All Hail Potato Salad

By: Julie Winch

I love potato salad. Honestly, who doesn’t? Crazy people, that’s who. It’s such a bold expression of a salad. Mayo? Heaps of it. Eggs? You betcha. And since it has salad in the name it has to be healthy, right? Sure. 

I’m not a potato salad purist—I’ll eat pretty much any kind of potato salad there is. The German version is right up there with American for me. The vinegar and herbs bring an addictive quality that keeps me going back for more, especially when paired with a crispy Schnitzel. And have you had the potato salad (Gamja salad) served as banchan alongside Korean BBQ? It’s almost like American and German potato salads had a mashed up baby. It’s freaking delicious. 

But we’re a southern BBQ operation so we go classic with our potato salad. You have the old standbys: potatoes, mayo (DUKE’S OR DIE), mustard, celery, onions, eggs. Then we have a little fun. A few shakes of Crystal hot sauce, maybe a splash of pickle juice. A little celery salt every once in a while, definitely some cayenne. No two potato salads we make are ever the same, largely because I don’t believe in measuring the ingredients and just do it by feel and taste. Some days I want a little more tang, others a little more spice. It’s like the snowflake of side dishes! And that’s the beauty of it—always evolving but rooted in tradition, much like we are.