First Annual – July 4th Recipe Thread

Daughn’s Potato Salad.
(The skillet is the key, do NOT clean the skillet.)
Ingredients
10lbs of red boiling potatoes
2 cups of fine chopped Claussen Pickles
1/2 cup of the Claussen dill pickle juice
3 onions, I grate them in a food processor
1/4 cup + 1TBSP of sugar
20 ribs of Celery, 3/8 inch sliced, use the hearts and good leaves as well
1 stick of butter
20 hard boiled eggs, pulverized in the food processor
1/2 C of Zatarain’s cajun stone ground mustard (any stone ground is fine)
(About) 32ounces of Hellman’s mayo (I use the ‘light’ version and I can’ tell the difference)
1 1/2 tbsp of fresh minced garlic
3 Red Bell peppers, diced into approx 3/8″ pieces. (If you have a pack of red/yellow/orange – that’s even better)
1lb of bacon.
In a large stock pot, boil potatoes, WITH SKINS ON. No need to add salt. My stove takes about 20 minutes.
Eggs into another stock pot, little bit of vinegar, my stove takes 20 minutes.
While waiting on the potatoes, take out a lb of bacon, and slice the “slab” into 1/2″ pieces (easier to do if frozen). Dump all the bacon pieces into a large chicken fryer skillet. These will be your bacon crumbles for the top. Shuffle, mix and turn bacon until — suddenly, it’s all done at the same time. Place on paper towels to drain. Put the crumbles into a ziploc, with a clean paper towel, and refrigerate. Save for later.
With the bacon pan, pour off the excess bacon grease but do NOT clean the pan. Into the same pan, add the following:
3 pulverized onions and the garlic.
Cook on medium-low for about 10 minutes and add the sugar, blend with metal spatula until it begins to turn a light brown, about another 5-8 minutes. Dump the onions into a LARGE plastic bowl where you will mix all ingredients. DO NOT clean the bacon-onion-garlic pan.
About this time, the potatoes and and eggs will be done.
For the potatoes, drain off hot water into a colander. Remove potatoes to a large wooden cutting board. With the biggest knife you have, slice potatoes, jagged, into chunks. No need to be precise, again, leave the skins. Dump all potatoes into same mixing bowl with the bacon-garlic —- don’t mix it up yet.
For eggs, dump off hot water, dump ice into the stock pot and cool down for about 5 minutes. Drain water again and SHAKE the heck out of the eggs into the stock pot, causing shells to crack. Peel remaining shells. Put eggs into a food processor about 7 at a time. Pulse 3-4 times until bright yellow, chopped smaller than a pea, but not pulverized. Dump eggs into the big mixing bowl, but do not mix yet.
Return to the bacon-onion-garlic skillet. Melt one stick of butter over medium high. Saute celery for about 2 minutes, and add the red pepper. Mix and blend, scraping bottom with metal spatula, for another 3-4 minutes. You’re looking for al dente and it’s done. You don’t want raw celery/peppers, and you don’t want mushy celery. When done, dump the celery and peppers into your big mixing bowl – but don’t mix it up yet.
Add the Claussen pickles. I cut long spears into 1/4″ slices and chop them into 1/4″ wedges all at same time. Dump them into your mixing bowl. I mix together 1/2 cup of pickle juice, 1/2 cup of the stone ground mustard, and 32oz of Hellman’s Mayo. Dump into the big mixing bowl.
You now have all ingredients in your large PLASTIC mixing bowl. Use your hands and mix carefully. The potatoes will still be warm (don’t wait for them to cool – it hotter the potatoes are – the better it works out). Try NOT to over-mix, you still want chunks of potatoes. Cover well and put the whole thing into the fridge overnight. You can taste test it now, but it will taste very different in the morning.
Over night, the potatoes soak up a LOT of excess liquid. Taste test in the morning, you might need a little more Mayo (don’t add it the night before though because appearances are deceiving). Again, mix lightly, you want rough and bumpy chunks and lots of color. A girlfriend of mine made the same recipe but overmixed after each ingredient was added to the mixing bowl. It was delicious but looked like mashed potatoes.
Place the bacon bits on the side with a spoon and add bits to each serving, NOT the top of the whole dish (they get soggy).
Recipe Doubles, triples, 5X’s well. Stays fresh for about 7-10 days. Adjust ingredients for personal preference and don’t be afraid to do so. You can’t kill it. And there is no need for salt in this recipe, anywhere.