German Style Potato Salad

Catherine Moulder (@CMoulder4)

Serves 4-5

Materials

Medium-sized red potatoes (4) {See SI-1}

Smoked bacon (4 slices, diced)

Hard-boiled eggs (2, sliced)

Onion (¾ cups, diced) {See SI-4}

Sugar (¼ - ¾ cup)

Vinegar (½ - ¾ cup)

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Boil potatoes in skins until done; peel and slice. Place in large mixing bowl. Add onions and sliced eggs. Set aside.

2. Fry bacon in heavy fry pan. When crisp, remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. Reserve the bacon fat in the pan.

3. Place the pan back on the stove over medium to low heat. Add sugar to the bacon fat and stir with a fork for a minute, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the bacon drippings. Add the vinegar, stirring and scraping the pan as the mixture boils. Test the mixture for sweet-sour taste. Adjust the taste by adding more vinegar and/or sugar. The sauce does not thicken but will reduce a little.

4. When the mixture meets your satisfaction for taste, remove pan from stove. Pour immediately over the potatoes. The potatoes absorb the dressing better if they are warm. Mix gently. Serve while still warm.

Supplemental Information

1. The potatoes are sliced into disks. Do not dice the potatoes into cubes.

2. If the potatoes cool off just pop the dish into the microwave. Leftover potato salad can be stored in the refrigerator then taken out and warmed up without losing much flavor.

3. This recipe is quite variable. If you don’t like the taste of raw onions, cook them a little. If you like it sourer, add more vinegar; sweeter, add more sugar. The amount of potatoes and bacon slices is variable too. My sister Sally adds celery seed to her potato salad. It’s very hard to ruin this dish.

4. I prefer to use Spanish (red) onions; Sally doesn’t.

5. This potato salad predates the common mayonnaise versions and is a good option for picnics as it is not nearly as temperature-sensitive. It is a savoury-sweet salad that is often served warm but can be served cold.

6. Very not kosher nor halal.

Source

German style potato salads vary widely. Every family has their own recipe. This is ours. This is Great Grandma Flavin’s recipe. (Laura Flavin’s maiden name was Fiesler.) I think her family was from eastern Germany. She taught this recipe to my Grandmother Flavin (née McLean) and it’s been handed down ever since. It is a family favorite. I think that the recipe has been in the family over 100 years (based on Grandpa’s birth date, I’d say before 1895).