I’ve been having the darndest time trying to think of a recipe to post. I’ve been trying to do one a week and I let 2 weeks slide by without one mention of food. Me? Not mention food? Cray.

 
We haven’t been camping in what, 12 years? Wow, that seems so long. Well….. not really since I’m not really a fan of camping. It’s just not my thing. I may have wept tears of joy when the trip got cancelled due to there still being snow on the ground up there at 9,000 feet above sea level.

 
What was the first thing I did when I received the excellent horrible news? I started looking at Newport Beach vacays. But alas, 2 days notice over a holiday weekend does not leave me many choices and as much as I would LOVE to spend 8 thousand dollars on airfare, I decided the camping gods were just giving me a long weekend to play catch up. I’ll take it.

 
The camping peeps then sent out an invite for a BBQ for today. We happily accepted and said we would bring some potato salad.

 
Wait.

 
I’ve never made potato salad. I just HAD to say potato salad didn’t I? I couldn’t say margaritas or a Strawberry Rhubarb pie? What the heck Schroeder?

 

Ok, fine. Potato salad it is. Mom always made amazing chicken salad, an egg salad that would make your heart skip a beat, a magnificent corned beef salad and friends would even ask her to make them her tuna salad. But I don’t remember potato salad. I guess I have to go research potato salad.

 
In one of my favorite cookbooks I found 3 different potato salads. Reading through them all I would swear that I heard my dad yell ‘Hot Damn’. He would have loved the one with bacon and the one with mayo, two of his favorite things. But man, I do love tarragon. I think I’ll make all 3. Let’s see which one everyone prefers. Dude, I should totally make a chart and take it to the BBQ, that wouldn’t be weird at all. You love my charts, its part of my charm. (Bee, Tea, Dub…I should make a shirt that says that)

 

Look at that, no camping AND 3 recipes?!?!?  AND a chart?!  Life is good.

 
American Potato Salad
3 pounds red potatoes (scrubbed and cut into ¾ inch chunks)
½ cup red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
¾ cup Mayonnaise
½ cup minced sweet pickles
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 hard boiled eggs
3 tablespoons minced red onion
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Bring the potatoes and 4 quarts water to a simmer in a large pot and cook until tender. Drain. Gently toss the warm potato s with the vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the mayonnaise pickles and mustard together. Toss the chilled potato with the mayonnaise mixture, celery, eggs onion and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

German Potato Salad
3 pounds red potatoes (scrubbed and cut into ¾ inch chunks)
¾ cup white vinegar
10 ounces bacon
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon whole grain German style mustard
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
Salt
Bring the potatoes and 4 quarts water to a simmer in a large pot and cook until tender. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the potato cooking water. Return the potatoes to the pot, sprinkle with ¼ cup of vinegar, and cover to keep warm.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Transfer to paper towen reserving 6 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Add the onion to the skillet with the bacon fat and cook until beginning to brown. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add the remaining ½ cup vinegar and the reserved potato cooking water; bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to about 1 cup. Off of the heat, whisk in the mustard and pepper. Add the potatoes, crisp bacon and parsley to the skillet and toss. Season with salt to taste.

 
French Potato Salad
3 pounds red potatoes (scrubbed and cut into 1/4 inch slices)
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
6 tablespoons EVOO
1tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small red onion
3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon

 

Bring the potatoes and 4 quarts water to a simmer in a large pot and cook until tender. Drain. Gently toss the warm potatoes with 3 tablespoons of the vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 3 tablespoons vinegar, the oil, mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper together. Toss the chilled potatoes with the vinaigrette, onion and tarragon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.