I grew up being the official taste-tester when my Mama made her potato salad. I’d pull the kitchen stool as close to the area of the bar where she was making her potato salad as I possibly could so that I could oversee the process. With my short, little girl legs swinging, I didn’t want to miss a single step of it.
Potatoes were cooked and drained, eggs were boiled and carefully peeled, an onion was diced, and then came the pickles. Oh how I couldn’t wait for those pickles. They symbolized coming to the part of the recipe where I was most needed. As Mama would walk over to the refrigerator for the mayonnaise and mustard, I was in charge of making sure my tasting spoons were at the ready. Of course they were, I had them precisely lined up on the bar just ready for the time when Mama would need one to scoop up a bite for my first sampling.
Now Mama and I laugh about how serious I took my job of taste-testing the potato salad as a little girl. She tells the story of how she would do the same thing as a little girl with her Grandmother, knowing now that her Grandmother would purposefully not add enough of certain ingredients so my Mama could help her perfect it before serving. I haven’t gotten the courage to ask Mama if she did the same with me, it might somehow take away from one of my favorite memories.
And ya know, I still have my spoons all lined up ready to taste when the potato salad making is in progress.
What is it about the job of taste-testing? It just never gets old.
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Southern Potato Salad is a classic recipe perfect for Sunday suppers, summertime lunches, picnics, reunions, and every possible celebration!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boiled potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 6 boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 dill pickles, diced
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
http://addapinch.com/cooking/2012/04/04/southern-potato-salad-recipe/
- Combine all ingredients together and mix until well-combined and creamy. Add more mayonnaise and mustard depending on tastes.
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My daughter and my youngest son always “taste test” my potato salad too. Sometimes it honestly starts tasting the same to me and I can’t tell if it needs anything more. There’s nothing like a good taste tester! Once I accidentally took the red pepper instead of paprika and liberally sprinkled it over the top! Instead of being terrible like I feared, we really liked it! I always let my testers add red pepper to our potato salad after that. Thanks for the recipe, it sounds great!
Hi Robyn,
what a beautiful story. Is there anything better than eating something that we loved so much when we were kids. Somehow these recipes always bring back nice memories and smile to our faces. I love it!
Love this! I love a good old school potato salad
I adore your childhood stories. And, this Southern potato salad looks amazing!
That is the perfect southern potato salad recipe…and now I’m craving it!
Thanks so much! Your story and this recipe bring back many fond memories from my grandmother’s kitchen! Very nostalgic, very Southern, and no doubt delicious
I love discovering new recipes and I am sure a lot of people are interested to try this one, as much as I do too…Thanks!
I love potato salad. I can’t make it as well as my grandmother. Your’s looks so good!
Seems like I remember doing the same thing. ; ) This potato salad always reminds me of my grandmother. It’s the only kind of potato salad that is truly potato salad to me. The others? Imposters.
Your potato salad reminds me of South Mississippi, hot & humid summer days of rocking on the porch and eating lots of potato salad with mustard in it. yummmm copied the recipe Thanks.
Hi Karen, there is just nothing better than good recipes that remind us of rocking on the porch, is there? I hope you enjoy this family favorite!
Oh my! I love the sight of that bright yellow potato salad!! After I left home for college, I thought my family was the only one in the world who made it with liberal amounts of yellow mustard and a sprinkling of paprika
So glad to see others enjoy it this way as well. And I totally agree, you can’t call it potato salad unless it has that atomic yellow look and sour bite! This recipe made me think of my dear grandfather and how much he loved potato salad. It was a holiday staple for us.
Dill pickles? Honest? I thought I was the only one warped enough to demand dill pickles in my potato salad.
So much better than sweet! And the eggs, and the mustard…we must have been living parallel lives. Yum.
Very similar to the southern potato salad I grew up with. It had sweet pickles instead of dill, and also had celery. We used to whip our potatoes until they were like mashed potatoes (very smooth and creamy) and then add the other ingrediants. And you NEVER EVER ate potato salad hot! We always let it sit overnight so the flavors would blend. Delicious!!!
What kind of Mayo did you use? Miracle whip or Mayo?
Wow, it’s great to see somebody else makes potato salad with dill pickles and mustard. I live in the south and everybody else, except my mother, uses sweet pickles & mayo only, no mustard. I love it this way.
North Dakota native and grandma came from Norway. We made potato salad almost the same way. Getting ready to make some now so it has time to sit until the party tomorrow night.
This is a keeper. Absolutely delicious!