I signed up to bring potato salad for a cooking meetup group. I was weary about this particular dish since it was based on my mother’s recipe. My mother is a wonderful cook, which is somewhat of a disadvantage for me. In the past, I’d tried to get recipes out of her. The most successful had been for her cheesecake.
Next time I’m home, I’ll help Mom make potato salad and jot down notes as we go.
Yet, for this potato salad recipe, she kept hemming and hawing about the details. Mom was ever so flattered to be asked for her culinary expertise, but boasted, by way of apology, that she didn’t measure anything. With much prodding, she’d dribble out a few of the ingredients and their portions. Finally, my sister texted me the “recipe,” as dictated by Mom. The day before I put it together, I hard pressed Mom for some measurements.
Even to my eye, the texture was off although it tasted delicious. Par for the course, any dish I labor and fret over does not get a good reception. Few people bothered to try it. Not even a shy little “taste.” Fortunately for me, I’m used to eating my culinary “near misses,” which is an upgrade to what my cooking disasters used to be: edible poison!
Mom’s Potato Salad
8 Potatoes
6 eggs
10 2/3 oz cubed sweet pickles, drained
Miracle whip, to taste
1 small jar chopped pimentos, drained
1 medium chopped white onion
2 stalks of celery
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Wash the eggs and boil them with the potatoes for 15 minutes. Drain and cool. (If in a hurry, put potatoes in the refrigerator to chill.) Crack the eggs and place into cool water. Peel eggs and mash with a fork. Stir in the potatoes, pickles, miracle whip, pimentos, onions, celery, salt, pepper and sugar.