Momma's Potato Salad - Step by Step for the Future Generations

My mother's potato salad. It is legendary. I kid you not. Her recipe is well known in our church and there are people that still request I make it.  It is not a complicated one. No fancy ingredients or special equipment. I feel the need to record it, however, because no one else makes it anymore. I am sure one day, one of my kids will be sitting around saying, "You remember when mom used to make that potato salad?" So what is going to follow is a very basic, step by step direction.  There are not a lot of measurements as this is a taste as you go sort of deal. You just have to know what it tastes like to get it right.  Let's begin with the potato:

I use your basic Russet potato.  They work the best for this type of potato salad. It is what my mom used and it is what I use.  Peel them with a good potato peeler and not a knife so that you minimize potato waste.  Get them on your cutting board and cut into chunks like so:

I believe (and you can call me crazy....because I am) that the chunk of the potato is important. You don't want to big or too small.  They need to pretty uniform so they cook at the same rate. You don't want some of them getting done before the others or you will end up with half mashed potato salad! Not cool.

Rinse your potatoes in COLD water, drain, then fill your pot with COLD water and set to boil on the stove. Yes I am emphasizing the COLD part. Sometimes people think they can speed this process up by using hot water but that is wrong. It messes things up. I am not sure why, I am not a professional chef so I don't know all the reasons....I just know that you must, must, must start with cold water.

While the potatoes are boiling, chop one medium size yellow onion and set aside in a bowl until later.

My onion chopper broke so I had to chop this beauty by hand. I was really starting to cry from the onion when I discovered something interesting! I let the cold water run in the sink (conservationists, look away) while I finished chopping the onion and I stopped crying. Running the water seemed to help dispel the "onion effect"

Next, while the potatoes are boiling, put on 8 eggs to boil.  

Now, here is where controversy sets in. You can hard boil your eggs anyway you please. I am going to tell you how I hard boil mine.  I bring the water to a full boil.  No lid.  I set the timer for 12 minutes and let them boil and a full boil for 12 minutes. OH, and YES, I start out with COLD water.  After 12 minutes I turn the stove off and immediately poured out the hot water and then ran cold water over the eggs until they cooled down.

By now, my potatoes were done. Drain the potatoes in a colander in the sink. Put the chopped onions in the bottom of the large bowl the potato salad is being made in first. I like to start with my onions on the bottom first.

Next, add the steaming hot potatoes.

Now, this is where everything gets a little tricky.  There are no exact measurements. It's time to travel back. Remember the days of sitting around the table at Thanksgiving or Easter or even Christmas when Mom made this and remember what it tasted like.  That will guide you through these next steps.  Open the refrigerator and take out the following:

Yes, it has to be Duke's mayo.  Nothing else will do.  Do not even consider anything else.

Yes, it has to be Sauer's Mustard. Nothing else will do. It is wonderful. No, neither Duke's or Sauer's paid to put this here. They don't even know about it.

Now, for the sweet relish....I am not picky about.  Generic brand, or whatever, it makes no never mind. Shocking, huh?

Add a couple of heavy spoonfuls of mayo to the potatoes.

Next add a couple of heavy spoonfuls of mustard to the potatoes.

Next add a spoonful of the sweet pickle relish.

Start stirring the potato, mayo, mustard, relish and onion together.  Don't forget to stir up from the bottom to pull the onion up.  Don't mash. You don't wan't mashed potato salad. STIR gently but firmly.

If it looks like this, it is telling you it needs more mayo or mustard or relish. So give it some more.

Start with a little mayo and then TASTE it.

Mine needed a little more mustard....but something was still missing....

It needed more punch from relish so I added more. Be careful adding relish as it has a lot of liquid. And now that I have it right, it was time to peel the eggs and add them in!

No fancy chopping method here either. I chopped them right over the bowl and let them fall on top.

Stir them gently in and you are done. Most people refrigerate before eating. I like it warm and cold!

Ta-da! The finished salad.  You know it is right when you close your eyes and see Momma's smile when you taste it. I know I can. I hope at least one of my daughter's learns how to make this. Or maybe Nick will surprise me and he will. I miss you Momma. I love you. 

Chicken Salad Adventure

No one, and I repeat, no one can make chicken salad like Ms. Stella out at our church. People have been known to volunteer for events just because they know she is making it!  I do not even pretend to think that I could replicate it but I have decided its time to create my own recipe. My mother had her own version. I was not a real big fan as it was heavily laden with Miracle Whip. That stuff makes me shudder. I guess it has its place....just not in my household. A very nice lady at our church named Linda made a chicken salad recipe that had dried cranberries in it that my daughter and I loved. I used that as the basis of inspiration for my first attempt at our salad.

