I don't claim to be a gormet cook but we raise our own herbs and such and really enjoy the effort.

I figger that if a lefty will put as much effort into a decent meal as he puts into a rant then it might be worth a sample.

Specifically, I am looking for a very excellent vinegar and oil based potato salad...not of the usual cooking show or run of the mill internet variety...but a tried and true masterpiece passed down by grandma...that you might be willing to share.

Thanks.

Vinegar + oil + egg white = mayonaise.

I'll stack my mom's potatoe salad against any other.
Some diced eggs, green onions, a few radishes; sliced, boiled Reds from as far north as possible - North Dakota to be precise.

Couple of olives, too

Some cuisines have the good sense LOL of not going to the trouble of creating such a thing as a 'potato salad'.

That said, look up 'skordalia'.

I'm fond of German potato salad, myself.

My grandad made it the best.

The wife uses mustard.

It's okay, but I don't like it much.

I imagine Greek National quisine substantially predates potatoes' arrival in Europe.

Inneresting:

http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/skordalia.html


Skordalia
(Greece)
Garlic Sauce
Skordalia is a Greek garlic sauce that appears around the Mediterranean in different guises. In Greece it is used for a variety of foods including served with beet salad and batter-fried salt cod <bakaliaros.html>. The Palestinians and Lebanese use a version with garlic and olive oil, called thum bi’l-zayt, for baked chicken. It is related to the Catalan allioli and the <rouille.html> of Provence. Cooks in Macedonia and Cephalonia (Kefallinía) often add walnuts, and older recipes base the skordalia on almonds, leading me to believe that this is the Greek version of the Arab and Turkish tarator sauces that themselves may owe something to Byzantine food.

1 3/4 pounds boiling potatoes 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil


1/2 cup light cream, or more to taste 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar


6 large garlic cloves, peeled Salt to taste


2 cups 1/2-inch diced French or Italian bread, crust removed


1. In a large pot, place the potatoes in cold water to cover by several inches and turn the heat to medium. Once the water begins to boil, about 20 minutes, continue to boil until a skewer glides easily through the center of each potato, another 25 to 30 minutes. Peel the potatoes once they are cool enough to handle. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or colander and slowly whip in the cream.

2. Pound the garlic in a mortar until mushy. Add the garlic to the potatoes, mixing well. Soak the bread cubes in a little water until sodden, then squeeze the water out. Pass the bread through the food mill or colander. Blend the bread, potatoes, and garlic together with a fork in a mixing bowl.

3. Slowly pour the olive oil and vinegar in a steady stream as you continue beating with a fork until the mixture has the consistency of a thick mayonnaise. Do not do this in a food processor because the potatoes will become gummy in their over processing. Season with salt and refrigerate until needed.

Variation: Add chopped almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts after mashing the garlic.

Makes 3 cups


Hence, the Cajun Roux ?

take the ribs and put 'em over the coals (gas sux) and dump a bunch of BBQ sauce (and maybe a lil brown sugar) on 'em. Boil some ears of corn and open a can of baked beans and yer good to go.

While Greek/Turkish etc cuisine is among my favorites a good 'potato salad' is certainly not something at which to turn up one's nose. My wife, a German, has has often made the most exquisite sampling you could imagine. A delilcate blend of German pickles, cold cuts, appropriately spiced and served at room temperature...I hate the phrase but...it is "to die for".

He is obviously from a decent heritage....got a recipe?

Really looking for a blend of a German stlye salad that can be Americanized for the 4th...but I truly appreciate your reply.
Thanks, celtie

One of these days I will learn to log in.
Thanks all.

I guess even you have to eat, Miz. Didn't see any potatos in your mention but thanks all the same.

In central Texas, German recipes are American.

I'll check around the house. It was handed down, and may not contain all the nuances.

That's for sure.

Biled taters, fried taters. baked taters, tater chips, but no tater salad.

While hunting for the propper spelling of 'roux' found this:

"New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin."
-- Mark Twain, 1884

Skordalia
A Greek sauce or dip made with pureed baked potatoes, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, parsley and sometimes bread crumbs or ground nuts. Skordalia is served with various dishes including grilled meats, poultry and fish, soups and as a dip for raw vegetables and/or bread.

he knew that right off the top of his head.

POW!

[shrug] I just happen to be working on a book...

something completely different...

I think potatoes that get too much sun are just not as good as those grown in damp, under clouds.

Ever try those "blue" potatoes? Some friends gave us a few "seed" ones, and they were pretty good. Kind of like reds. The color was a bit diconcerting, tho.

Wrong!

What makes Idaho spuds so good is our day/night temperature differential. To grow good (great) potatoes, what you need is at least a 30 degree (40 is better, 45 is best) drop between day and nighttime temps. Too warm nights, and the spuds store their execess from their day's photosynthesis as sugar rather than starch (which is why we Idahoans grow sugar beets at lower altitudes). Too cold, your plant dies. And too steady a temperature, little gets stored at all.

