It ain't your mama's potato salad

My mom makes the world's best potato salad. I'm not kidding. Whenever we have a family get-together in the summer, she must bring the potato salad. It's like a requirement. I guess that makes it her signature summer dish. Which is one of the reasons I don't have any desire to create a 'signature dish', because I don't ever want anyone to tell me there is one particular thing I always need to  bring. I don't need those kind of constraints. But she doesn't seem to mind. I guess it IS a high compliment. 

When I moved away from home after college, I moved far. Like Las Vegas far. And I didn't really know how to cook. I think this happens sometimes when you're raised in a house where someone else (mom) is already good at cooking and the rest of the family doesn't want to be experimented on, when they know they can play it safe and get good food. So I didn't have a clue how to make potato salad, and one day I decided I would impress my (then) boyfriend, by making the world's best potato salad. So I called my mom and asked for her recipe.


"Well," she said. "I don't really use a recipe."

I was astonished. "What do you mean you don't use a recipe? How do you know how many potatoes to use, and how much onion to put in?"

Like a Jedi-warrior cook she tells me, "You just know. And you make adjustments until it looks right."

I probably should've hung up and ran to the grocery store deli, but instead I had her tell me the ingredients she uses, along with her guestimates as to quantities. I took fast and furious notes, thanked her, and hung up.  First problem. We didn't have any celery. But we did have green pepper. It's green and crunchy, right?  Mistake. Then I didn't realize you need to cut the potato pieces in equal sizes, so when I tested a small piece and it was perfect, it didn't occur to me that the large pieces would be crunchy. Needless to say, it was nasty. As in, it got immediately tossed in the garbage.

Fast forward to years later, when I seem to have worked out most of the kinks in my cooking. Don't get me wrong- I still have flops. But generally it is not for reasons as ignorant as the great potato salad debacle. One thing I did decide to do, was to accept that I was meant to make up my own potato salad recipe & to not even try to replicate the world's best.

So here is my version. And in the spirit of Mom, I don't have any measurements for you.

Cook some new potatoes (cut in same-size pieces) in salted water, and boil 2 eggs.  I cheat, and use this egg timer to know when they are perfectly cooked.

Rinse in cold water, and drain. Leave skins on the potatoes. Peel and chop the eggs. Add quite a bit of salt and some cracked black pepper, plus chopped mild onion and celery (no substitutes please). Throw in some minced herbs: parsley, rosemary, & chives. Add real mayo and spicy mustard to taste.

Stir. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

It is some pretty good stuff. But not SO good that everyone is going to make you bring it to the family reunion and your cousin's kid's birthday party and the neighborhood potluck every year.