[Sca-cooks] Meanderings on family histories and foods

[Elaine Koogler]

Great...thanks.  I guess my recipe for my potato salad is somewhat similar
in that I don't have any quantities...but then the only thing I can think of
that would involve really any measuring is if you opt to make your own
pesto.  The cool thing about the salad is that it doesn't involve any eggs
or dairy, which means that it survives quite well at picnics or cookouts.

Use red-skinned potatoes and cut them into large chunks.  Do not peel them.
Boil them until they are tender.  Drain, rinse with cold water to stop the
cooking.  In a bowl, mix the potatoes with pesto, pine nuts and freshly
grated parmesan or romano cheese.  Chill it before serving.  It's amazingly
good!

Kiri

On 5/21/07, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
wrote:
>
>
> On May 21, 2007, at 12:21 AM, Sue Clemenger wrote:
>
> > I'd offer up my special recipes in trade --I've got one that's made
> > with
> > cilantro, black beans, smoked turkey and red potatoes, and I've got
> > an old
> > farm recipe for "quilters' potato salad" made with unsweetened,
> > whipped
> > cream.
> > --Maire, who learned today that the number one most popular herb in
> > the
> > world is cilantro! ;o)
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Elaine Koogler" <kiridono at gmail.com>
> > To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 5:37 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Meanderings on family histories and foods
> >
> >
> >> I don't suppose you would be willing to share your recipe for German
> > potato
> >> salad, would you?  In exchange, I have a great recipe for a potato
> >> salad
> >> that's made with red potatoes, pesto and pine nuts....
>
> I'll have to find my "official version". At the moment, I'm prepping
> for the DSL Fairy to come and explain why I have no upstream
> bandwidth, so there's much moving of bookcases that have ethernet
> cables behind them and finding anything is difficult.  As with much
> of my stuff, it's more about the process than the numbers (unless I'm
> baking, or involved in comparatively few other things like dealing
> with roux or custard, maybe sausage). What I normally use is a
> variation of one of the Jan Mitchell recipes from the old Luchow's
> restaurant in New York, which had been on 14th Street for well over a
> hundred years, was then  bought out by a huge corporation,
> "renovated" (read moved to a new, more expensive piece of real estate
> in the theater district, which is odd because its original location
> had been New York's theater district for much of the 19th century,
> not far from where the Bowery meets Third Avenue...) and shut its
> doors and vanished within a year or two of the move. <sigh>...
>
> What I can tell you right now is that what I had been doing wrong
> (apart from the fact that certain Sinister Forces mandate that only
> Idaho Russets, with a few notable exceptions, are allowed on the
> premises, and while you can make a good salad with these, it's more
> difficult) was to miss, forget, and otherwise omit the pre-dressing
> marinade for the just-boiled-and-peeled-and-sliced spuds. In other
> words, while still quite warm and therefore somewhat more porous and
> generally receptive, you add a small amount (maybe 1/2 cup, maybe
> less) of whatever vinegar you're using, or even better, a mixture of
> vinegar and beef stock, if you're not feeding people opposed to such
> things. If you are, just vinegar is good, too. Toss gently, being
> careful not to break up pieces, and allow to sit for a few minutes,
> then proceed in any of a number of ways. The classic dressing
> involves raw egg yolk, more vinegar and olive oil, or, if the salad
> is to be served warm, warm bacon fat, egg yolk, and vinegar. Mayo is
> technically cheating, but it can be done, as can a mixture of mayo
> and sour cream, or a mixture of mayo and unsweetened whipped cream.
> Finely chopped onion and pickle are pretty standard, almost
> mandatory, and in addition you often find chopped capers or, in lieu
> of the sardellen which are a little more hard to find today, anchovy
> fillets.
>
> My aunt's was an extremely simplistic affair, and probably pretty
> localized, too (I'm sure someone from another part of Germany might
> say, "No way, my Tante Greta from Heidelberg never did it the way
> you're describing somebody from Bavaria doing it, so that's
> wrong..."). She generally used chopped shallot or green onion
> (probably instead of chives), and equal parts homemade mayonnaise and
> sour cream, the mayo made with a little coarse mustard.
>
> Everybody seems to agree, though, that the pre-dressing of the warm
> potatoes with vinegar is the secret key to success; otherwise the
> potatoes can sort of suck all the flavor out of the dressing without
> really becoming well-seasoned in their own right.
>
> Other considerations would include whether it's to be served warm or
> cold, since the seasoning will appear very different if one is
> intended but the other is what's actually done. There also appear to
> be two violent, armed camps, divided on the subject of sugar in a
> potato salad: I don't care for it myself, but some do...
>
> Adamantius
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