Our family tradition is to have our first summer cookout on Race Day (aka, Indy 500 day). Other people wait until Memorial Day but we always had ours on Sunday. We spent Memorial Day focused on the sacrifices made by our soldiers for our nation. (Check the internet/paper/news stations to see where Memorial Day services will be held in your own community)
For us, it's always a busy week right before Memorial Day. This year we got out of school on Tues/Wed/Thurs (staggered schedules--yay!) Friday was all about graduation practice, room cleanup and then graduation. Saturday we had a vocal recital, Mass and another graduation.
So planning was the key to success. We fit grocery shopping in between events on Friday afternoon. Then on Friday evening the girls worked together to clean the house. We cleaned the kitchen then watched a movie. Then we cleaned the dining room and living room before watching another movie.
Saturday morning was food prep. Ten pounds of potatoes had to be washed and boiled. A ton of broccoli needed cleaned and cut up. Onion had to be sliced and diced. Grapes had to be rolled in jello and then put in the freezer.
The menu? German potato salad, American potato salad, Broccoli raisin salad, Watergate Salad and Jello coated grapes. That was the Saturday prep list. All of which needed to be done by 1:00 so we could get ready for the recital. Sunday called for deviled eggs, then BBQ chicken breasts, hamburgers, hotdogs and brats.
I've shared True German potato salad before which is the recipe from my cousins. Today I'll share my mom's recipe. This one is tougher to type because mom never measured. She just poured until it looked right, smelled right and tasted right. I measured best I could to get a good idea for you.
Boil 5 lbs of potatoes until they are soft but not mushy. (Sorry, I didn't time this step. Some potatoes were huge and others small so I just stuck a knife in them occasionally to get an idea when they were ready.) Remove from water and let cool to touch.
In the meantime, take 2 slices of onion and dice them.
Fry 1/2 pound of bacon. Save the drippings because this becomes the base for the sauce of the potato salad. Let the bacon cool then crumble it to add to the potatoes later.
Add 3/4 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of sugar to a few tablespoons (3-4 tablespoons should be enough) of bacon grease. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
Then get another 1/2 cup of water and whisk in 3-4 tablespoons of flour. Once this is mixed well, slowly add it to the vinegar/sugar mixture. Whisk so there are no lumps in the sauce. This will thicken to a smooth gravy.
The final step for the sauce is to add about 2 tablespoons of mustard. Again, whisk it into the mixture so that it blends. This can stay over a very low flame or you can turn the burner off while you peel and dice the potatoes.
Carefully peel the potatoes and dice. Add the diced onion then salt and pepper to taste. Finally, pour the sauce over the potato mixture and stir. Finally, add the bacon crumbles.
This potato salad is best served warm--not hot. I don't usually serve it from a crock pot but I did once; I simply undercooked the potatoes during the initial cooking phase so that they would still be a bit crunchy when they went into the crock pot the next day (for a pot luck at work). I turned it on low a few hours before we were set to eat and it worked out really well.
American Potato Salad is even easier.
Boil 5 pounds of potatoes as above. Dice up 2 slices of onion as above.
Peel the potatoes and dice them. Add the onions. Salt and pepper to taste.
Then add approximately 1 1/2 cups of Miracle Whip Light and 1/4 c mustard. Mix well. The potatoes should be coated but not drowning in Miracle Whip. (Mom used to reserve a potato or two, just in case we put too much Miracle Whip in--remember we never measured at home)
Sprinkle with paprika--it looks festive!
Hope you and yours have a wonderful day!
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