That's why Georgia and Hawaii are good for sweet onions (little overnight temp change), Idaho is good for sugar beets, potatoes and grass (which we convert into cows), and Eastern Washington grows potatoes that're good for immediate use (high sugar content) but don't store well (high sugar content). Also explains why the South grows good new potatoes and boiling potatoes, where fast growth and high sugar content is desired.

So, your remarks about sun potatoes (great Russets, good friers) or overcast potatoes (new potatoes, boilers and red potatoes, bad storage) are right or wrong depending on what sort of potatoe you're after.

inyerface salsa

5 lb tomatoes
1 lg onion
6-12 serrano chiles
1 bunch cilantro (leaves)
1 tb mexican oregano crushed
garlic cloves optional
salt

chopped gently

Well, you got your different varieities of taters and other edible crops which were developed to grow in different climates and different times of the year and to be used or eaten/cooked in different styles.

Well, I wasn't thinking so much of Idaho - that part being near desert any way, as much as southwest & central Oregon and northwest Montana.

And Scotland and Ireland too.

Nice to know about the temperature change, though, and another reason Texas Potatoes are so bland.

Not that they'd know with all that vinegar and mustard in thier potato salads........

I recall one of the Carl Barks Donald/Scrooge McDuck stories that had them hunting a treasure they finally found:


A chest full of potatoes.

Very good story as all of Bark's were.

OK, July 4th menu from a Okie-descended old-fashioned cook:

1. Fried chicken

a. Put 2 cups flour, 2 tsp pepper, 3 tsp salt, 2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp sage in a paper sack. Rinse chicken, then put it wet into sack, and shake vigorously.

b. Heat oil (preferably 1/2 Crisco solid, 1/2 bacon drippings, but Crisco oil will do, just don't use corn oil, it doesn't get hot enough without burning) over high heat till it starts to smoke a little. Drop in chicken, carefully, expecting it to spit like crazy, continue on high heat until it starts to smoke again, then turn down to medium.

c. Continue cooking chicken, turning as it browns on one side. Cook on all sides, using pieces of chicken to prop each other up. Turn with tongs, not fork. (Using a fork will let the juices out, and you'll get dry chicken as a result.) This process should take about 35-50 minutes, depending on pieces of chicken. (Wings and drumsticks cook quick. Thighs and breasts need more time.)

d. As each piece finishes, lift out with tongs, hold over skillet 30-60 seconds while oil runs off, then place on paper towels and salt with popcorn salt. Blot with second paper towel.

e. Eat hot out of skillet, or allow to cool to room temp. Can be refrigerated, but the coating will get not crisp, so it's best eaten at room temp within 2 hours of frying. If not, refrigerate and serve cold, cause it sure beats salmonella poisoning.

2. Real funky high-cholesterol potato salad.

a. Boil potatoes whole and unpeeled, either Russets or White Rose. Cool, then peel with potato peeler same as you would uncooked potatoes. Cut cooked potatoes into roughly 1/2 cubes, and toss in bowl.

b. Boil eggs, 1 egg per 2 potatoes. The correct way to boil eggs is to put eggs in cold water, bring to boil, boil 5 minutes, turn off heat and allow to cool. (Hints for boiling eggs: DON'T use real fresh ones; the shell will be stuck to the egg and hard to peel. 5-day old eggs work better than just-bought ones. Also, use a pin or needle to poke a tiny hole in wide end of eggs; this will keep them from cracking while boiling, as it allows the heated air in the small air space at the wide end to escape. And last, if your boiled eggs get a green ring around the yolk, you are cooking them too long at high temperature.) Cut peeled eggs into 1/2" pieces, discarding yolks if you're on a cholesterol diet.

c. Mix potatoes and eggs with Miracle Whip if you're from north of the Mason-Dixon line, Best Foods Mayo if from South of Mason-Dixon line. Add 1 tbl. yellow mustard per cup of mayo, and 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of paprika. Stir till mixed.

d. Now, we get to the options. The above is basic bland potato salad. According to taste, add chopped onions, chopped green onions, sweet pickles or pickle relish, chopped fresh or dried dill, dill pickles, quartered olives, chopped bell pepper, chopped red bell pepper, chopped celery, chopped walnuts or cashews, celery seed, fresh ground black pepper, sour cream, roasted garlic, chopped parsley or cilantro, or anything else your heart desires to make it "yours".

SPECIAL FOR REPUB BUB:

You asked for recipies for non-mayo potato salad. This is the only one I know, and whether or not it's potato salad is a matter of opinion:

1. Chop up some red, yellow and green bell peppers, cucumbers, halved pitted olives (real ones, not brine-cured), diced eggplant or zucchini or crookneck, button mushrooms and Roma tomatos into roughly 3/4" chunks. Cover with vinegrette (2 parts olive oil, 1 part red wine vinegar, thyme, basil, oregono, ground coriander, black pepper, salt, lemon juice), and a touch of fennel, and marinate for 2 hours, stirring every half hour.

2. Add diced boiled potatoes of some firm variety (white rose, red potatoes), stir again, fold into veggie mixture and allow to marinate for one additional hour. Quantity should be 1/2 potatoes, 1/2 mixed veggie marinated stuff. Eat.

Bee

I'll try to look up the specific Bark's story - The copyright is dynamic, but it might be useful for your book.

