May-June 2016

ROUSES

EVERYDAY

maY | JUNE 2016

y mother was the queen of potato salad. It was always

on the menu for barbecues, fish fries, and Sunday family

gatherings. As children, we called it “wet” potato salad

because it was so moist with mayonnaise. Mama always told us that

it was very important to cut the potatoes in chunks because she

didn’t care for “mashed” potato salad.

For many years, she made the homemade mayonnaise by hand. I

remember sitting on my stool in the kitchen (or at the camp)

watching her mash a hard-boiled egg yolk with a raw egg yolk in

a shallow bowl, and adding drips of vegetable oil, a little at a time,

and blending it with a fork until it was just the right consistency. She

added just enough fresh lemon juice or white distilled vinegar, salt,

black pepper, and a pinch of sugar to satisfy her taste buds. In later

years, she used what she called her “mayonnaise jar.”The quart-size

jar had a lid that was inverted and had a small hole. A metal “plunger”

fit through the hole. Then you could add a little oil to the lid. The

oil dribbled into the egg yolks, and the plunger was moved up and

down to mix the components.Wow! Even when we presented Mama

with an electric mixer and a food processor, she chose to make her

mayonnaise by hand!

Before she mixed the mayonnaise with the boiled potatoes and

chopped hard-boiled eggs, she always made a survey: Should we

add chopped onions, celery, green olives, parsley, or sweet pickle

relish? We would all yell “only a bit of parsley!” We didn’t want

anything marring the taste of the salad!

Mama’s “Wet” Potato

Salad

Makes about 8 servings

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

5 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed

Rouses salt

8 hard-boiled eggs,

peeled and coarsely chopped

Rouses freshly ground black pepper

Hot sauce

Optional:

¼ cup minced celery

¼ cup finely chopped green onions

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

HOW TO PREP

Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork

tender. Remove from the heat and drain. Set

aside to cool. When cool enough to handle,

peel the potatoes and chop coarsely.

Put the chopped potatoes and eggs in a large

serving bowl. Mama put them in layers, i.e.,

a layer of potatoes, a layer of eggs, sprinkles

of salt and pepper, a dash of hot sauce, then

continued the layering until all was used. Then

add the mayonnaise and whatever condiments

you wish and toss gently (so as not to break

up the potatoes) to mix.

Mama’s “Wet” Potato Salad

Mama NEVER chilled the salad. The

potatoes and eggs were at room

temperature. The mayonnaise was

chilled for about an hour or so, then

immediately added to the salad right

before serving.

Pig Tales

by Marcelle Bienvenu continued ...

photo by

Eugenia Uhl

the

Pork

issue