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Potato Salad
(MISS COHEN.) INGREDIENTS. 3 cups of cold boiled potatoes, cut in cubes.
1 cup of pecan nuts, broken in pieces. 5 tablespoonfuls of oil.
1 tablespoonful of salt. 3 cups of cold boiled pota- 1/2 a teaspoonful of onion juice.
A dash of cayenne. 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of vin egar.
A pecan-and-potato salad in the plain oil-and-vinegar style that preceded the mayonnaise-bound versions most cooks now expect. The quantities are given but the method is left to the cook, which was normal for salad entries of this period.
- The salt is out of proportionA full tablespoon of salt to three cups of potato is far more than the dish will carry; a teaspoon is nearer the mark for this volume. Salt in stages and taste as you go.
- Dress the potatoes warmCold boiled potatoes are specified, but oil and vinegar are absorbed far better while the cubes still hold some heat. Toss with the oil and vinegar first, then fold in the nuts so they stay crisp.
- Choose a waxy potatoCubes need to survive tossing. Red-skinned or Yukon Gold hold their shape; a floury baking potato will collapse into paste.
- Onion juiceThis was commonly got by grating an onion and pressing the pulp through cloth. Finely grated onion, or a little onion pressed with the flat of a knife, substitutes directly.
- Oil and vinegar balanceFive tablespoons oil to two or three of vinegar is a sharper ratio than the modern three-to-one. Start with two tablespoons of vinegar and add the third only after tasting, since potato dulls acidity.
- PecansToast them dry in a skillet or a moderate (350F) oven for a few minutes before breaking them up. Untoasted, they soften faster once they sit in the dressing.
- Yield and timingServes four to six as a side. It is best within a couple of hours of dressing; overnight the nuts soften and the onion becomes assertive.
Potato salad is generally said to have reached American cookbooks through German and Austrian immigrant kitchens, where the dressing was oil and vinegar rather than mayonnaise, and where the potatoes were often dressed warm. This version, credited to a Miss Cohen in the manner of the period's contributed recipes, adds pecans, a distinctly Southern and American touch that appears in other salads of the period. A salad was largely defined by what dressed it, and the vinaigrette here is the point of the dish.