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German Potato Salad No. 2
10 medium sized potatoes 1 onion 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 egg yolk 2 tablespoons olive oil 5 tablespoons vinegar Chopped parsley 3/4 cup boiling water Boil and peel the potatoes and slice them while still hot. Spread over the potatoes the onion, sliced fine, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a bowl mix the yolk of egg, the oil and vinegar, and pour it over the potatoes; pour over all boiling water. This is in order that the salad will not have the common fault of being too dry. Add parsley. After thoroughly mixing, cover the salad, and let it stand for a few hours.
A southern-German style potato salad dressed with oil and vinegar rather than mayonnaise. The hinge is the boiling water: potatoes sliced hot drink up the thinned dressing, and skipping that step gives the dry, dull salad the recipe is written against.
- PotatoesTen medium potatoes is roughly 3 to 3 1/2 lb, serving eight to ten. Use a waxy or all-purpose variety; floury bakers will collapse into mash once they are sliced hot and stirred.
- Slice them hotPeel and slice as soon as they can be handled. Warm starch absorbs the vinegar and water; cold potatoes shed the dressing and the salad stays bland however long it stands.
- The raw egg yolkThe yolk is only lightly warmed by the boiling water, not cooked. Use a pasteurized egg, or leave the yolk out and simply increase the oil slightly, if the salad is for children, the elderly or anyone pregnant.
- Vinegar strengthFive tablespoons is assertive by modern habit, and the recipe does not say what kind of vinegar. Strength varied in household vinegars, so start with three tablespoons, taste after the salad has rested, and add the rest if it needs sharpening.
- OnionOne onion sliced fine over hot potatoes will soften and mellow as the salad stands. A yellow or mild white onion suits it; red onion bleeds colour into the dressing.
- Standing timeThe recipe says only to cover it and let it stand a few hours. Refrigerating is the safer modern course; take it out about thirty minutes before serving, since cold flattens vinegar and oil alike.
- Taken outdoorsAn egg-yolk dressing left in the sun is not a good bet. Carry it chilled, keep it in the cooler, and return leftovers promptly rather than leaving the bowl out through an afternoon.
German potato salad is often described as dividing along a rough north-south line: the northern version bound with mayonnaise, the southern - Swabian and Bavarian - dressed with vinegar, oil and a hot liquid, often broth, poured over warm sliced potatoes. This recipe belongs to the southern type, with boiling water standing in for the stock and a single egg yolk lending body without turning the whole thing into mayonnaise. American cookbooks of the early twentieth century took up the dish through German immigrant kitchens, and the 'No. 2' in the title suggests this book carried more than one version. It wants to be made ahead and is eaten at room temperature rather than hot.