When it comes to "original German Potato Salad," I have to admit there is no such thing! - shock!?
There are so many family recipes, and every family claims to be "the original". Truth is, German potato salads are always different, and all of them taste great. I will put some of the ones that i collect from my family up here, so that you can enjoy the different kinds of salads all by yourself. The recipes are also different from what german region the salad comes. Given that Germany is only as big as California, it is pretty impressive how many different recipes they have developed over the last couple hundred years.
Today I start with one from Martins Grandma. But first i have to explain a very interesting way to prepare Potatoes it is called "Pellkartoffel" (peeled potatoes). It is a very common way in germany. You have Pellkartoffeln as a own dish. Prepare the Potates the way i describe and just ad some dips to them and you have a meal. If you like just send us a mail
Contact@myGermanCandy.com and let us know if we give some recipes for those dips as well.
Ok, back to the Pellkartoffeln:
- Best for Pellkartoffeln (as always, of course), use as equal in size as possible potatoes so all potatoes cook evenly.
- Clean the potatoes with a vegetable brush thoroughly under running water. Rinse & remove any soil residues.
- You now just boil the potatoes with their skin. Put the potatoes in a saucepan, add cold water until the potatoes are barely covered. Give the water a hint of salt. Boil potatoes for about 20-30 minutes. Make the test if the Potatoes are done: You prick one potato with a sharp knife. The potatoes are done when they slide like butter off the knife. When ready cooked, drain the potatoes.
- While the potatoes are still warm (not hot): grip the potatoes with a special potato fork (yeah, we have such a thing in good old Germany 🙂 ), but a conventional fork or your fingers will work too. Pull off the skin with a small kitchen knife.
Ok, that's it, we are done now with the Pellkartoffeln. Now, here is the shopping list (it should fit 6 portions; make it 4 if Martin is one of them):
| 2000 g (4.4 pound) | potatoes |
| 150 g (5.29 oz) | onions |
| 500 ml (2⅛ Cups) | vegetable broth, cooked yourself or you know - but buy a good one without MSG! |
| 3 tablespoons | vinegar, mild (or just 3 tablespoons vinegar that comes within the jar of gherkins) |
| 2 tablespoons | Löwensenf Hot Mustard (opens in new tab) |
| 1 tablespoon | Salt & Pepper & Sugar |
| 250 g (8.82 Oz) | mayonnaise |
| 5 | Eggs, medium hard-boiled - not too runny, but definitely runny. |
| 4 | Medium-sized gherkins (Cornichons) |
| For the garnish : | |
| - Parsley | |
| - 1 Egg | |
| - 2 Cherry Tomatoes and 1 Gherkin |
It is best if you cook the potatoes the day before, peel them as mentioned before, but don´t cut them. After peeling, just covered it with a clean cloth on a dark and cold site.
- You can start to prepare the "mise en place" ( a braggart word for "have everything ready before you start" and is used in professional kitchens - of course it is not german its french 🙂 ). That means dice all the boiled eggs, the gherkins ( we really recommend original German gherkins; if you don't have those, try more sweet gherkins like butter or sandwich gherkins instead of sour American ones ) i recommend to cut the ingredient in little cubes - all the same size, of course. The onions should be very finely chopped - we Germans love raw onions - most Americans like that not to be as big as we do.
- For the garnish, you will cut the tomatoes into quarters, and just slice the Gherkin thin, and the parsley into small bits. After we are done with the preparation of the ingredients, we can come back to the Pellkartoffeln.
- Cut the potatoes into very thin slices (just about 0.2 in) and mix them with the chopped onions.
The broth goes along with the vinegar, the Löwensenf hot mustard, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small saucepan; boil it for 2 minutes until it is one consistent sauce. Taste it - it should not be too sour. If it is too sour, you can always add a tablespoon of water.
- Allow to cool slightly and then pour it all over the potatoes. Now let it all soak in well; after a few minutes add the eggs and gherkins. Wait another minute and let it rest again to soak all the flavors in, before you carefully fold in the mayonnaise.
** The mayonnaise is very important! So do yourself - or buy the best.
- Garnish with the egg, tomatoes, gherkins and parsley as you like it.
You can always store it in the fridge or serve it right away! Enjoy, and we would love to hear how you like our recipe!
PS: As I said before, there are literally millions of recipes based on this particular receipt you can add the following into the mix:
- 1 red / 1 yellow Paprika diced into cubes
- pan-fried Bacon, Turkey or Ham
- instead of gherkins, you can use Cucumber
- Tomatoes (cubes, but do not add the watery part of the tomatoes)
- or whatever you can think of; it is a very good base
Die leckeren Bilder lassen mich gleich in die Küche rennen, um einen Kartoffelsalat zu machen. Kommen aber von lassen mich gleich in die Küche rennen, um einen Kartoffelsalat zu machen. Kommen aber von congerdesign@pixabay und iffany@pixabay