Grandma's Potato Salad

I always thought my Grandmother made really good potato salad. I don’t know if it would ever win awards or become a published recipe… but everyone in my family liked it. Once, when I was just out of college I asked her if she’d show me how she made it. I drove down to her house and after a fantastic dinner of Büƒ we started boiling the potatoes. Grandma washed them off in water, but did not peel them. She just plunked them all into the hot water. We played pinochle while they cooked with my grandfather and a neighbor. Both the neighbor and I knew, without even talking, to let my grandparents win. Grandpa didn’t care, but grandma did! 

Once the potatoes were cooked and cooled we peeled them. This is done without a knife or peeler because they are so soft from cooking that the peel just peels right off by rubbing the skin with your thumb. The potatoes are then roughly cut with a butter knife with the potato held in the palm of the hand and put into a large bowl. (This feels weird and sort of tickles!) We then added diced onion, a couple diced hard-boiled eggs and her secret ingredient. This ingredient actually grossed me out… so I don’t use it. But since this is her recipe I will tell you what it was: She added very old, brownish, somewhat slimy celery.  She felt “fresh” celery gave it too much crunch. I like crunch, so I use fresh. She then added pepper, seasoning salt, celery salt and Miracle whip (not Mayonnaise) and stirred it well with a large spoon. On top she’d decorate by laying slices of hard-boiled eggs and sprinkle with paprika. Last secret…. It had to sit over night in the fridge. The next day, it was very good potato salad. J