Here is a recipe for a Russian potato salad, which is different from Southern potato salad and is similar to what I've had in German restaurants:

Russian Banana Fingerling Potato Salad

To Cook the Potatoes and prepare the Salad:
1 lb. Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes (Yukon Gold Potatoes may be substituted)
Water to cover
Salt

Scrub potatoes and place in a medium pot. Cover with cold water and add salt. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer and cook until you can just pass a knife comfortably through a potato. Remove from heat and strain.

1/4 cup Chicken Broth
2 tsp. Champagne Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
1/2 bunch Chopped Chives
Salt and freshly ground White Pepper

Combine broth, vinegar, sugar, chives and seasoning to taste. While still warm, rub (peel) skins from potatoes with the back of a pairing knife. (Not only is it easier to rub the skins while the potatoes are still warm, it is also important to combine the marinade or âÂÂdressingâ with the potatoes while the potatoes are warm as they will better absorb the flavors). Pare and slice potatoes into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Place potatoes in a bowl and pour dressing over, stirring gently. Allow flavors and liquid to âÂÂdrawâ for at least 1/2 hour.

Note: This salad is best served at room temperature

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Vinegar is the major flavoring in that recipe. My grandmother was German Alsatian, and she had a potato salad that was similar to Southern - potatoes, mayo, Dijon mustard, onion, celery, hard boiled eggs, black pepper, and either pimento stuffed olives or dill pickles (but not both). I add cayenne to it or Italian pickled peppers.

The worst potato salad IMO is made with Miracle Whip, sweet pickles, and sweet mustard. I will not eat potato salad made with sweet pickles - I have a gag reaction to the sweetness. For me, potato salad must be tart and not in any way sweet. Even though the Russian recipe has a small amount of sugar, it is not enough to overpower the tartness of the vinegar.

Lars

This post was edited by publickman on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 12:58

I'm German-Russian and this is the recipe I grew up with and most always use. I think many people are persnickety about potato salad. Lars doesn't like MW or sweet pickles. I dislike eggs in potato salad. It's a hard dish to please everybody. :)

4 strips of bacon
6 red potatoes, cooked in their skins
2 green onions
4 Tablespoons bacon drippings
4 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Coleman's dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar

Fry the bacon until crisp and then crumble it, set aside.

Slice the green onions in 1/4" pieces, set aside.

In saucepan, place the bacon drippings, vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper and sugar.

Heat to the boiling point, remove from the heat immediately.

Skin the potatoes and slice into the top of a double boiler over hot water.

Add the bacon and green onions.

Pour on the dressing mixture to the potatoes, stir until all the ingredients are well coated.

Keep covered tightly until ready to serve.

This recipe can be refrigerated and is excellent reheated as well. Can be doubled or tripled.

/tricia

It's a hard dish to please everybody. :)

LOL /tricia....I sorta figured it would be that way!! Thanks to you and Lars for the quick responses. And I don't like egg in potato salad either.
I'm doing this for a 4th get-together, so I think I will try both recipes this afternoon. I'll let DH vote tomorrow!!

Aww, Lars, I love MW but gag on mayo. Go figure.

Tricia recipe, minus the mustard, is what this German here makes. As you are making the dressing, start with just a tiny bit of the sugar add more to taste. It should not be sweet, but just enough to take some of the vinegar bite away.

You can serve this warm, room temp or chilled. And you can reheat it the next day also.

I always think of German Potato Salad as being served warm dressed using vinegar or vinegar/oil instead of mayo or mayo/mustard. The potatoes are sliced instead of cubed, and hard-cooked eggs would be optional. There are a lot of German Heritage recipes show-up at potlucks and Church Suppers around here, and German Potato Salad is a favorite. As usual, the recipes are as individual as the folks who make them :-).

