I remember my Mom putting a large kettle on the stove with whole potatoes boiling away in the water. Well salted water. She used to tell me to watch for the first potato skin to split and then go get her to remove the kettle from the stove.
That was the day before the salad would be used. She would pour the potatoes into a colander and then place the potatoes in a large bowl to cool down before being placed in the fridge until the next morning.
The next morning, Mom would sit in the living room with the bowl of cold potatoes and begin the process of gently peeling and cubing each potato. There were so many that standing on her feet to do it was out of the question. Then she cut up the onion into small pieces (once in a while, she used red onion but more often the green onions); chopped up a celery rib, and then cut up the boiled eggs.
No mustard in Ma's potato salad. Only mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and chopped pickles.
- 1 lb gold or Yukon potatoes (peeled)
- 3 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 rib celery, chopped
- 2-3 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
- 3-4 tbsp sweet gherkins, hand-chopped (please! do not use relish!)
- 3/4 - 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Mix the celery, onion, gherkins, mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar.
- Take your cooled potatoes and cut them into dice, around 1" cubes.
- Toss in a large bowl with the egg (gently!)
- Pour the wet mixture over the top. If it doesn't pour, add more mayo, and toss.
- Chill for several hours.
Some people use Miracle Whip. Mama never did. In fact I can't recall ever seeing it in the house. She was a Mayo kinda gal for sure!