American Potato Salad is a classic dish in the United States. But not only in Western European countries, potatoes are considered a favorite product, without which not a single workday or celebration takes place. It has long been not just food, but the main ingredient for the preparation of side dishes, main and first courses, appetizers and even desserts. It is hard to imagine that just a few hundred years ago, potatoes were considered a delicacy, and Europeans did not even suspect its existence. So where and when did they first discover this tasty and healthy root crop?
The emergence of potatoes and the popularity of salad
Attempts to grow a culture from which to cook an unusual American potato salad began about 15 thousand years ago. Even the Indians tried to domesticate it in South America. The true homeland of potatoes is considered to be Bolivia and Peru.
For the first time, Peter I brought potatoes to Russia, and at first it did not appeal to local peasants. But already in the middle of the XVIII century, the product became so beloved for people that it was often called the second bread.
Scientists came to the conclusion that the root crop is rich not only in vitamins (groups B, C), but also in fiber, organic acids, healthy sugars and mineral salts of calcium, iron, potassium, and phosphorus. In Germany, the classic American potato salad is considered a masterpiece of national cuisine. The Germans serve it with sauerkraut, fried sausages. They also fry slices of bacon, pass onion and garlic in the remaining fat, and then add this dressing to the potatoes.
Salad recipes can often be found in the classical literature of the New World, and they are also often mentioned in modern films. And even more so, not a single picnic can do without this goodies. Despite the fact that in our understanding, Americans are a people who prefer food on the go, fried and too greasy, as well as fast food, American potato salad does not bring classic harm to the body. On the contrary, this dish is considered one of the healthiest in the States.
American Potato Salad Composition
For the basics you will need:
- Potatoes - 5–6 medium tubers.
- Eggs - 5-6 pieces.
- Celery - 1-2 petioles.
- Onion - 1 head.
- Sweet bell pepper - 1 pod.
- Hot pickled peppers - 1 pod.
- Pickled cucumber - 3-4 things.
To refuel, you should take:
- Mayonnaise - 1 cup.
- Natural apple cider vinegar - 2 tablespoons.
- Sweet mustard (Dijon) - 1 tablespoon.
- Salt and black pepper to taste.
American Potato Salad: Recipe
Stages of preparation:
- Wash the potatoes by carefully rubbing the skin with a brush or sponge, boil in their skins in salted water for 25–35 minutes, cool slightly and peel.
- Hard-boiled eggs (at least 9-10 minutes).
- Wash and dry celery and fresh pepper.
- All components cut into cubes. This is an important point, the classic recipe provides for cutting only in the form of identical small cubes (with sides about 0.5-0.7 mm in size).
- Put the slices in a beautiful salad bowl, add mustard, apple cider vinegar, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and mix.
Traditional American Potato Salad Recipe
This recipe is a simplified version of the classic. But most housewives prefer it. And not in vain, because the fewer the ingredients, the easier it is to prepare the dish. By the way, such modifications will not affect the specific taste.
So, you will need these products:
- Medium sized potatoes - 4 pieces.
- Celery - 1 petiole.
- Fresh cucumber - 1 little thing.
- Onion - 1 head.
- Eggs - 3-4 pieces.
- Salt in the desired amount.
Refueling consists of:
- Mustard - 1 tablespoon.
- Mayonnaise - 1 cup.
Cooking Algorithm:
- Boil potatoes in their skins until ready, peel.
- Hard-boiled eggs, cool in cold water and clean.
- Cut everything into cubes, season and salt.
Unconventional recipe (German version)
American potato salad is also cooked with bacon.
The main ingredients:
- Potato - 6 tubers.
- Bacon - 3 strips.
- Chives - 1 bunch.
- Pickled cucumber - 1 piece.
- Mustard - 2 teaspoons.
- Mayonnaise - 4 tablespoons.
- A pinch of sugar, salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Put bacon on a hot pan and immediately reduce the heat. Fry the slices on both sides until cooked and put them on a paper towel to absorb excess fat. Boiled potatoes in a peel cut into cubes. Add sugar and finely chopped cucumber to the mustard. Mix all the ingredients, add the crushed bacon and put the dish in the refrigerator for half an hour. Before serving, you can sprinkle with green onions or any other herbs.