The ingredients I used were as follows:

• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 chicken breasts, boiled, shredded and cut up
• 1 4 ounce bag of dried cranberries for salad
• Duke's Mayonnaise
• 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper
• dried dill

I found bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts on sale at Kroger. I boiled these and carefully removed the bones. This is a great opportunity to save the chicken stock for later. (I'm going to freeze mine in ice-cube trays!)  Just be very careful to get the bones out of the chicken.  Set the chicken aside to cool while you dice your celery and onions small.  Even my picky oldest daughter will eat this.  She loves chicken salad! She usually does not eat anything with vegetables but as long as the celery and onion are small, she eats!

After dicing the celery and onion, I shredded then cut up my chicken.  I like to shred the chicken with my hands. This way I can feel for any bones I may have missed the first time. After shredding and chopping the chicken, I mix in my celery and onion. I am still using my hands at this point.  I did not use all of the celery and onion.  It is a matter of taste at this point. As I mixed it in, I watched the ratio as I added it.  I really did not want the celery or onion to out-gun my chicken.

After washing my hands I decided it was time to switch to a spoon.  Here is where the measuring goes out the window! Once again it comes down to a matter of taste.  I cut my lemon in half and only squeezed half into my chicken/celery/onion mixture.  I tossed in the bag of dried cranberries and stirred.  Next I added the first of what was to be three large tablespoons of Duke's Mayonnaise.  I kept stirring.  Added salt, pepper and approximately 1/2 teaspoon of dill weed.  I stopped. I tasted. I added more mayo.  More salt. More stirring.  This is where you just have to go with your gut....or more with your taste buds.  I did not want soupy chicken salad.  I did not want salty chicken salad.  I knew if I accidentally added to much dill weed my kids would not eat it.  It was a ballet of chicken salad in the kitchen.  Eventually I stopped adding things and called in the BIG GUNS.  My seventeen year old son has no problems telling me like it is when it comes to my cooking.  He came in.  He took a bite, nudged me out of the way, grabbed the bread and made himself a sandwich.

Later he came into my office and declared it was good.  He thanked me for dinner and asked me to make it again.  He said it needed a little something more.  "Mayonnaise?" I asked.  "No." he said.  "More crunch?" I said. "No, but maybe more of the dill weed next time." Hmm...I was surprised.   Stay tuned for the next chicken salad adventure...

Sausage Gravy over biscuits

Yep....you read it right. I flew right off the handle and straight into the loving land of Comfort Food. I guess I am stressing about a few things and just needed the comfort of my mother's cooking. Sausage gravy was something my mother made frequently. Sometimes she even made it with plain old hamburger. It depended only on what was on sale or how much money she had for groceries that week.

Sausage gravy:

(2) rolls of mild sausage gravy (the kind you slice into patties)
Fresh ground black pepper
Almost room temperature whole milk (if you are going to cheat, do it right!)
Flour


Instead of cutting the sausage into patties, I just squeezed the tubes out into a large, deep pan and crumbled and fried it until nice and done and lightly brown. Liberally pepper the sausage as you fry it. When it is done move it out of the pan to a plate.  The remaining drippings left in the pan - you decide how much you want to use.  I did not drain any of it as I wanted all the flavor. I added approximately 1/2 cup of flour into the drippings and stirred well to make a light brown roux.  Slowly stir in the milk.  I used almost 2/3rd's of the gallon of whole milk. I keep it over medium heat and keep stirring until it starts to thicken up. At this point I add my cooked sausage back into the pan.

As I am standing in my kitchen and stirring I start to get rather melancholy.  I realize as I stand here by myself that my children won't really know how to make these recipes that are so dear to my heart.  They won't know what it is like to stand in the kitchen with my mother and learn the old ways. Sometimes I think this blog will end up being the only way they will ever know how to make the comfort food that I used to make for them after I am gone.  But then in walks a hungry teenager asking if dinner is almost ready and I snap out of my sorrowful state and get back to the business at hand!

The gravy thickens up nicely and I call everyone to the table.  Nothing like breakfast for dinner! We pour our sweet, milky comforting sausage gravy over flaky biscuits and enjoy.

 I love sit-down dinners with my husband and my kids.  I hope some day they do the same thing with their families, whether they have children or not.  Dinner should be eaten together, at the table, thanks given to God and laughs and stories of the day shared.  Reminds me of the words that I try very hard to live by:  In ALL things give thanks.  Thank you Jesus for my family and my life.

Deviled Eggs

Time to devil some eggs! The only mayo I will use is Duke's.  That is a no-compromise situation for me.  I also love Sauer's mustard.  It tastes yummy.

This is the way my momma always made them.  No measuring, just taste and instinct.  After boiling the eggs and slicing them lengthwise to make little egg bowls, put the yolk in a bowl.  First one scoop of mayo, one of mustard then a healthy one of sweet pickle relish.  Stir. Taste.  If it what you like, stuff the cups and try not to eat them all while you are doing it.

Some people sprinkle paprika on top.  I don't. My mom didn't so I don't either. 

I hope all your thanksgiving endeavors are going well.  There is much to be thankful for.