My father’s family loves hard boiled eggs. They fold them into their salads, brush them into their offal sauce, and whip them into deviled eggs, dishes all of which were served at family gatherings in Oak Cliff when I was young
I can handle hard boiled eggs now, but I don’t eat them nearly as often as my family. In fact, it seems I only have them on hand in the spring after Easter. If they’re offered to me, I don’t usually turn them down. But they’re not something I take an active role in maintaining.
When I was writing my second cookbook, I thought about adding a potato salad that my great-grandmother and grandmother made. Yes, there were hard boiled eggs. However, the combination of potatoes and eggs did not appeal to me at the time, and I decided not to share the recipe at the time.
A few years later, however, I shared an old-school Texas potato salad with nasturtium that called for hard-boiled eggs. While I was still hesitant to use them in my salads, for historical accuracy I followed the recipe as written and kept the eggs.
Over the years this side has become a favorite, and while the colorful flowers overdo it, the base salad with eggs and all is a solid representation of form.
When I found some hard-boiled eggs on hand the other day, I was torn on how to use them. I considered making deviled eggs, but I planned on cooking a brisket and wanted to serve it with potato salad. Since I couldn’t find any nasturtiums, I decided to revisit my family’s egg version.
The original family recipe called for potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, onions, pickle juice, and a dressing with Durkee’s dressing. The latter, in case you’re not familiar with it, is essentially a mix of mayonnaise and mustard.
While I followed the original ingredient list almost exactly, Durkee’s is a challenge, so I tweaked the dressing a bit. For the color, I swapped the white onion for a red one. Lastly, I swapped out some pickled jalapeños for some of the dill pickles for more kick, although that’s still great without that change.
There are few ingredients in this potato salad, but the dressing’s balanced spiciness with the abundance of light cucumbers and crunchy onions make the salad appear more complex than it is.
It comes together quickly. And after taking my first spicy, creamy, chunky bite, I was back with my great-grandmother, eating a plateful of food, listening to my family laugh and tell stories as we enjoyed our dinner at a house across from Kiest Park.
Oak Cliff style potato salad
portions 8th
For the salad:
- 3 Pound Fried potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 Cup chopped dill pickles
For the dressing:
- 1/2 Cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon pickle juice
- 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon Ketchup
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
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Peel the potatoes, then cut them into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with the salt, cover with cold water, bring to a boil on high, then turn the heat down to medium and cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse and turn off the heat.
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Place the potatoes in a mixing bowl. Taste and salt as needed. Add the egg, red onion and dill pickles to the potatoes. Stir until well combined with the potatoes.
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To make the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard, ketchup, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, celery salt, and turmeric.
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Add the dressing to the potatoes and mix evenly. Experiment and make adjustments as desired. Chill before serving.
If you want to add some fire to this salad, substitute pickled jalapeños for some of the dill pickles