Hot Potato Salad

If this is your first time to our blog, we are more than just recipes! Each of the recipes on our blog is a recreation from a cookbook published in 1951 in Santa Maria, California. We are not only recreating these recipes, but we are also revisiting the lives of each contributor and sharing their bios with you. You can read more about this project on our About page.

One thing that I've come to love about this project is that some humanity is brought back to the individuals whose lives I've researched. I think it's very easy to think of our grandparents, and at times even our parents, somewhat abstractly through the lens of history. The details of who they were are often lost, yet each individual has their own story and has lived their life with every happiness and tragedy that we do. None so far has been more humanizing to me than the story of Kathleen Dart. From a start that was filled with violence and tragedy to building her own family and living a long life in spite of the odds, it's easy to find inspiration in her story and a connection with her through her food.

I can easily imagine this recipe for hot potato salad being a part of Dart family summers. Kathleen noted in her recipe that it was "excellent for barbeques," and it really is. Eating this potato salad makes you think of hot dogs from the grill and running through the sprinklers on a hot summer day. The acidity from the vinegar compliments the classic bacon flavor and adds a nice tang, while the diced onions provide a perfect crunch to contrast the soft potatoes. This is a great recipe to bring to your next summer cookout and one to really just have on a summer rotation.

I did make a couple of changes to this recipe. The original recipe calls for a whole medium onion, which I reduced to half. I'm not a super big fan of raw onion in general, but a whole onion would have been way too much. Kathleen also noted to use a 1/2 cup of vinegar, which made the flavor very intense. Reducing this to around a 1/4 cup is sufficient and allows the bacon to shine through a little more.

You can find the recipe below. Let us know what you think...

Hot Potato Salad

Servings: 4-6 portions

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Total Time: 50 min

Ingredients:

• 4 cups boiled potatoes, diced

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1/2 tsp minced parsley

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 6 slices of bacon, fried crisp and minced

• 1/2 cup bacon drippings

• 1/4 cup vinegar

• 1/2 medium onion diced

• 1/2 tsp mustard

Instructions:

1. Dice potatoes and boil until tender. Sprinkle with sugar, salt, pepper, and parsley.

2. Cook bacon until crisp. Add to potatoes.

3. Add vinegar to bacon drippings and deglaze pan.

4. Add the vinegar mixture to the potatoes along with the onion and mustard.

5. Carefully toss all ingredients.

6. Place on stove and allow to warm thoroughly over low heat.

7. Serve hot.

Notes:

1. Kathleen's original recipe called for a full diced medium onion. I used half an onion, and this was more than enough.

2. The original recipe also calls for 1/2 cup of vinegar. This was very strong, but tolerable after a couple of bites. A 1/4 cup would be more reasonable, which is what I've noted in the ingredients.

3. Though intended to be served hot, this works well as a cold potato salad also.