs natural yogurt
25g roughly chopped dill
- Put the potatoes – uncut and skin on – into a large pan of cold water. Salt the water generously, bring to a boil, and cook the potatoes until they are tender enough to pierce with a knife, this should take between 10 – 15 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander and leave them to sit in it until they are thoroughly dry.
- Once dry, halve each potato and put them in a large bowl.
- Snip in the spring onions (white and green parts, thanks) and add the vinegar, mustard, yogurt, dill, and add some salt and pepper.
- Stir everything together until thoroughly combined and the potatoes are fully covered. Taste for seasoning and see if you want more salt, pepper, or even dill. I always want more dill.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 