This is close to the recipe my German-Canadian mother used. I doubt she ever had, or used, fresh parsley. When my mother made "yellow potato salad", she made Mustard Sauce (a cooked dressing). -Grainlady

Kartoffelsalat (Potato Salad)

5# potatoes
1/4 c. finely diced bacon
1/4 c. chopped onions
1 T. flour
2 t. salt
1-1/4 T. sugar
1/4 t. pepper
2/3 c. cider vinegar
1/3 c. water
1/2 t. celery seed
3 T. chopped parsley

Cook the potatoes in their jackets until tender. Cool, peel and slice thinly. Fry out the bacon until crisp. Add the chopped onion and cook 1 minute. Blend in the flour, which has been sifted with sugar, salt and pepper. Stir in the vinegar and water. Cook 10-minutes, stirring well. Pour this over the sliced potatoes and add the celery seed and chopped parsley. Toss and serve warm.

My German Potato Salad is the warm kind -- with boiled potatoes, skinned and sliced. Bacon is fried (although I don't use as much bacon as they used to) and then the chopped white onions are sauteed in the bacon fat. Sugar, flour, vinegar, water and celery seed are added to the onion/bacon fat mixture and cooked until it is hot and bubbly and forms a sauce. This is then poured over the potatoes -- then you eat!

As to amounts, I can find them for you if you want -- it varies, of course, by the amount of potatoes you use. I think for a family batch, my grandmother probably used a pound of bacon -- Now I use very little -- just enough for some grease and for flavor! (In fact, oftentimes I have to add oil to have enough fat to make the sauce)

Martha

My uncle's wife was raised Mennonite. She was an adventurous, amazing cook. Here's her recipe for
Grace's Pennsylvania Dutch Hot Potato Salad

4 slices of bacon
1 qt. hot cooked potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 egg
1 tsp. sugar
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced.
Salt & pepper to taste.
Chopped fresh parsley.

Dice bacon and fry out. Add vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and beaten egg to bacon and fat. Cook slightly. Pour mixture over hot cubed potatoes. Mix in onion and sliced hard boiled eggs. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Blend lightly and serve hot.

Thank you EVERYONE!!
I can definitely come up with a winner for our 4th of July celebration.

Thanks again. Whistle

Opps, forgot to ask. Grainlady, Martha, and moosemac, what kind of potatoes do you use?

Thanks again.

I judge a potato by it's unit price (less is best ;-) and any kind of potato will work, as far as I'm concerned. Results differ, somewhat, but I've managed to use a large variety of potatoes, including commercially canned potatoes, and make potato salad.

BUT, my first choice for potato salad are red potatoes because they hold their shape and you can leave the peel on if you'd like. I like the small "B" grade (looks like "new" potatoes) because they cook quickly and only require a couple cuts to make them bite size if you leave the peel on.

Second choice -- Yukon Gold (that's what I grow), and I peel them for potato salad. They hold their shape and don't get mushy.

Russets work well, but sometimes tend to crumble, and if they are over-cooked can get mushy. I peel them. Russets tend to be more absorbent than red or Yukon, and that adds to the choice if you have a dressing you want to be absorbed rather than just coat the potatoes.

-Grainlady

Thank you, Grainlady. I have a 5# bag of reds so I'm in good shape.

Thin skinned reds or whites. Any size. I leave the skins on if they look clean and a bit transparent. I grow fingerling bananas. The only ones that do well here. Other varieties get spots and thick bits and scaly. (needed peeling or tossed out)
I do like my mothers traditional Joy of Cooking. But i have developed my own over the years.
A vinegar mustard yogurt cream, olives, celery, fresh cucumber, parsley, roasted red pepper. An herb or two. Most of my guests like it so much better than the mayo, hard boiled egg, and bottled pickle of their youth.

yuck,my mother use to make it,hers was served hot.

Thanks again everyone for the recipes and tips. I made one pf the cold recipes today and it was delicious. I'll make a warm one for tomorrow .

So why the yuck? There's a saying. Don't yuck my yum.