POTATO SALAD FOR 40?

I think a lot of people have their own special recipe for potato salad. Mine is very simple but always requested for Easter. So I must be doing something right, right?

I bought this bowl today. It’s the biggest bowl I could find, in fact the biggest bowl we’ve ever owned.



The salad weighs 15 pounds and by volume is about 8 quarts (7.7 liters) or two gallons. It feeds a LOT of people.

Here’s the recipe if you need to feed a hoard…

Stuff:
24 medium potatoes (that’s 10 pounds or 4.5 kilos)
12 eggs
1 24-ounce (680 gram) jar of small sweet pickles chopped to small cubes
12 ounces (340 grams) of sliced black olives
1 jar of mayonnaise (4 cups or about 1 liter)
Mustard
Dill pickle juice
Red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Salt

In large cook pot (or two) cover potatoes in water and add a dash of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes or until a fork easily slides into a potato. Drain and set aside.

In another pot cover eggs in water and add a dash of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Peel and chop.

In a large bowl add mayo, mustard, pickle juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, seasoned salt and garlic salt to taste. The mixture should have the consistency of thick gravy, be very salty, light yellow in color and the taste of the mayo should be all but masked. Add eggs, olives and pickles to the sauce and stir well.

When the potatoes are cool enough that they can be handled easily but are still warm to the touch, peel them by hand (no knife or peeler needed) and then cut into bite-sized cubes. Since peeling is messy I recommend peeling them all first and then cubing. Put in giant, stainless steel bowl you just bought from Target.

Slowly pour sauce/egg/olive/pickle mixture over the top of the potatoes.

Toss carefully so as not to mash the potatoes.

Best if chilled overnight.

Enjoy!

SLC

Comments

  1. Unknown4/4/10 03:12

    I love potato salad! I will give this a try. I always thought that you just have to pour mayonnaise over the boiled potatoes :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. CiCi4/4/10 03:27

    Dang, now you helped me decide. I have a small ham for hubby and me (which will leave lots of leftovers) so I will make potato salad this morning. I have black olives so we're in business. Thanks for the recipe.
    Regarding your short stories, I can see my grandkids liking these stories. I think teens and young adults are the market for the short stories in this particular book. I liked reading each story because each one is just the right length, each is different from each other, delightful in their own way. Have you donated your books to your library?

    ReplyDelete
  3. f8hasit4/4/10 06:47

    When I get back home I'm gonna try your recipe! It sounds fantastic.
    Happy Easter!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Casey Freeland4/4/10 13:25

    Hey Shadow. Just pour mayo over potatoes. Ewe. Let me know if you do try this recipe. Thanks.

    TB. Awesome on the Potato Salad. I've never heard that about my stories, except I do have a niece who is a teacher of YA's and reads the stories from my book to them. So there you go.

    F8H - I'm excited you want to try my recipe. Let me know how it turns out. :) Happy Easter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown5/4/10 19:30

    I did try the recipe. It was fabulous :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5/4/10 19:35

    Wow, Shadow, thanks! My salad is now officially international!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Casey Freeland5/4/10 19:36

    Who the heck is Mooky Mooky!?!?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Joanna Jenkins7/4/10 21:51

    Black olives?!?! That's a nice addition.

    This recipe gave me a huge flashback-- to my late father who always made potato salad in a gigantic bowl to. Thanks, it's a wonderful reminder.

    On a separate note-- Sorry about getting drenched.

    jj

    ReplyDelete
  9. Casey Freeland7/4/10 22:59

    It's amazing what some folks put in their potato salad. I've heard onions a lot. Celery of course. How about, gulp, tuna? Cabbage? Carrots? Also, the potatoes should be red, russet, sweet? Peel on or off. Giant chunks or little perfect squares.

    Crazy stuff we put in our concoctions.

    Oh, and the getting drenched was more funny than anything. Just a little joke on myself. :)

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  10. Malady15/4/10 14:41

    Excellent! Tell me, can this be frozen? I'm into the idea of leftovers for a year.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Casey Freeland15/4/10 19:36

    No one has ever asked me that. I'm going to guess no. Just make 1/4 the recipe. :)

    ReplyDelete

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