Mushroom salad
American potato salad with mushrooms is suitable for those who want to lose weight or simply prefer not to eat meat.
Components:
- Potato - 4 pieces of medium size.
- Onion - 1 piece.
- Champignons (you can take other mushrooms) - 70 g.
- Vegetable oil - 3-4 tablespoons.
- Salt, pepper and herbs to taste.
Boil the potato in advance without peeling it. Then cool, cut into small cubes. Wash the mushrooms, chop finely and fry in vegetable oil until half cooked. Chop the onion finely, add to the mushrooms, mix and simmer another 10 minutes over low heat. Cut cucumbers into cubes, mix with other ingredients and sprinkle with herbs. Salad is seasoned with oil, but you can also not add it. And so the dish will turn out very tasty.
Meat salad with potatoes (Korean cooking called kamdicha)
You will need:
- Potato - 4 tubers.
- Meat (chicken, pork tenderloin, veal) - 300 g.
- Onion - 1 head.
- Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons.
- Sweet pepper - 1 pod.
- Olives - 50 g.
- Garlic - 1 clove.
- Parsley, cilantro, salt and pepper.
First, the potatoes should be peeled, cut into strips, then boiled until fully cooked in slightly salted water. The meat is also cut into thin strips and fried in vegetable oil along with chopped onions. At the final stage of cooking the meat, add soy sauce to the pan, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes, then cool. Chop the vegetables into strips, squeeze the garlic, mix all the ingredients. Salad is seasoned with soy sauce and sprinkled with herbs before serving.
Potato salad with chicken liver
It will be required:
- Potato - 3 things.
- Chicken liver - 200 g.
- Onion - 1 piece.
- Vegetable oil (preferably olive) for dressing.
- Greens, salt and spices are at your discretion.
Boil the potatoes in their skins, let it cool, peel and cut into small cubes. Rinse the liver thoroughly and cook over medium heat for about half an hour. Rub the finished liver on a coarse grater or grind in a blender. Combine everything together, add finely chopped green onions, salt, pepper and season with vegetable oil.
Features of the preparation and replacement of ingredients
A real American potato salad should never look like a homogeneous mass. Slices cut immediately after boiling and cooling the tubers will necessarily stick together. From this, the potatoes will look like mashed potatoes. To prevent this from happening, it is better to boil the ingredients in the evening, cool and put in the refrigerator for the night. Chilled potatoes are easily cut, it does not have that stickiness, so beautiful pieces in the form of cubes will be noticeable in the salad, as required by the recipe.
Although in the classic version, potatoes should be just cooked and even still warm. It is believed that in this form it better absorbs vinegar and salt.
Potatoes can be used young, then it is not necessary to peel it. But last year is better. It is harder, more resilient and does not boil so fast.
You can start eating immediately after cooking or wait 40 minutes until the salad is well soaked in the sauce. But it is no less tasty the next day. It is stored in the refrigerator under a lid for up to two days.
For the first time, it might seem that a glass of mayonnaise is too much to make an American-style potato salad from a given amount of food. The recipe implies that the ingredients literally float in the sauce. Therefore, if there is no desire to swallow so many calories contained in mayonnaise, you can take it less. And you can even season the salad with natural yogurt or sour cream - this is a matter of taste. Low-calorie diet option - mustard, vinegar and olive oil sauce.
How to cook an American potato salad if it is difficult to find petiole celery in the cold season? In it, you can chop the stems of the plant or add seeds. If you do not like white onions, then it can be safely replaced with red or young green. Mustard for salad must be chosen sweet, but when this is not possible, then spicy, but in less quantity, will do. A special spicy taste gives the French.
If you don’t have apple cider vinegar at your fingertips, then you can take white wine vinegar or even pickled pickles instead.
There are countless modifications of potato salad. It contains canned tuna, garlic, seafood, boiled beef, pork and chicken, mushrooms, fresh vegetables and other ingredients. You can add parsley, dill or your favorite greens to your salad if you wish. It all depends on the imagination and ability to combine the ingredients of a particular cook. The main thing is not to be afraid to experiment and discover new combinations of taste. Bon appetit, or, as the Americans prefer to say in French, bon bon appetit!