One of the highlights of my Thanksgiving was learning how to make the family potato salad that I've grown up eating all these years, at every Thanksgiving. German potato salad. We're talking a mayo-less potato salad that's doused in a lot of vinegar — and tastes exponentially better the day after you make it. Thank goodness I'm part German, as I'm not a fan of pairing mayonnaise with your potatoes. This potato salad could not be more simple. And it's a stand-out dish that will mingle deliciously well with everything on your plate, but tempt you to take seconds and then thirds — until you're sitting there full of potatoes. The recipe comes from my Na (pronounced nay-a, my great-grandma on my mom's side.) She never wore pants (only dresses) and lived to be 100, and she was the sweetest soul. I thankfully grew up with Na living in our house. Just like the potato salad, you could always depend on Na — she was an unassuming, quiet star.
Na's German potato salad
makes 5 lbs of potato salad (we always double the recipe for Thanksgiving)
you'll need:
5 lbs of red skin potatoes
apple cider vinegar
canola oil
white or red onion, chopped
fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
salt and pepper
*one note: My mom makes this potato salad without a formal recipe. So she showed me how to make it, and we made an effort to measure how much oil and vinegar we were using (since she usually just eyes how much she needs.) These measurements are not exact — more of a guide. The potato salad should have a pronounced vinegar kick to it. It's also best to make this recipe the night before, so the flavors can sit and settle into the potatoes (and so it's chilled.)
Boil the potatoes till they're soft (but not mushy.) Peel the potatoes after they're boiled, but while they're still hot. Put the peeled potatoes back in the pot over the stove to keep them warm while you're working on peeling the potatoes. Then start transferring the potatoes to your serving bowl, slicing the potatoes into bite-size chunks as you add them to the bowl. Once you have a layer of chopped potatoes in your bowl, you want to start adding your oil. Continue adding another layer of potatoes and pause to add more oil — repeat until you've added all the potatoes. The oil needs to be added to the potatoes while they're still very warm, or the potatoes won't absorb the oil. You'll use about a cup of oil to distribute over all the potatoes. You want to add enough oil so that the potatoes look shiny, but there's not a pool of oil at the bottom of your bowl.
Next, add your chopped onion and mix in with the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste (you'll need to add a good amount of salt — as there are a lot of potatoes to cover.)
Start adding your vinegar. Start with one cup of the vinegar. Pour and mix in with the potatoes. We added in another 1/2 cup of vinegar when we made it on Wednesday night — you should clearly taste a kick of vinegar in the potatoes. Finally, add a half bunch of flat-leaf parsley to your potato salad. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
The next morning, we always taste the potato salad and it always needs a little more vinegar (as the vinegar absorbs into the potatoes overnight.) We added another 1/2 cup of vinegar and it was perfect. We always eat our potato salad at room temperature for Thanksgiving dinner. But as leftovers, I can never wait and dig into my potato salad straight from the refrigerator. It's delicious either way.
A big thanks to my mom for teaching me how to make one of my favorite recipes — and for letting me share our family recipe here. You're the best, Mom.
