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German Potato Salad
Boil new potatoes; when cold slice them and mix them well with a dressing made with 1/2 cupful of cream, the yolk of 1 beaten egg, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 saltspoonful of paprika, or a dash of cayenne, 1 tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar. Shred a few pickled gherkins, and boned anchovies. Mix these well with the dressing before adding it to the potatoes.
A cream-and-egg dressing rather than the hot bacon-and-vinegar kind, this is a small, sharply seasoned salad that depends on the potatoes being waxy and the anchovies being good. The measurements are straightforward once the old spoon sizes are translated.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so the paprika here amounts to about 1/8 teaspoon. A dash of cayenne in its place should be genuinely small; cayenne is several times hotter than sweet paprika.
- New potatoesUse waxy potatoes such as fingerling, red-skinned or Charlotte, which hold their shape when sliced cold. Floury baking potatoes will break down into mash as you fold the dressing through. The recipe names no quantity; roughly 1 1/2 lb would suit the dressing as measured.
- Cold, then slicedThe instruction to cool before slicing is the hinge. Warm potatoes will crumble at the knife, and heat is unkind to a cream dressing carrying raw yolk. Boil the potatoes whole, cool completely, then slice.
- The creamCream of this period was unstandardised, but plain 'cream' in such receipts was generally richer than modern light cream and closer to heavy or whipping cream. Use heavy cream, unwhipped; single or light cream will give a dressing too loose to coat the slices.
- Raw yolkThe yolk is never cooked. If serving anyone elderly, pregnant, very young or immune-compromised, use a pasteurised egg. Mix the dressing shortly before serving and keep it refrigerated.
- Boned anchovies'Boned' implies whole cured anchovies, salt- or brine-packed, which must be rinsed, split and boned. Oil-packed fillets from a tin do the same job; four to six, chopped fine, is ample. They carry most of the salt, so add the half teaspoon of salt last and taste first.
- Tarragon vinegarA standard household and commercial vinegar in this period and still available, though you can steep a sprig of fresh tarragon in white wine vinegar for a few hours to approximate it. Plain white vinegar is harsher and will read as merely sour.
- GherkinsShred means cut into thin matchsticks, not grate. Use small sour pickled cucumbers rather than sweet gherkins, which will fight the anchovy and vinegar.
- YieldOn the quantity of potatoes suggested above, enough for about four as a side. Keeping it cold for an hour or two before serving lets the potatoes take up the vinegar and salt.