Mashed Potato Salad

How have I never posted this before?
I mean, it is the quintessential summer side dish, found at all cookouts and BBQ's.
And, while I think potato salad is Super Easy to make, some people find it a little challenging.
Specifically, what people seem to have the most trouble with on this dish is that they don't know how long to cook the potatoes for. If they are under-cooked, they are raw and crunchy. And if they are over-cooked, well- they are mush.
I have also heard people say that they can never seem to get the dressing right. Sometimes they put too much mayo in, sometimes they season it too much, and they ruin the whole salad.
So here is my version, which hopefully helps anyone who's had trouble with this salad in the past.

Ingredients:
Potatoes (I like the small yellow ones), mayonnaise (I use a little regular mayo, and a little Miracle Whip), yellow mustard, dijon mustard, ranch dressing, celery, onion, eggs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar.

Steps one and two: boil the potatoes and boil the eggs.
For both: add them to pots of water, so that they are all completely submerged. Cover and cook on High.
     For the potatoes: once the water comes to a boil, uncover the pot, and let them continue to boil. The time will depend on the size of the potato (more time for larger ones, less time for smaller ones). These small ones I used took about 15 minutes once the water was boiling. To tell if they are done, stick a fork into the middle of the potato. If it goes in with no resistance, and slides right off the fork, it's done. When done, remove from pot and let cool.
     For the eggs- once the water comes to a boil, turn the burner off. Cover the pot and let the eggs sit for 12 minutes. After that, drain them and put them in a dish of cold water. Let them cool in the water for a few minutes, or let them cool on the rack with the potatoes.

Step three: make your salad dressing.

Forever and always when I made potato salad I would cut up the potatoes and eggs, then start adding mayo, etc. right too the potatoes until I got it "just right", praying all long that I didn't add too much of anything and ruin the salad. Then one day I was at my cousin Melissa's house, and she was making potato salad, but she was making the dressing in a separate bowl, and I thought to myself "Holy Cow! How did it NEVER occur to me to make the dressing, get it exactly the way I want it, and THEN add it to the potatoes?!?!?".

I couldn't believe that for all the years I had been making this that I never thought of that.

Ever since then, this is the way I have done it. 

So thank you Melissa. You have changed my life.

Anyways, the dressing: I have no measurements here. I just add everything to the mayo until it tastes good.

I personally prefer to do a 50/50 mix of mayonnaise and Miracle Whip, and just a little bit of all the other ingredients (yellow mustard, dijon mustard, ranch dressing, garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar), but again, this is all personal preference so everyone does it their own way.

Miracle Whip

Mayo

Dijon

Ranch Dressing

 

Mustard

Garlic Powder

Pepper

Salt

Sugar

Mix

Step Five: peel and chop the potatoes, eggs, onions and celery.

I think this step is pretty self explanatory, but if not: the potatoes should be bite-sized pieces and the rest should be chopped much smaller, so that you don't get any large pieces when you are eating the salad.

Toss the eggs, celery and onions with the potatoes before you add the dressing to make sure the ratios are where you want them to be.

Also- I don't like a ton of yolks in mine, so I crumbled 2 into the potato mix, then just chopped the egg whites.

 potatoes

 celery

 onion

 eggs

Next step (I think we're on six now): add the dressing.

Make sure you only add a little at a time and mix it up completely before adding any more. You never want to add too much!

Last step (#7): mash it!

I know this seems a little "unconventional", but this is the way I like it.

You see, when I was little my Gramma always made potato salad, and it was sooo good. But my Grampa loved mashed potato salad, so we had that a lot too. And ever since then, if I have potato salad, I mash it with my fork so that it's mashed the way my Grampa liked it. 

So now, whenever I make potato salad, I give it a little mash at the end, and I really think it makes it so much better than big, chunky potato salad.

There you go! I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I always have!

Oh, and if you really want to be fancy with your potato salad, line the edges of a platter with lettuce leaves and chopped tomatoes, then set the salad on top. It's so pretty that way (sorry I don't have a picture of my own to offer!).

See you soon!