Another Picnic-Ready Post: German-Style Potato Salad

A better potato salad for better picnics

It’s official - I have countertops. And the kitchen backsplash is going up, which means the next step will be hooking up appliances.

With that in mind, I began tackling the overgrown mess that is my backyard. While the work continues on the kitchen indoors, I thought I could do some stuff on the out. Hopefully I can get a tiny outdoor eating area established before the season passes us by.

Which brings us to the topic of the day, namely potato salad. Just like when I looked at, lightened up and better understood pasta salad, I’ll give this picnic and party stalwart a much-needed makeover. It’ll be better, lighter, fresher and a whole lot tastier as a result.

I really don’t like many commercial potato salads. They’re gummy, gloopy and gross. Snow-white, overcooked and bound together with so much mayonnaise that you might as well just eat it straight out the jar and save yourself some trouble. These salads are little more than cold, un-mashed mashed potatoes suffocating under a heavy quilt of mayo. I like mayonnaise, but we can do better.

A lighter potato salad, with a dressing more akin to a vinaigrette is what we’re after. This German-style recipe is just the ticket. It still has richness and bulk (it IS a potato salad, after all), but it won’t overwhelm. The lardons and by-product bacon fat provide the richness. Acidity comes from white wine vinegar and grainy mustard. We round it all out with just a touch of sugar for some balancing sweetness, heat from cayenne and bursts of herbaceous freshness from the chives, parsley and dill.

Now THAT’S a potato salad

What’s really nice about going this route with a potato salad is the level of customization it affords you as a cook. Want some different flavours to pair with a different dish? Substitute the white wine vinegar for red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or even rice wine vinegar. Want it vegan? Lose the bacon and its fat, and substitute olive oil, while changing the chicken stock for vegetable stock. Don’t like the pop of the mustard seeds? Use smooth Dijon instead.

You can change up the herbs for different flavour profiles, like using cilantro, basil or shisho. You can amp up the richness by folding in diced hard-cooked eggs or crumbled blue cheese. The kicker? A light potato salad like this is just as good served warm as it is served room-temperature. Warming it just enough that the dressing doesn’t break makes it a great side dish for steaks, pork or sausages on a chillier night.

I like using fingerling or marble potatoes for this dish, but you can use bigger Yukon Golds, if that’s what you have. If your potatoes are bigger, you’ll probably want to peel them after cooking them, but you don’t necessarily have to. Lazy boys and girls unite.

This dish is ready and waiting before you know it, so let’s not waste anymore time:

German-Style Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 680g (1.5lbs) fingerling or marble potatoes (or Yukon Golds)

• 2 bay leaves (fresh is best)

• 100g (3.5oz) bacon, sliced into lardons (little matchsticks)

• 70g (2.4oz) yellow onion, peeled and finely diced

• 70g (2.4oz) shallots, peeled and finely diced

• 250mL (8.5oz) chicken stock

• 60mL (2oz) white wine vinegar

• 5g (0.1oz) granulated sugar

• 30mL (1oz) whole-grain mustard

• 25g chives, chopped finely

• 25g Italian parsley, leaves only, chopped finely

• 25g dill, fronds only, chopped finely

• Kosher salt, to taste

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Cayenne pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Put the potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Add a very large pinch of salt to the water as well as the bay leaves. Bring the pot to a simmer on the stovetop and cook until the potatoes offer no resistance to a knife or skewer. Don’t let the pot boil, only gently simmer so you don’t burst or waterlog the potatoes. When they’re cooked, drain the potatoes in a colander, letting them steam dry. Discard the bay leaves.

2. Meanwhile, render the bacon in a medium, heavy bottomed sauté pan or skillet over medium-low heat. Once the lardons are crispy but not burnt, transfer them to a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Carefully pour the bacon fat into a heatproof bowl and leave in a warm spot.

3. Wipe the skillet out with a paper towel and heat a film of canola oil in it over medium-low heat. Add the onions, shallots and a pinch of salt, and sweat until they are softened and translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

4. Add the chicken stock, vinegar and sugar to the pan and raise the heat to high. Bring the pan to a boil, then immediately remove from the heat.

5. By this point, the potatoes should be cool enough to handle. Cut them into evenly-sized pieces. Whether or not you peel them is up to you. As are the shapes you cut them into: chunks, slices or wedges, whatever you think looks good, just keep them evenly sized. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl.

6. Add the reserved bacon fat and the mustard to the potatoes. Mix gently to combine, then add in the onion mixture, bit by bit. The end result should be moist, but not soupy, so if you don’t need it all, don’t use it all. Gently fold in the lardons and the chopped herbs, taking care not to break up the potatoes too much.

7. Season to taste with kosher salt, black pepper and cayenne. This dish can be served warm, chilled or at room temperature.

A looker, for certain

This is an easy and great side dish for any barbecue or cookout. It keeps well for several days after it’s made and the flavours just marry more as time goes on. Potato salad is an old-school royal of a dish, why hide it under a gloopy carpet of mayonnaise? I hope you’ll try this recipe in time for your next outdoor meal.