Herbed Potato Salad

Father's Day on Sunday. I made Steve breakfast — his request was always "eggs and toast," which is not so much a request as a declaration of values. I made them the way he likes: fried hard, yolks broken, with wheat toast that has to be genuinely dark brown, not light brown. He eats breakfast the same way every day of his life and finds this entirely reasonable. I made coffee too — from the can of Folgers that lives permanently on Patty's counter and has probably been there since I was in middle school.

Steve said "Thank you" when I set the plate down. For Steve, "thank you" at breakfast is approximately equivalent to a sonnet. He ate the whole thing without saying anything else. Then he went out to the garage to work on something involving a pipe and a wrench, because that is what Steve does on Sunday mornings after breakfast. I sat at the kitchen table with my own coffee and thought about how much I love him, this man who expresses everything through pipes and caulk and hardware store trips.

Made potato salad for a potluck at the pool staff barbecue. A real one: Yukon Gold potatoes boiled whole and then cooled and cut, hard-boiled eggs, celery, red onion, yellow mustard, mayo, a splash of apple cider vinegar, paprika on top. It is Patty's recipe exactly except I use a little less mayo because I like it tangier. Took it to work and it was gone in six minutes. Someone asked for the recipe. I said it was Patty's.

This is the thing about recipes from your mother — they are never fully yours. You make them and they taste like her kitchen and her hands and every time she made them for you, and even when you adjust them slightly it is still fundamentally hers. I might be her recipe. She made me and adjusted me slightly and now I walk around in the world tasting mostly like her. I think she would find that observation either deeply moving or very dramatic. Probably both.

This is the recipe — or as close to it as I can write it down without it feeling like it belongs to me more than it does. Patty never measured anything, so what’s here is my best reconstruction: the proportions she taught me by watching, adjusted just slightly toward the tangier end because that’s where I landed. If you make it and it tastes exactly right, that’s her. If it tastes almost right, that’s probably me. Either way, it’s gone in six minutes at a potluck, and someone will ask you whose recipe it is.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes (plus chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and left whole
4 large eggs
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1/3 cup red onion, finely diced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for boiling
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
Paprika, for topping

Instructions

Boil the potatoes. Place whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold salted water by at least an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook 20–25 minutes, until a knife slides through the center without resistance. Drain and let cool completely at room temperature — do not rush this step.
Hard-boil the eggs. While the potatoes cook, place eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, remove from heat, and let sit 11 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath and cool completely. Peel and roughly chop.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black pepper. Taste and adjust — it should be creamy but with a noticeable tang.
Cut the potatoes. Once fully cooled, cut potatoes into 3/4-inch chunks (no need to peel; the skins hold together nicely and add texture). Add to the bowl with the dressing.
Combine. Add celery, red onion, chopped eggs, parsley, and dill to the bowl. Fold everything together gently with a spatula — you want it coated but not mashed. The potatoes will absorb the dressing as it sits, which is exactly right.
Chill. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. The flavor improves significantly after resting.
Finish and serve. Transfer to a serving bowl and dust the top generously with paprika. Serve cold.

Nutrition (per serving)

Herbed Potato Salad — The Recipe That Will Always Be Patty’s