German Potato Salad

By LaLaCooks

Its easy to understand why Americans claimed this lively German classic as our own. With strong flavors like mustard and vinegar, the trick is getting the balance just right. Heres what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

Mild, waxy red potatoes are the best choice here, as they hold their shape after being boiled. We cut them into thin slices before cooking.
We add vinegar to the potato cooking water. In addition to seasoning the potatoes, the vinegar slows down the dissolving of pectinthe glue that holds the cells in vegetables togetherin hot water, letting the potato slices stay firmer longer and making it hard to overcook them.
To ramp up the flavor even more, we developed a quick, 20-minute homemade pickle. We sliced and marinated a cucumber in a mixture of vinegar, sugar, salt, and dried dill. The tang, crunch, and vibrancy of the pickle beautifully offsets the tender potato slices.
For the base of the dressing, we started with bacon and lots of iteight slices. After we reserved a bit of the rendered bacon fat, we added olive oil to cut the fats heaviness before sautg onions until softened and lightly browned.
We added the tangy cucumber marinade to the onion/olive oil/bacon fat mixture for the dressings acid component, and added whole-grain mustard to achieve the salads characteristic sweet-sour flavor.
Fold in the chopped, reserved bacon and dress the potatoes and while they are still warm. The warm potatoes will easily absorb the acidic liquid and bacon flavor and will taste seasoned through to the middle.

Quick Pickle

A quick homemade pickle brightens our German Potato Salad. We added sugar, vinegar, dill, and salt to cucumbers, waited 20 minutes, then used both pickle and juice to finish our salad.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cucumber, peeled, quartered, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 cupwhite vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoondried dill
• Salt and pepper
• 3 poundssmall red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 8 slicesbacon, chopped (see note)
• 1 onion, minced
• 1/4 cupolive oil
• 1/4 cupcoarse-grain mustard (see note)
• 1/4 cupchopped fresh parsley

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

1. PREP CUCUMBER Stir sugar, cucumber, cup vinegar, dill, and teaspoon salt together in bowl; set aside while preparing potatoes.

2. COOK POTATOES Bring potatoes, remaining vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and 8 cups water to boil in large pot. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are just tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to pot.

3. MAKE DRESSING Meanwhile, fry bacon in large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until brown and crisp, 8 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate; pour off and discard all but 2 tablespoons bacon grease. Add onion and oil to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until onion is softened and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Drain cucumbers and reserve juice. Whisk cucumber juice, mustard, and 1 teaspoon pepper into skillet; bring to simmer. Pour dressing over warm potatoes, stir to combine, and let sit until slightly cooled and potatoes have absorbed dressing, about 10 minutes.

4. ASSEMBLE SALAD Stir parsley, drained cucumbers, and bacon into potatoes to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl and serve. (Salad can be refrigerated in airtight container for 1 day. Bring to room temperature before serving.)