This potato salad recipe comes from a gentleman in New Orleans who has made this for groups of 10 to 200, using these basic ratios and options. This is one of the best potato salad guides I've come across. I had seen it before and picked it up from a different newspaper a while back, but it was recently in the "Exchange Alley" recipe section of the New Orleans Times Picayne in this format, so I'd thought I'd share it with you. -Keri
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> LAST WORD ON POTATO SALAD: B.L. of New Orleans sends a definitive ratio, not a recipe, for potato salad.
"I can tell you that there is not a single recipe that suits everyone," he writes. "So here is a rule of thumb, and then add the other ingredients based on your guest's likes and dislikes. Some people hate sweet pickle or anything with sweet pickle in it. You have the dillheads vs. the sweetheads!
"Next is mayonnaise . . . people either love it or hate it, and the same can be said for raw onions or scallions. So here is the basic recipe.
"POTATO SALAD RATIO: Use medium-size potatoes (half the size of a man's fist), with a ratio of two potatoes to one egg. This allows you to size up the amount of potato salad you want to make." (B.L. prefers eggs hard-cooked for five minutes so the centers are "just a little squishy in the middle, which brings out more taste and means less mayonnaise.")
For eight potatoes and four eggs, mix together and add 3 stalks peeled, chopped celery, and 3 level tablespoons of mayonnaise. "Be aware that there is a ratio of potato to egg to celery to mayo. This is your foundation."
Option 1: Add 3 pickles, dill, sweet or both.
Option 2: Add 1 cup onion: Texas sweets, scallions, white or yellow onions, or a combination.
Option 3: Add 1 tablespoon brown mustard with 1 teaspoon liquid crab boil, plus 1 teaspoon hot sauce.
Option 4: Add 1 cup freshly fried, hot and crumbled bacon.
Option 5: Add 1 cup hot corn cut off a freshly boiled cob, or cut raw corn off the cob and fry in butter.
"Look over the options and use any or all that you want. I use everything listed and it is top-shelf potato salad," he writes.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> LAST WORD ON POTATO SALAD: B.L. of New Orleans sends a definitive ratio, not a recipe, for potato salad.
"I can tell you that there is not a single recipe that suits everyone," he writes. "So here is a rule of thumb, and then add the other ingredients based on your guest's likes and dislikes. Some people hate sweet pickle or anything with sweet pickle in it. You have the dillheads vs. the sweetheads!
"Next is mayonnaise . . . people either love it or hate it, and the same can be said for raw onions or scallions. So here is the basic recipe.
"POTATO SALAD RATIO: Use medium-size potatoes (half the size of a man's fist), with a ratio of two potatoes to one egg. This allows you to size up the amount of potato salad you want to make." (B.L. prefers eggs hard-cooked for five minutes so the centers are "just a little squishy in the middle, which brings out more taste and means less mayonnaise.")
For eight potatoes and four eggs, mix together and add 3 stalks peeled, chopped celery, and 3 level tablespoons of mayonnaise. "Be aware that there is a ratio of potato to egg to celery to mayo. This is your foundation."
Option 1: Add 3 pickles, dill, sweet or both.
Option 2: Add 1 cup onion: Texas sweets, scallions, white or yellow onions, or a combination.
Option 3: Add 1 tablespoon brown mustard with 1 teaspoon liquid crab boil, plus 1 teaspoon hot sauce.
Option 4: Add 1 cup freshly fried, hot and crumbled bacon.
Option 5: Add 1 cup hot corn cut off a freshly boiled cob, or cut raw corn off the cob and fry in butter.
"Look over the options and use any or all that you want. I use everything listed and it is top-shelf potato salad," he writes.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>