In my family, potato salad is made from cubes of cooked and chilled potatoes, with a mild creamy sauce made of selected condiments, plus some "flavor pops" that increase the flavor appeal of the potatoes. It's cold and creamy, and just the thing for hot, summer days.



An average potato salad for me begins with simmering 2 medium sized scrubbed potatoes in salted water until a butter knife will slide through the potato with almost no resistance. Don't boil them till mushy please.



Once taken from the heat, the potatoes will continue to cook for a few minutes. They should be boiled or simmered until fully cooked, and still hold the cube shape when diced.



Remove the cooked potatoes from the pot, then chill the potatoes in the refrigerator or in ice cold water.



2 potatoes are more than I can eat in one sitting, but you might be cooking for a family, so double the recipe as needed. I use medium to large red or gold (Yukon Gold) potatoes. I'll use brown potatoes when the red or gold potatoes aren't available. For potato salad it works best to use red or gold potatoes. Those won't fall to pieces after being cooked, unless they've been overcooked. That butter knife test consistently works best.



While the potatoes are cooking, mix up the salad sauce. I use either real mayonnaise made from eggs, or salad dressing. To that add a squirt of yellow sandwich mustard. Then add a couple of tablespoons of either sweet pickle relish or dill relish. This makes the sauce that moisturizes and flavors the potato salad. If you're not a mayo fan, sour cream or plain yogurt can be used in place of mayonnaise.



As to how much of each, different types of potatoes will absorb a bunch of the sauce, and others won't. So it's difficult to gauge ingredient measures when I have no idea what kind of spuds you might be using, but here's what I do:



In a medium sized bowl mix 1/3 cup mayo (appx), up to about 1/2 cup mayo for large potatoes, add a small squirt of yellow mustard and 2 to 3 tablespoons of sweet or dill pickle relish. Mix that up well, dash in some fresh cracked pepper and salt, mix again, cover and chill in the refrigerator. More seasonings can be added to preferences, such as paprika, just a pinch or more. Chopped fresh parsley or a shake of dried dill also works well.



For "flavor pops", I'd add them to the sauce before chilling. Those could be any of the following: approximately 1/4 cup crisped bacon bits, or 1-2 tablespoons of fine chopped celery, or some chopped pimentos, perhaps a tablespoon of fine chopped sweet peppers, or a little fine chopped jalapenos if I want it spicy. No, it isn't necessary to add any of those "flavor pop" ingredients above, they're completely optional.



As an example of options, Mom always added a chopped hard boiled egg or two to her potato salad (not my favorite). Instead, Dad liked about 2 tablespoons of fine chopped fresh onions or green scallion onions in his potato salad, plus about a tablespoon of yellow mustard, which makes it way more tangy. I like just a squirt of it. Potato salad was always different depending upon which of my parents made it.



If you cooked red or gold potatoes, once they're chilled firm, skin them by sliding the back of a butter knife over them, or use a paper towel to wipe off the skins. Rinse them gently. Then cut the skinned potatoes into 1 inch cubes.



Now gently fold in the sauce you mixed up earlier and whichever "flavor pops" that interested you. Fold gently so as not to break up the potato cubes. I find that the salad tastes much better on day two. So I usually make it the day before I plan to serve it, keeping it covered and chilled in the the refrigerator till then.



Some people like a lot of sauce in their potato salad, and others barely put any sauce at all. I like mine somewhere in between. And I usually need to add a little more mayo the day I serve it because the potatoes have absorbed some of the sauce overnight. Like a billion other meal entrees, there's a billion ways to make any one thing. This is simply mine.



Personally, I like a cold potato salad as an accompaniment to fried chicken, BBQ ribs or pork chops, or with roast pork or beef, or as a side to meatloaf. On hot summer days, I like cold potato salad all by itself. What a nice way to cool off!