Potato Salad, Picnics, and the Fourth of July

Growing up, we camped a fair amount and picnics were common.  One thing that was made - especially if it was a summer picnic or potluck was Potato Salad.  Mom (and Granny AND Grandma Dora) made the best potato salad.  It was always a hit at gatherings.  On the Fourth of July, we did not generally make potato salad unless we were camping or eating at home.  (More about July 4 traditions at the end.)

How good is this recipe?  Once, on a camping trip, Mom made 15 pounds of her wonderful potato salad.  It was housed in a cooler while we all went fishing at Raccoon Lake. Now, we always had our German Sheppard Sheena, and Sheena protected us and everything around us.  However, on this particular July 4th camping trip, we took her with us down by the water.  While we were fishing, raccoons chewed their way into the tent and cooler...and then into the huge ice cream container that held the potato salad and ate all 15 pounds!  Mom was furious, and wished all raccoons involved a horrible bellyache!

As with many recipes, there are variations to the recipe, and I will let you know the differences.  Like Mom and Granny, I take liberties with Grandma Dora's recipe. The original recipe calls for potatoes.  It does not say how many or what kind.  I find using Russets work very well.  Idahos are pretty dry to me.  Yukon Gold makes a wetter potato salad.  I will also confess that the potato type is not important enough to me to get me in a car to go to the store.

Cooked and Cooled Russet Potatoes

Put whole, un-skinned potatoes in water to cover them and bring them to a boil for 45 to 60 minutes.  You will be able to pierce them easily with a fork when they are done.  Let them cool.  Once cool, peel the skins off and dice them.  You do not need a knife to remove the skins.  They will easily peel right off.  The dice size depends on how chunky you want your potato salad.

The skins will peel right off.  So will most of the "eyes."

You need 1 large, peeled, hard-cooked egg per potato.  If you want it extra-special...that would be EGG-stra special, two large hard-cooked eggs per potato.  (That joke came from Granny!)  I cut the eggs in half to ensure the cooked yolk will mush into the salad easily, then dice the white part of the egg.

This salad will be EGG-Stra Special!

So for roughly six large potatoes, you also need a small to medium yellow onion, semi-finely diced.  Also, the recipe calls for 1/2 small jar of sweet Gherkin pickles and 1/4 jar of pickle juice for six potatoes. 

No one but me uses Sugar-Free.

As with the onion, dice the pickles.

Don't forget to add in pickle juice.

Okay, confession time: When in a huge hurry, I have used relish.  However, I will say that I feel the salad misses something without the little chunks of sweet pickles.  Also, again, I find the potato salad will be less stiff when relish is used, and I do not like a runny potato salad.

Grandma Dora used a teaspoon of powdered mustard, but Granny and Mom did not.  I don't like powdered mustard in it.  Instead, I use a healthy squirt or two of basic French's yellow mustard.  I simply like it.  Also, Mom and Granny both used celery seed, but I like to chop up a few stalks of celery.  If using large potatoes, I will use a stalk per potato. 

Nothing mixes this better than clean hands.

Add a cup or two of Miracle Whip and mix well.  How much Miracle Whip?  Enough until everything is coated and sticky.  Make certain the yolks are well-mixed into the Miracle Whip.  Taste it.  Add in salt, pepper to taste and mix again.  There should not be yolk "chunks."

Then pat everything into a large bowl.  Garnish with pickle fans, egg slices, and paprika.  (FANCY!)  Even if I do not add egg slices or pickle fans, I add paprika.  I swear it is better when I do!  Make potato salad the night before.  It is better when it sets a day.

People will fight over egg slices.  Seriously.  The pickle fans freak Millennials out.  I don't know why.

Okay, Troubleshooting:

• Too dry, add more Miracle Whip
• Too wet, add more egg yolk or another potato.  
• Not sweet enough, add more pickles or juice or relish if you are in a hurry.
• Not enough celery?  Add some celery seed (or celery salt if you have not yet added salt.)  
• Too much mustard?  It will be a first for me.  Embrace the taste.  HAHA
• It is an easy recipe to make, but it is not a fast recipe to throw together.  Don't be duped into making it at the last minute for gatherings.  It's time-consuming to get this kind of deliciousness.

Truthfully, potato salad is pretty forgiving.  Now, Grandma Dora did not use Miracle Whip.  She used a few cap-fulls of white vinegar, a few teaspoons of sugar, and regular mayonnaise.  You know...home-made Miracle Whip.  While there may be people who make potato salad as good as our family, no one makes it better. 

Typical Fourth of July picnics with Granny and Pepaw were a trip to a State Park or swimming at Devil's Garden.  However, the menu did not change.  It was Hot Dogs with chili, mustard, ketchup, relish, and onion options.  We had Charlie's Potato Chips (and Borden's Onion Dip if Dad was there.)  Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies and Cookies (Chip-Ahoy and waffle sugar cookies.)  The chili was Armor Star Chili with Beans, and it was cooked over the charcoal right in the can.  I have no idea how safe the can was.  We never worried about it in those days.  (Remember, they let us play with mercury at our desks in school.)

One year, Sandy found a little stump-tailed cat that was named Miss Meow on a State Park picnic.  She was always finding strays (or they found her.)  We would swing on swings or go for a hike, and then head home.  At night, we would light fireworks using flares that Pepaw brought home from the railroad.  They glowed a bright pink and  I thought they were beautiful. 

In Indiana, the menu changed.  Maybe steaks or hamburgers, and sometimes hotdogs.  But fireworks were lit.  In Indiana, we also always went to see the city fireworks.

If we picnicked with others or stayed at home, potato salad was almost always on our Fourth of July table.  And watermelon followed prior to fireworks...and homemade ice cream often followed afterwards.