Millie's Heavenly Potato Salad
How one very good potato salad became a forever family favorite. Simple, beloved, and just plain good.
My mother-in-law Millie grew up in a small rural town outside of Chicago, and was a very good cook and baker who inherited her culinary talent from a long line of women who knew their way around a kitchen.
She made wonderful fruit-filled Kolaches during the holidays, and a rich apple strudel in the fall when apples were at their peak, expertly rolled into a log with a sweet, paper thin crust.
Her cornbread was excellent and made from scratch—and never with any sugar (that’s cake) and her homemade barbecue sauce was thick and memorable with just the right balance of sweet and sour.
But she was legendary for her creamy, delicious and perfectly seasoned potato salad, at least among her family members.
Turns out, she knew a thing or two about how to make it directly from the source: her parents had a business collecting fresh eggs from small farms in rural Iowa—and each egg was manually inspected by Millie’s mother with a bright light to ensure it’s quality before being delivered to Hellman’s/Best Foods mayonnaise company, which at that time was located near their home in Berwyn, Illinois. Her recipe is similar to theirs, with a few important tweaks.
This potato salad is a beloved family favorite, and was a much-anticipated side dish for a big summer meal of slow-cooked shredded pork roast on soft bakery buns, baked beans and fresh peach cobbler with ice cream.
This recipe is easy if you don’t mind a little boiling, grating, and slicing, and Millie’s “secret” tips for success have stood the test of time—use only waxy red or gold potatoes, use a box grater to make easy work of dicing the hard-boiled eggs, toss all the salad ingredients together while the ingredients are still warm, and don’t skip a final sprinkle of celery salt just before serving, it elevates every bite.
Who knows? Maybe Millie’s version of this classic summer side dish will become your forever potato salad recipe, too.
MILLIE’S HEAVENLY POTATO SALAD
• 4 pounds yellow or red potatoes
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 9 large eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and grated on a box grater
• ½ cup celery, thinly sliced
• 5 green onions, sliced, white part only
• ½ cup sweet Gherkin pickles, chopped into small pieces
• ½ cup carrot, peeled and grated on a box grater
• 1 cup Best Foods/Hellman’s mayonnaise (regular, not low fat)
• 2 tablespoons of juice from the jar of pickles
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• ½ teaspoon celery salt, plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
Peel the potatoes. Boil them whole in water with the tablespoon of kosher salt, using a four quart dutch oven with enough water to cover them by about two inches, just until knife tender, about 25-30 minutes. Drain and set them aside to slightly cool.
In a large bowl, Place the grated (or chopped) hard boiled eggs, celery, green onions, pickles and carrots.
Cut the warm potatoes into 1-2" (inch) pieces and add them to the bowl with the other ingredients.
Make the dressing by mixing in a small bowl with a fork or whisk the mayonnaise, pickle brine (or vinegar), the salt and pepper, celery salt and the Dijon mustard (if using). Pour this over the salad and toss gently from the bottom up with a large spoon until everything is incorporated.
Chill and serve with a little more celery salt on each serving.
Tips
If after you’ve done the initial stir of all the ingredients in a large bowl and the potato salad seems a little dry, add more mayonnaise a tablespoon at a time to remedy this.
Use waxy gold or red potatoes in this recipe
Use the large side of a box grater to grate the hard boiled eggs
Stir the potato salad before each serving, and sprinkle a little more celery salt on top too. It’s really good this way!
This salad is best tasting when it’s chilled in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Be sure to compile this salad while the potatoes are still warm. It will taste best if you do.