Recipe Time: Nancy Tanner’s Potato Salad

Nancy Tanner makes the best potato salad in the world.  It is not so much the ingredients, which are pretty standard for potato salad.  Nothing exotic is added.  It is simply potato salad done right.

Here’s what you need:

7 good-sized redskin potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch pieces

4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 bunch spring onions

6 ribs celery, chopped

5-6 T Hellmann’s mayonnaise

2t Grey Poupon dijon mustard

celery seed

dill

salt and pepper

See?  Nothing fancy.  Here’s the key: bring a pot full of water to a boil.  Add the potatoes.  Cook for 10 minutes and test by tasting.  They are probably done — cooked though, with no raw taste — but still firm, right on the edge of starting to get soft but not quite there yet.  It may take another minute or two of cooking, but overcooking the potatoes is the great sin.

Drain the potatoes and run cold water over them to stop the cooking.  Place the potatoes in a large bowl and add the celery and eggs.  Add the mayonnaise, mustard, celery seed and dill.  Season well with salt and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.  Note with pride that the potato pieces do not disintegrate, but stay whole and firm.  Serve and look around at the beaming faces.

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