Great Plain Potato Salad...

Many, many years ago (for me anyway) my sister-in-law, Char, used to bring her famous Potato Salad to all the Chaffee family gatherings. People would get downright testy if she had the audacity to bring anything different. It was just the best! Plain, old-fashioned Potato Salad. Nothing adulterated, no weird ingredients, just pure picnic salad fare. I tried for a long time to copy it and always failed. I would get too complicated, try to add too much odd stuff. It never measured up.

Finally I begged her to share her recipe. She smiled her sweet, gentle smile and said, kind of embarrassed, "Betty Crocker Cookbook"! I couldn't buy that! I went home, got out my old Betty Crocker Cookbook, made the salad, and there it was! The key to it was always the simplicity of...well...simplicity!

So here is my interpretation, the same salad but measured to use an easy 5# bag of potatoes. This recipe makes a nicely large amount, perfect for taking to a family gathering, but not so much that a normal family wouldn't finish it up within the week. Really great!

I like to cube my potatoes before cooking them. They only take about 10 minutes to cook through.     They cook evenly so you don't have over-cooked outsides that mush all up,                                              and they cool very quickly so they can go right in the salad.

The leaves will be saved and thrown in a bag in the freezer to go in soup stock later.

For this salad I like to chop the onions till they're almost liquid-y,                                                                so you get all the flavor but no actual pieces.

Dressing all mixed together.

It works well to mix the potatoes, eggs and veggies by hand.

Stir in the dressing.

A sprinkling of good Hungarian Paprika, and done! Ooh. I wish I had some right now!

Great Plain Potato Salad

5# bag of Yukon Gold or red potatoes, cubed, cooked, cooled in cold water and drained

1 dozen fresh eggs, boiled, peeled and chopped

6-8 stalks of celery, thinly sliced

1 large or 2-3 smaller to medium onions, very finely chopped

1 jar (32 oz.) mayonnaise

3 Tbs. white vinegar

3 Tbs. prepared yellow mustard

3 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. pepper

Chop the potatoes and cook until tender, around 15 minutes. Cool with cold water and drain.

Boil eggs for 12 minutes and then cover with cold water. Peel and chop coarsely.

Place the eggs, celery, onion and potatoes in a large bowl.

Combine all the dressing ingredients and toss all together.

Sprinkle top with Paprika.