The Best Potato Salad

Some time ago I promised a recipe for potato salad, and never got around to posting it, so here it is:

Potato Salad for a crowd

10 pounds of potatoes

12 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

1 cup sliced radishes

1 bunch green onions, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 large onions, diced

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

2 cups diced celery

Peel and cook potatoes in boiling salt water until just fork tender. Drain well. Cool. Dice potatoes and combine with rest of ingredients,being careful not to mash the potatoes or hard cooked eggs. Carefully fold in dressing. Refrigerate until serving time. Garnish with paprika, parsley and carrot curls.

Dressing:

2 quarts salad dressing

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

3 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon prepared mustard.

Mix all ingredients well.

Notes: This potato salad recipe is said to be enough for 30 people. I made half of it for our employee barbecue, and the 10 of us ate not quite half of that. So, depending on what else you serve, it could be enough potato salad for 40.

I like to make this a day ahead, as it always tastes better after some time in the fridge. I peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces, rather than dicing them later, and boil them very briefly, maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Then I cover them and leave them in the hot water for an hour or so. They don't get so mushy this way. Drain and proceed with the recipe.

I usually omit the boiled eggs.

When you make it a day ahead, leave out the radishes until a few hours before serving--otherwise they lose their colour.

If you use a long English cucumber you get that green in there too, which is attractive. It's also attractive to use some green pepper and some red pepper.

I like to use cider vinegar.

The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of salt in the dressing. I find 3 teaspoons is plenty, but then, we are used to not much salt in our food. Salt can always be added if someone prefers it saltier.

This potato salad is quite a bit of work, so make plenty. It stays good in the fridge for several days, and just tastes better as time goes by.