Problem is it takes me so long to look any of those up.

I read 'em all until I find the one I'm looking for.....

Thanks Celt, but I'm not the author. I can forward it on, though.

The author lives in Colorado, and the book is about Colorado cuisine. I just make them look nice and help them organize their material.

This one is a second edition with a new trim size and over 75 pages of additional material... a mess of epic proportions.

I don't see what that has to do with Bush.

Bushie eats it!

Looks suspiciously like my own recipe, cept I peel the tomatoes and use roasted chiles.

Not whatcha call July 4th fare but a very interesting recipe. Gonna try it next week.
Thanks

Another nice one. I particularly love marinated veggies. Thanks, Judy.

btw, I has started a food thread over on the non-political board to swap recipies on.

I suppose you could turn that recipe above into something patriotic by using red bell peppers, and white and blue potatoes, with some olives kicked in for contrast.

Myself, I'm looking forward (with hope, no guarantees) to our annual Fourth of July bash. (Quakers celebrate secular holidays like the Fourth with, excuse the pun, a bang, because we DON'T make secular hoopla out of religious holidays.) Bill's taken the kids down to Lagoon in SLC for this weekend. I stayed home cause, well, as a very fair-skinned redhead on chemo that makes you sun sensitive to boot, spending all day running around in the Salt Lake sun in a bathing suit, even with SPF 1000 on, is a recipe for being laid up with sunburn. Bill hasn't guaranteed to be home by 9 for the city fireworks and our traditional picnic, but I suspect the kids will pressure him to either get back here for fireworks, or stay at Lagoon for fireworks.

I'm cooking anyway, very traditional--fried chicken, potato salad, marinated veggies (different recipe), spinach and feta salad, real junk food bbq potato chips, and chocolate strawberry cake. We do this instead of my own family's tradition of "jungle picnic" (whole roasted chicken, whole watermelon, whole tomatoes, head of lettuce, potato chips, shared jug of lemonade, no silverware or knives, plastic or otherwise, you gotta rip it all apart with bare hands and wash off with a canteen afterwards) because Bill just can't stand the mess. The kids and I still have the occasional jungle picnic without him.

Anyway, I'm going to the fireworks tomorrow night, with or without family. Did you know that dinky little Idaho Falls has the fifth biggest fireworks show in the country?

Ah yes the San Luis Valley -

Very interesting place - high alpine valley very broad to almost basin size. Holds the Great Sand Dunes, immense tracts of farmland surrounded by mountains on all sides, contains many places sacred to the local indians and beloved of those who lean to things meta-physical, and for all you UFO aficionados is supposedly a "hot spot" for sightings.

For me the Dunes and the mountains are the attraction, and the local cuisine.

Typically Alamosa in its near center is often the coldest spot in the state.

can a lefty cook?

Well, their goose is cooked.

That count?

Sounded good to me.

You're welcome. Please let me know if you like it.

Colorado has it made, don't they?

Nice fresh cuisine and original, too. Remind me to send you the microbrew info.

Well I finally found it.


Italian beef


5 lb chuck roast
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tspn Italian seasoning
1 tspn oregano
1/2 tspn black pepper
8 ounce jar pepepperocini peppers
12 ounce can of beer

cook in crockpot 8 hours on low

serve on toasted hoagies with provalone cheeze

The pepperocini peppers make a great auju sauce.


mmmmmmm

I usually have a smaller roast and cook in the oven, depending on the season. You can also substitute the spices with 2 packs of Italian seasoning for salad dressing. (bachelor secret)

(whatever brand of beer you have on hand, taste great or less filling)

This also works real well with venison.

When I used to make the sandwich meat for the restaurant I worked for was when I learned about the beer. Amazingly it's more important than I ever could have believed. It's just not the same without it, and I have no great love for the taste of beer.

It doesn't taste anything like beer but the ingredient is neccesary.

The beer (like cooking with wine) has tenderizing properties, liberates certain oils and fats, and acts as a taste bud stimulant in a way similar to how salt and msg magnify the flavors.

Popular Desert Dish

Stuffed Camel

1 whole camel, medium size
1 whole lamb, large size
20 whole chickens, medium size
60 eggs
12 kilos rice (26.4 lbs.)
2 kilos pine nuts (4.4 lbs.)
2 kilos almonds (4.4 lbs.)
1 kilo pistachio nuts (2.2 lbs.)
110 gallons water
5 pounds black pepper
Salt to taste

Skin, trim and clean camel (once you get over the hump), lamb and chickens.
Boil until tender.
Cook rice until fluffy.
Fry nuts until brown and mix with rice.
Hard boil eggs and peel.
Stuff cooked chickens with hard boiled eggs and rice.
Stuff the cooked lamb with stuffed chickens.
Add more rice. Stuff the camel with the stuffed lamb and add rest of rice.

Broil over large charcoal pit until brown.
Spread any remaining rice on large tray and place camel on top of rice.
Decorate with boiled eggs and nuts.
Serves friendly crowd of 80-100.

I'm out of camels, is it permissable to substitute a llama?

If you marinate it in cactus juice first.

That we have plenty of.